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Cole's Transformation In Touching Spirit Bear By Ben Mikaelsen

409 Words2 Pages
Throughout chapters 9-16 in the novel "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen, the protagonist, Cole, undergoes a significant transformation. Initially, Cole is consumed with anger, blame, and a desire to hurt others. However, after experiencing the punishment of banishment to a remote Alaskan island and a close encounter with a white spirit bear, Cole begins to see the world with newfound clarity. He begins to introspect, finding that his anger and negative behavior originated from his own personal pain and shame. Cole begins to shed his old destructive habits and ultimately chooses to take accountability for his past actions.

During his time on the island, Cole undergoes a physical and emotional transformation. Initially, he reacts to
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Cole notices how bad his Point-of-view is with his parents and how it changes with his mom but not his dad, and how it changes on the island and with Peter. In the first place, Coles

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In the novel Touching Spirit Bear, troubled protagonist Cole Matthews has severely injured another boy. Instead of being taken into custody, he is given a second chance, and sent to a remote island. The program responsible for this alternate adhesion of justice, Circle Justice, is something that helps kids everywhere escape a life of crime, and become functioning adults. The arrogant teen takes full advantage of his luck, and manages to get himself into a deadly situation. Now, it is up to officials to decide whether he should return to the island, or carry out the rest of his sentence in prison.

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Wait, I think I'm going too far and putting my life here, so now Cole is banished to an island and mauled by the Spirit Bear. And I honestly think that Cole deserved it, because it changed him to become better and not worse, and he has found meaning in life and has changed for the better. And I think Cole will be able to change, because after he has touched the Spirit Bear, he feels trusted and he trusts the Spirit Bear in return, and he finally views the world as beautiful unlike before. Lastly, I think after Cole returns from his banishment, the people in circle justice will want him to undergo normal justice, and then Cole does some crazy things to prove that he has changed, for example pushing a rock up and down a hill. So in summary, I think Cole is broken, Cole

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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.

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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.

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When Cole arrives on the island, he is consumed by anger, bitterness, and an unwillingness to change. As soon as Edwin, a Tlingit elder, and Garvey leave, Cole sets fire to his constructed shelter and supplies, and jumps into the ocean to swim to freedom. Caught by the rising tide, he is unable to escape the island. In his first few days on the island, he has several encounters with a majestic, white bear called a Spirit Bear, and he is determined to kill it out of anger. One day, when he sees the bear, he stabs it with his knife and a makeshift spear.

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Cole was beaten by him throughout his childhood. This pain and anger gave him the personality and characteristic to inflict pain on other people. The two final themes have a very strong connection. In order to heal, mentally and physically, you have to learn to forgive and receive forgiveness. This was a lesson the reader and the main character, Cole, experience throughout the book.

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Garvey and Edwin help to get Cole over his anger, one way they do this is by being the first people to care about Cole. Another way Garvey

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Cole’s attitude, relationships, and environment develop into positive counterbalances that help him overcome adversity. For starters, Cole’s attitude was a big counterbalance for him that helped him overcome hardships. In the beginning of the book Cole acts like he doesn’t care and

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At the beginning of the novel, Cole Matthews is a vicious teenager who thinks he is superior to everyone, but is, in fact, hiding behind a shield of anger, the result of being brutally abused by his drunken father. Cole’s father, Mr. Matthews, drinks non stop until he becomes a monster, and then ruthlessly beats Cole up. When talking to Garvey, a proud, Tlingit indian, who is also his parole officer, Cole opens up about his father’s abuse saying, “‘You don’t know what it’s like being hit over and over until you’re so numb you don’t feel anything!” (Mikaelsen 28).

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On the island, Cole learns to heal and improve his poor habits by dealing with the trauma from his parents and facing the guilt from his past mistakes. He

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Once she tried to stop mr. Mathews, and he threatened to beat her too. When Cole comes back to then, he realises that he has gone nowhere. He is confused, nearly numb and freezing his butt off. He forgot to consider the low and high tide. When he returns back to the island, he decides to stay and consider some other way to escape.

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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.

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For example, when Cole purposy bothered the Spirt Bear and later on ended up getting mauld by the animal. It is obvious that Cole’s decisions and actions against banishment lead him to fail the act. Cole’s consistent negative attitude made him dislike the idea of meaning humane. Since the beginning of the book, Cole has satisfied himself with anger. Cole believes that he can concor anything with his anger.

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Cole emphasizes in his lyrics that “life can’t be no fairytale, no once upon a time; but [he’ll] be God damned if a n***a don’t be tryin’”. Despite all the shortcomings of his city, that won’t stop Cole from trying to make something out of himself. In comparison, I always had to learn things the hard way, and I always failed at what I tried to achieve. However my mistakes never stopped from moving forward and I continue to overcome any obstacles that stand in my way. Living through the hard times motivates me to continuously work hard, and never settle for

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