In the novel Touching Spirit Bear, Cole deals with extreme anger issues. Beating up kids, and always wanting to get his way. However, a year-long banishment to an isolated island teaches him his lesson when he is almost immediately mauled by the Spirit Bear, which leaves him immobile and reflective. The situation is different from what he is normally used to, and Cole finds himself learning more about the world. Later, the bear comes back, standing over him, waiting. Instead of killing Cole, the bear walks off, leaving Edwin and Garvey to discover him on the brink of death. When Cole finally has the ability to choke out sentences at the hospital, he declares that he is beyond anger. Cole wanted to stop having his destructive fits of anger and was sure that he would stop being mad. Things would change. Edwin, an elder that Garvey asked assistance from while planning Cole’s banishment, countered his statement by explaining that “A person is never done being mad. Anger is a memory never forgotten. You only tame it”. …show more content…
This is also considered foreshadowing. Edwin is already saying that Cole is not going to have it easy with this new plan of his. For future reference, Cole will have to face more challenges that will test his new theory. Take his parents for example. Although Cole says that he is done being mad, will he ever actually forgive his parents? Possibly, but ten years from now, even if they are all sitting together and laughing, Coe will never forget about how his parents treated him. His mother was never there for him, and his father had always put him down and beaten him. There is no way that Cole is going to just forgive