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Theme Of Touching Spirit Bear

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The theory of life being a circle is expressed throughout grade school, but it was never really more than touched on, with the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen it is truly a subject of discussion in American classes. Mikaelsen expresses this symbolism through the character Edwin, who is a Native American, from the island region where the main character Cole Matthews is sent. The whole idea of life being a circle starts off with the quote ‘“Is everything always a circle’ asked Cole ‘Why not’ Garvey said ‘Life’s a circle.”’ This is one of the main themes throughout the novel. On page 22 the quote "Patience, gentleness, strength, honesty," Edwin said. He looked up into the trees. "Animals can teach us more about ourselves than any
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Permanent Change With Cole Getting attacked by a giant bear alone in the forest and then having to lay on the ground without being able to use of an arm or legs would change the way the world is seen, would it not? Maybe having to sit in a freezing river then having to carry a huge rock up a mountain might change something. If forgiving anyone and everyone who had hurt you and you moved on, don’t you think that some little part of you might change? In the book Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, Cole was able to make permanent change by having a near death experience, his morning routine, and learning to forgive those who had hurt him. With doing these actions he learned to move on from his past and become a better person.

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Touching Spirit Bear By Cameron Gillis Touching Spirit Bear is an intriguing and breathtaking novel by US author, Ben Mikaelsen . The genre of this book is adventure and coming of age because we, as the reader, understand the difficult journey the protagonist, Cole, goes through as he matures and changes. The book is carefully written from the first and third person point of view to help see and understand the events from different perspectives. The other main characters are Edwin, Garvey, Cole’s parents, and the Spirit Bear. The main themes of the book are the power of nature, anger, forgiveness, and healing.

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931 Words | 4 Pages

“Something very beautiful happens to people when their world has fallen apart: a humility, a nobility, a higher intelligence emerges at just the point when our knees hit the floor.” (Marianne Williamson). Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, focuses on a boy named Cole who doesn’t care about anything and does whatever he wants. He ends up beating up a fellow student and goes to jail for it, but has a chance to get out by going to an island to “change” for the better. In fact he does end up changing for the better and overcomes some of his big challenges.

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1269 Words | 6 Pages

Sometimes people need a certain experience to change their point of view. In Touching Spirit Bear, written by Ben Mikaelsen, a violent teenager named Cole Matthews is sent on a mission to redeem himself, and faces radical experiences that ultimately change his whole mindset. He commits the crime of beating up a fellow peer, then is banished to an island as a punishment for his actions by the Circle Justice; a committee that serves as an alternative form of justice in the Tlingit culture. He then faces difficult and even deadly challenges. As a result of this experience, he changes from his ungovernable, supercilious ways as he comes to strong and sudden realizations of how wrong he was, and he learns how to be an honest and forgiving human being.

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698 Words | 3 Pages

In his passage from “Last Child in the Woods,” Richard Louv uses various rhetorical strategies in order to make his audience more supportive of his argument. The passage discusses the connection, or really the separation, between people and nature. On this subject, Louv argues the necessity for people to redevelop their connection with nature. His use of tone, anecdotes, rhetorical questions, and factual examples all help develop the pathos and logos of his piece.

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166 Words | 1 Pages

For Touching Spirit Bear the plot was, a boy named Cole who had done a terrible action was sent to a isolated island to live for a couple months, on the island he need to find food shelter and resources. There was also a bear with him who attacked the boy and then went on to almost kill the boy, later on in the book they become more than mates and go on to change the boys character. In the Wind Tamer a boy named Archie Stringweed had had his 10th birthday coming up and got a mysterious gift from his godfather his overprotective mom demanded him not to open this gift as she feared what was inside. He then goes on to open the present and sees a coin with weird carvings on it, he thinks maybe this is the answer this is the story behind his parents

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755 Words | 4 Pages

Our beliefs, culture, and needs as humans influence our relationships with wildlife and how we view each individual species as well as how we treat/preserve them. After reading Wild Ones, it is obvious that the author Jon Mooallem and the others mentioned in the book believe that polar bears, birds and bees are specific animals that deem worthy of protection. Mooallem provides many examples of people who give reasoning as to why we should help preserve these animals. Mooallem uses the specific people’s backgrounds to show the difference of opinions in someone who has knowledge of the animal versus someone that only adores the animal because of the animals looks.

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515 Words | 3 Pages

Totem poles are a way to show who you are through symbolism. In the novel Touching Spirit Bear, Cole uses a totem pole to remind him how he needs to act everyday of his life. He carves his totem pole to let out his inner anger and to use his time on the island wisely. The first thing on my totem pole is a fish. Fish see things from underneath, just like I do.

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932 Words | 4 Pages

Has anyone ever called you an animal? Have you been compared to a sloth because you were lazy, or a mouse because you were quiet? In my Language Arts class, we read the book “Touching Spirit Bear” by Ben Mikaelsen. In this novel, a troubled teenage boy named Cole is banished to an island to find and heal his soul after he severely beats a kid. During his stay on the island, Cole realizes that he is similar to several different animals.

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920 Words | 4 Pages

Circularity is the concept of a similar action being repeated throughout a story. Usually it happens through father to son or mother to daughter. Khaled Hosseini uses the concept of circularity through Amir and his family to show how the action a person does can negatively affect the actions of his offspring or even his friends, but it could also be positive and influence one’s close ones to have better views of what is “right” and wrong”. The first instance comes from the relations of Amir and Hassan as well as Baba and Ali, in The Kite Runner. Baba is described to have a great bond with Ali, but as a child Baba never admits Ali to being his friend due to his religion.

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690 Words | 3 Pages

At first, she thinks nature has nothing to offer the human race, “I don’t think I can learn from a wild animal how to live in particular … but I might learn something of mindlessness…” (Dillard 11). Through this change in mind, Dillard comes to realize that by observing nature, there is much to learn about the meaning of life. If only one opens up to the idea of learning from an animal, nature

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893 Words | 4 Pages

The book Ghost of Spirit Bear is a sequel to the book Touching Spirit Bear. I enjoyed this book because it has a good story and plot. While this book is not as adventurous or moving as the first book Ghost of Spirit Bear still has a good plot and creates vivid pictures in your mind while reading. I prefered Touching Spirit Bear over this book because it has more adventure and a more shocking story. The book consists mainly of the same characters but more were added when Peter and Cole go to school.

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393 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout history, many different people have wondered how life on Earth started. Different cultures came up with many different ideas on how life was created and used these ideas to create stories. Today we call these stories origin myths. The Native Americans had many different origin myths. Almost every tribe had their own individual story.

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816 Words | 4 Pages

“Clearly animals know more than we think, and think a great deal more than we know. ”- Irene M. Pepperberg. This quote shows that animals are smarter than we think and know more than we think they know. In the two poems “A Blessing” and “Predators”, there are many ways that they are similar and different.

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818 Words | 4 Pages

We should value nature and its animals much more (Becker, 1971). In today’s world we have what Becker calls a “power-saw mentality” (Becker, 1971, p. 114). Instead we’re greedy with what nature has to offer us. “Man takes what nature offers us, but usually only what he needs” (Becker, 1971, p. 114). There is a psychological difference in today’s world of what we enjoy out of nature (Becker, 1971).

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