Quotes In Touching Spirit Bear

In Ben Mikaelsen’s Touching Spirit Bear, the main character, Cole Matthews has mixed opinions about himself and nature throughout the book. The above haikus illustrate Cole’s feelings and opinions toward nature in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. The three haikus tell many things, including Aha Moment signposts, the fact that Cole is a dynamic character, and even one little theme of the book. They can teach you a lot about Cole as a character and the whole plot of the story. In the beginning haiku, the words illustrate Cole’s anger, defiance, and attempted dominance above nature. Cole says, “. . . ‘It made me mad that the bear wasn’t afraid of me. I wanted to destroy anything that defied me’” (Mikaelsen 212). This characterizes Cole as rash, and it shows he may have trouble with his anger. Despite this quote being later in the book, describes an event earlier in the book. This is why the “mustn’t be challenged” was included in the third line of the haiku; it is showing that Cole doesn’t want anyone to be stronger than him, or challenge him in the beginning of the book. Also, because the plot events all starting with an inciting incident of pure anger;

Cole has changed how he feels about nature from the beginning of the book, exactly like how the first and final haikus differ from each other. The following statement shows how he has changed and realized he is a small part of a big circle, and is what inspired the “realizing life’s a circle” part of the haiku: “Standing beside the totems, explained to Peter that being invisible was being a part of life’s circle and accepting it. ‘This morning, when we forgave each other, we also forgave ourselves,’ he said. ‘We allowed ourselves to become a part of the big circle. . . .’” (Mikaelsen 239), whereas in the beginning Cole hated the idea of the circle and only thought of