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. The setting takes place on an Island off Alaska and in Indianapolis. The message the author, Mikaelsen, wants the reader to understand …show more content…
The power of nature is the most influential force in the book because nature teaches Cole about growing up and makes him notice that there are things more powerful than him. For example, in the book after he gets mauled by the bear, he starts to notice what’s around him. The irony in this book is that he never saw what nature was really about, and then when he was ripped apart he couldn’t move and enjoy what he had just discovered. The next theme is Anger, I thought that this was important because the whole story is about a boy who can’t control his anger. Anger isn’t only related to Cole but also his father. 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. For example, in the final chapter, Cole and Peter undergo the process of forgiveness and healing. As Cole said in the end of the book “This morning, when we forgave each other, we also forgave ourselves....” This shows that they have taken an enormous step of becoming older and wiser person. Therefore the concept of growing up includes the theme of forgiveness and