Similarities Between Touching Spirit Bear And The Ghost Of Spirit Bear

Cole Matthews is not an uncommon young man that one would find in today’s society. Cole has not had a life I would call “easy” or “fair.” He had parents that as Cole stated, “all my parents do is drink.” (p27) His father beat him profusely. This is evidenced in the Circle Justice meetings when Cole said, “Or you’ll what?” “Beat me?” …..” “You’re still lying!” he shouted. “You’re usually too drunk to know your own name!” Cole knew these words guaranteed him a terrible beating next time he was alone…(p47-48) Cole didn’t feel he had any other emotions other than anger and fear. Many of us have had the same feelings as Cole, “He didn’t trust anyone who wasn’t afraid of him.” (p4) This is an

Have you ever thought about how everything that goes around comes around ending up like a circle? Circles are always connected and so is everything around us. In the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikealson, Cole is sent to an isolated island to reflect on his actions. At the island, he gets mauled by the spirit bear and almost dies. This lets him think about what he has done and allows him to change. The motif of circles that Cole encounters, changes him and influences him for the better.

Cole Matthews is the main character of Spirit Bear. He is a 15 year old boy, I know he is because he was held back in school for one year and he is a freshman. Cole gets into a lot of trouble, so much that he has been in trouble with the law nonstop since he was just 9 years old. I read this on page 5 it says “been in trouble with the law half his life”. In his past he had a lot of trouble with his parents, his father beats him when he gets drunk, and his mom ignores whats happening. It says on page 47 & 48 that “Cole's father jumped to his feet. “I don't beat you, and you know that.” his face flushed red.”I’ve given you swats when you deserved them.” also on page 28 it says “”he drink’s until he turns into a monster. Mom just gets drunk and pretends nothing had happened. It's like a bad dream I can't wake up from ”.

Have you ever read Touching Spirit Bear? Well, I have My class and I have read this book as a big group. In the next 3 paragraphs I will tell you 3 reasons what I know about if we should practice the Circle Of Justice.

Touching Spirit Bear is a very interesting book about forgiveness and redemption. The book covers the story of Cole Matthews, a juvenile delinquent who got exiled to an island for a crime he committed and how he learned to overcome his anger. While covering Cole’s path to redemption the book also teaches the reader many lessons about life. Some of the most important life lessons in “Touching Spirit Bear” are: “animals can teach people more about ourselves”(Mikaelsen,17), “forgiving isn’t forgiving”(Mikaelsen,38) and “life catches people off guard”(Mikaelsen,152)

In Ghost Of Spirit Bear, the conflict is Cole vs. Society. “‘ A two thirds majority vote is needed for the passage of this proposal,’ the chairman announced. ‘Tonight’s vote is seven in favor and two opposed’” (Mikaelson 146). Cole is needing to change the mind of the society which is the school, the circle, and the school district to allow the mascot to change to the spirit bear. Second, in Touching Spirit Bear, the conflict is Cole vs. Himself. “Rage controlled his tight grip on the match. It controlled the defiant flare of his nostrils and the striking of the match against the box. . . . The gas ignited, and flames spread quickly into a steady blaze that crept over the boxes” (Mikaelson 25). In the beginning of Touching Spirit Bear, Cole lets his rage get to him, he didn’t know how to control himself. “In death there was no control, no anger, no one to blame, no choices, no nothing. To be alive was to have choice, the power to choose was real power, not the fake power of making others afraid. Cole knew he had used that fake power many times. All of his life he had squandered his choices, wallowing in revenge and self-pity, keeping himself down. Now, as he lay near death, those he had hated were safe and warm. Those he had blamed were still alive and well. He had hurt himself most. Life was empty and meaningless unless he found some meaning” (Mikaelson 83-84). Cole is realizing that when he thought he was hurting someone

Literary analysis of Touching Spirit Bear and The Devil’s Arithmetic Devil’s Arithmetic and Touching Spirit Bear are similar in ways like theme, and character problems but are also very different because Devil’s Arithmetic is based off of a true story and time in history. Touching Spirit Bear is a fictional story. Although each novel is either punishment related or hatred against a race or group. In these novels characters Chaya and Cole are in similar situations but different reasons why they are where they are.

I read the sequel to Touching Spirit Bear for one of my projects to complete. The book is called The Ghost of Spirit Bear. In these two books there is a lot of similarities and differences. Both books also have a similar theme. Although, I did end up liking one more than the other.

The main character in Touching Spirit Bear is named Cole Matthews. Cole is a stereotypical teen delinquent who was raised with anger,

Another common theme between the two books is following the rules and how quite a few characters from each novel chose not to follow them. A lot of the characters in each novel break the rules or do something that’s just morally wrong like lying. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher decides to keep investigating about the dog dying case even after his father told him to stop investigating. Phineas breaks the rules in A Separate Peace when he falls out of the tree hanging above the river and breaks his leg after he was told not to climb in the tree

A coming of age story that I have read would be Touching Spirit Bear, it's about a kid who gets in serious trouble because he beats up another kid and he could do serious jail time. Instead of doing jail time his parole officer sends him the a Native American justice program called Circle Justice. When Garvey his parole officer drops him off at the shelter program and leaves Cole the kid torches the shelter and tries to swim over to the next island over to try to escape and never return. But the tide kept pushing him back in, and eventually he has to return to the shore and wait it out. But before he can try escaping again he runs into a bear, it's a spirit bear, a huge, tall, white bear that someone had told him was a spiritual being. Instead

Then something else that was similar was that in both the book and movie was that Odd had the same dream. The dream was about an open place with lots of people, such as a mall, arena, or a bowling alley. Then during the dream people were all screaming and yelling for help. There was dead bodies all around Odd, and he heard gunfire. The reason this was so important was because his dreams came true. The bad thing is that he doesn’t know the exact date or when it was going to happen. Another thing that the book and the movie have in common is that Stormy was shot and killed in both. Odd tried to deny it for a few days, but he knew that what he was seeing was Stormy's ghost not actually Stormy. This is important in the book and movie because it shows how deep of a bond Stormy and Odd had. They had matching birthmarks. Finally the last similarity is that Bob or fungus man goes into the church the same time in the movie as the book. This is important because it plays a big role in how the story goes. Odd thought that Bob was alive and coming to hurt Odd because he broke into Bobs apartment earlier that day. While Bob was coming to

Fall down seven times, bring yourself back up eight . When life is put into scenarios of stress and pressure towards a certain task, sport, or a certain relationship, we tend not to comprehend and leaving our balance off the plank. Exploring around for puzzles and our environment helps us look deeper into what might seem as a regular imaginary picture, however it could be a delusion into something bigger. Your book, Touching Spirit Bear, brought up the thought of reality and how it has changed over time. The existence of this book marked a future from the critical side of decisions and effects it has caused for me to think more validly .

The book shares similar qualities of humor and a lighthearted mood with the latter book. A big difference would be the books ability to cover bigger real world issues in elementary school, as mentioned by BCCB in a review on Douglas Rees’s website. The excerpt from their review

The Round House, written in 2012 and set on an Indian reservation in the late 1980s, is Erdrich's 14th novel. The story is told through the eyes of a 13 year old boy, Joe, the son of a tribal judge who's mother was brutally raped and almost set on fire. While his mother withdraws into herself and her bedroom it leaves Joe and Joe's father with a deep need for justice, each seeking it in their own way. Joe's father, being a tribal judge, is searching for the legal route of detection and prosecution of the individual. He's tied up a lot in the red tape of laws and treaties governing the relationship between the Native Americans and their land and the federal government. Joe is only 13 years old and is under no need nor scrutiny to go about avenging his mother in the way of adults. He, along with his three friends Cappy, Zach, and Angus, begin their own investigating and end up doing a pretty good job of it considering their age.