He is going to Alaska because he robbed a hardware store and beat a boy named Peter Driscal so badly he could have died. The Rising Action is when Cole beats up Peter because Peter told the police that Cole had broken into a hardware store; and that he robbed the store and then trashed it. After nearly killing Peter some boys from their school pulled Cole off of Peter.
The book starts with a delinquent named Cole who likes to get into trouble with things like robberies, bullying and possibly drugs and alcohol. The first bit of the book starts off with Cole bragging about robbing a store and then a boy named Peter Driscal tattles on him and Cole gives him a mean glare and says, “ You’re dead!”. Later that day Cole finds Peter and brutally beats him while others watch and try to stop Cole. As part of his punishment he is told he has two options; number one being jail and number two being circle justice and a banishment to an island off the coast of Alaska. Cole choses the island and two men named Garvey and Edwin.
Cole has what you call anger issues. Ever since the beginning of the book, the first thing you realize about Cole is his anger. In most things he does, it is all based on anger for everyone/everything around him
Instead, he suffered as a result of his choices in life. Cole has been lonely all his life, and this has led to him to start doing things that have hurt and harmed others as well as himself for attention. Cole's feelings have been written on chapter 8, page 73 as "every action worked against him and hurt him deeply, a bitter loneliness swept over him as tears clouded his vision. " Cole felt alone, but only recognized it when he was on the brink of death. This, in turn, led to Cole trying to fill the loneliness with other things like violence and theft, which nearly lead him to his death.
Of course, Cole did not take this seriously, so he let his anger in control and burned down his only shelter with food, and everything he needed to supply him on the island. His wild laughter had mocked the world, and everyone he had ever known. He thought of every time his dad has beaten him, and every time his mom never cared. But now Cole was on his own, and he was in control, no one was stopping him. But after he felt a slight mood of loneliness, Cole started to feel emotional.
Socrates once said “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old but on building the new.” Cole Matthews is related to this quote because before he went to the island he was focusing all of his energy on fighting the old Cole instead of building the new. At the start of the book Cole is irresponsible, he doesn't own up to anything he does and always blame other people for things that he are his fault. Cole was disrespectful towards everyone and everything at the beginning of the book. He also was very grateful about everything and takes everything for granted.
This lead him to be more trusting to others and the first time someone trusted Cole. Secondly, staying at Rosey’s hotel started to make Cole show a
When Cole was mauled by the bear he spotted a nest full of baby sparrows and he saw their mom. You might be thinking about how baby sparrows affect his anger. Well, let's see when he found the birds. I believed it was the day before the big thunderstorm. In the big thunderstorm, the tree with the babies got struck down and Cole realized how jealous he was of the sparrows because they had a mom to feed and clean them and he never had that type of mother.
Now imagine having to make a decision that determines who lives and who dies. Imagine being at school where you are to feel safe and having a tragic fire take place. This is just one of the many challenges Cole faces. In chapter seven, he goes over the traumatic event with a flashback. He goes over how he sees the children he dead, crushed or burned alive.
Cole learns to forgive his Dad in order to unload the anger he has directed towards him. The years of abuse have led Cole to see himself as a whale because he has no home and doesn't trust his family. This is why he was so angry and always lashed out at people. He wades through information that tells him his Dad doesn’t hate him, but he was beaten as a kid to. If he grew up learning that it was okay to do bad things to people then he still thinks that it is okay now.
Cole has a troubled history with the outdoors that likely stems from his need to control everything around him. Upon his arrival to the island, Cole burns down his shelter and his only supplies as a way of feeling powerful. Soon after, Cole attempts to stab the Spirit Bear. The Spirit Bear is a large, white bear that periodically appears on the Alaskan island. Cole feels intimidated by this bear, so he attempts to frighten it.
Everything will turn out right in the end, and Cole exhibits this. The whole reason that Cole ended up o the island in the first place is because he made bad choices. These choices led to more bad choices and then Cole had a traumatic experience. This changes Cole’s life forever.
Because of his abrupt behavior, Cole has done many unintelligent things, such as burning his shelter on the island. His anger is his choice if Cole communicates by showing anger, isn’t he responsible for all of his actions? Cole has runined so many options of a better life that have come to him. It isn’t surprising that Cole wasn’t in support of the banishment process. In chapter 2, Cole started to search for an escape on the island, he loathed the shelter, the lonleyness, and the fact that he has no one to blame.
People do not want to listen to him and say that it's “his fire” so basically he should be the one to tend to it. Everyone else is worried about meant and going swimming. He is confronted with the challenge of survival, and instead of playing and trying to solemnly have fun, he makes a responsible choice to try and get rescued. To do this he lights the fire to give off smoke and draw a boat to the island. The responsible choices can lead to them being rescued, while having fun will not get them anywhere.
The first fire is built to signal ships for their rescue; it symbolizes hope here. Once the fire is burning brightly, the boys “paused to enjoy the freshness of [the fire]... they flung themselves down in the shadows that lay among the shattered rocks,” (41). The fire comforts the young island inhabitants because it lets them relax with the hope of getting rescued. The boys on the island start to lose hope, even Ralph. Ralph tells Piggy “let the fire go then, for tonight,” (164), showing that he has stopped caring about getting home.
