Theme Of Touching Spirit Bear

I had the same feelings when I read the back of the book. I truly enjoyed the novel. The description and detail of the bear mauling was intense. This story shows that children are a product of their environment. Cole's parents were alcoholics and his mother wouldn't / couldn't defend him against the constant beatings from his father. I felt so sorry for Cole but at the same time got so angry with his behavior. I believe everyone can change regardless of what environment they were brought up in and Cole proved that in the story. It is weird how the circle of

In the book, Cole has started to show signs of his changing, why stop it? In the text, it states, “Are you okay?” In this quote, Cole has witness a nest of baby sparrows fall from a tree struck by lightning, earlier he was irritated and he wanted to smack that nest off the tree. All his life, he has shown hate, anger, disrespect, disobedience, brutality, extreme hubris, and violence, because of his environment with his abusive father, and has been like this ever since. However, this quote changes everything, because of one thing. He shows a redeeming quality that he has never experienced before, or has ever shown. He shows compassion. It’s only right that we send him right back, he could learn so

Responsibility is a theme that is carried throughout both books, but used in extremely diverse ways. Touching Spirit Bear is a story about forgiveness and healing, and Cole has to take responsibility for his past actions, and on improving himself emotionally. He has to forgive his father, the people around him, the Spirit Bear, and most importantly he has to forgive himself. Cole also takes responsibility for helping Peter heal from Cole’s beating, emotionally, because Peter is suicidal. Cole tells Peter, “’My dad has beaten me my whole life,’ he explained. ‘But I know now he never meant to hurt me. He was beaten by his father, and that’s all he knew.’ Cole swallowed a big lump that had formed in his throat. ‘I learned to forgive,’ he said. ‘Not just others, but also myself.’” (Mikaelsen, 214). The Last Dog on Earth, in comparison, is a coming of age story, where Logan must learn responsibility through order. His step-father Robert, through getting him a

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

In the book Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. Everyone agreed that cole was a terrible person in the beginning of the book. The relationships of a few people made cole change into a nicer and better person. Cole a bad boy gets in big trouble by beating up peter. Then gets banished to an island. Cole transforms into a better person because of his relationships. Cole has many interesting relationships that change him. The 3 best relationships are Gravey, Peter, his Parents.

In the novel, Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelson, Cole Matthews undergoes conflict. Minneapolis’ infamous Cole Matthews is a fifteen-year-old juvenile delinquent, who experiences a paucity of love and positive attention growing up. Consequently, the abuse creates his barbarous perspective towards life and other people. Struggling to manage his uncontrollable anger, he endures conflict with his innocent peer, Peter Driscal, with nature, with his own self, and with his inebriated parents.

Everyone diminishes their anger in different ways. Whether that be punching a pillow, reflecting on your problems, or even sitting in freezing cold water at the crack of dawn. In Touching Spirit Bear by: Ben Mikaelsen, Cole Matthews, a previously troubled boy, is banished to an island off the coast of Alaska for a year, after he beat a boy named Peter to depression, by The Circle Justice, a method of healing used by the Native American Tlingit tribe. Edwin, a Tlingit Indian, and Garvey, Cole’s parole officer, introduced him to many ways to relieve his own anger on the island. Whether that be treating every meal as a feast, soaking in a frigid pond until numb, or creating dances for every animal seen. These practices effectively changed the

Touching Spirit Bear is a prodigious book that teaches you a lot of lessons while also giving you the enjoyment that any good book gives you while you read it. This book starts off with a juvenile delinquent by the name of Cole Matthews. In the book, Cole smashes the skull of another kid named Peter Driscoll against a sidewalk and is about to go to trial when two guys at his detention center, Garvey and Edwin, get him interested in a Native American system of healing called Circle Justice.

Literary Analysis of Touching Spirit Bear and The Devil’s Arithmetic Chaya and Cole are two kids fighting different battles to help save their own lives. Chaya and Cole are both going through tough times in their lives. While Touching Spirit Bear and Devil's Arithmetic characters have different conflicts throughout the story. Chaya and Cole are going through the same thing. Having to survive in harsh conditions and are going through life or death situations.

Cole Matthews is the main character of the book Touching Spirit Bear. He is 15 year old boy. He does bad things. Hes all was in trouble and was given a second chance or they as you can see on page 6.” Each time he got into trouble he was told to shape up because this was his last chance.”

In the beginning of the novel, Cole behaves cruelly when he becomes emotional. One example from the book is when Edwin is taking him to the island for the first time “Anger welled up inside cole. He hated that stupid stare. Pretending to aim for the waves, he spit so the wind would catch the thick saliva and carry it back” (Mikaelsen 5). Therefore the spit hit Edwin.

hapter 13: Cole is in Drake with nurse Rosey, but there is no medivac plane available to get Cole to a real hospital. Cole had vivid dreams of his family and friends helping him but also taunting him for being puny and incapable (again). Cole persisted to be baffled at why Rosey and Garvey were helping him. When the medevac plane arrives the next day, Edwin and Garvey ask Cole what happened on the island, when Cole explains what happened Edwin simply can’t believe that there was a real Spirit Bear on the island as they usually live on the south of Drake. While Cole has the tuft of white hair in his jean pocket, he commits to telling the truth and asking the two men to trust him.

When Cole was sent to the island and got mauled by the bear, he learned many things about himself and what life meant to him. To start, he discovered that the world didn’t revolve around him. One of Cole’s observations when he was mauled by the bear was that everything around him were in harmony. Everything would move on if he died, and that was okay. Cole also learnt compassion for those less fortunate.

Cole Matthews is a boy is very dangerous and his behavior and his characteristics get him into a lot of trouble. For example when Peter Driscoll told on Cole for robbing a convenience store and Cole got into a lot of trouble. But Cole being Cole he slammed peters head into the pavement causing permanent speaking impediment. “With anger that had been brewing up all day, he attacked him and started to hit him hard in the face with bare fists Peter was not match”. “Nobody crossed Cole Matthews and got away with it”. So Cole Matthews is not only very angry but very rebellious towards authorities. We have two examples of this the first one was when they were going to the Alaskan island for his banishment and Edwin was there. But Cole hated

Overcoming situations in life and moving past them is hard for many people and challenges people with inner conflict. Many of these situations include making mistakes. Forgiving and learning from those mistakes are essential but being able to move on is the most important thing in overcoming these situations and challenges in life. This idea can be seen in many pieces of text including the following poems. “A Poison Tree” by William Blake and “A total stranger one black day” by e.e. cummings both convey the message that people need to learn to forgive in order to move on which also means learning from mistakes.