“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.
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.
(Mikaelsen 249). This is a drastic change from the beginning of the novel, where Cole hates everyone and everything and only thinks of himself. Near the very end of the story, Peter attacks Cole and Cole asks him to stop but he refuses to fight back. The old Cole would’ve fallen down and come up swinging as hard as he could. I believe he has truly changed from how he had previously acted.
When you read this book didn't you realize how much Cole had changed well so did I. In the beginning of the book Cole beat up Peter Driscol, and he didn't even regret it. For example “He didn’t regret hurting Peter. He would get revenge, especially against those who had wanted him in jail.” Page 45.
It felt like I might as well be on the island alone, again. The spirit bear doesn’t show again. After a week passes Peter comes running into the cabin where I was doing my school work and says, “There is a boat.” We run outside and look out across the bay. In the distance there is a boat in the distance.
Cole was always left to his own thoughts; having all the time in the world. Banishment isolates the person from the rest of the world leaving them in a state of cogitation. Also, banishment doesn’t send the person to be secluded from everyone and be dispirited. It is to
Cole’s Personality changes drastically throughout the story. He goes from being a juvenile delinquent to being a person who cares about life and knows how to forgive. Three ways that he changed, are his physical ability, his personality, and his self esteem or self confidence. Things around him, like his home life, changed drastically as well. When they changed it influenced the already changing Cole to change even more.
Anger never goes away, it is just like happiness. You can control it or let the inner beast roam wild. In order to help him take control of this burning anger inside of him he must go to a remote island off the coast of Alaska, an island that contain many animals including the Spirit Bear. Obviously the Spirit Bear doesn’t exist, it’s just a metaphor or something to help Cole get over his anger, right? WRONG!
Have you ever felt close to a certain animal, as if you share the same traits? I share the traits of a lot of animals, and was hard pressed to narrow it down to four. In Language Arts class, we did a novel study on the book Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. In this novel, the main character is on an island and was told to carve a totem of his spirit animals. We, too, were forced to create a totem.
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.
The book touching spirit bear is a gruesome at points but is also jumbled at point. It talks about a kid that has been abused. The book is based off of real things like Circle Justices . The kid has had a bad childhood.
Previously, Garvey already discussed why circle justice is better than jail. However, he is now disclosing his true identity by saying that he has experienced the same troubles as Cole. He's telling us that because circle justice didn't exist for him, he couldn't heal. He claims that things could have been different if he had gone through circle justice, but it appears to me that nobody cares about individuals like Cole anymore because all we want to do is lock them up and forget about them. Furthermore, Garvey explains that he couldn't heal the individuals he wounded because he didn't have circle justice.
Cole shoved Peter on the ground and beat him up so bad on his school sidewalk. He had a choice of being sent to juvenile prison or the circle of justice. Of course he chose the circle of justice because who would want to go to prison. Then Garvey and Edwin took him to an island in Alaska. Cole also asked for trust.
Jean Auel is one of the leading authors in historical fiction novels, filled with adventure, romance, and creative views of her characters. Clan of the Cave Bear is her smallest novel of 468 pages, which is filled with her lengthy paragraphs describing in great detail, the historical land in her books. One night she suddenly began working on a short story, after inspiration struck she learned as much as she could about prehistoric life and the world in which all our ancestors came;now one of the leading authors in historical fiction novels, filled with adventure, romance, and creative views of her characters Auel attended University of Portland. While a student, she joined Mensa, and worked at Tektronix, as a clerk , a circuit board designer,
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
