Carter Fergus
Jonathan Swanson
Griffin Kitching
Max Schumaker
Mrs. Holsather-Nelson
Language Arts, Period 5
3 April 2023
Circle of Life Essay Touching Spirit Bear is a novel focused on Cole Mathews’ journey through his anger. Cole is changed on a remote island off the coast of Alaska where he is isolated after a vicious assault on Peter Driscal. Life's a circle. Everything can be circled back to something sometime. Touching Spirit Bear is no different. Throughout the novel by Ben Mikealson, many characters have a heavy influence on Cole’s mental and physical life as he goes through this journey. Some of these characters include Garvey, a prison guard who supports Cole and helps him get over his anger, Peter, the now-disabled boy who Cole doesn’t know how to feel about, and Cole’s father, who beats Cole regularly for no reason, the flame that sparked Cole’s anger.
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As a result of the attack, Peter suffered possibly permanent coordination and speech disabilities. Cole eventually feels terrible about Peter and gets him to come to the Alaskan island after two suicide attempts, so he can help Peter and himself heal and find forgiveness. However, when Peter arrives, he beats up Cole and Cole refuses to fight back. Eventually, Peter finds forgiveness in Cole and allows him and his mind to heal. Garvey helps Cole through his emotional voyage and never gets mad without reason. Garvey was a prison guard at Cole’s detention center. He had close ties to an organization under the alias of “Circle Justice.” He was able to get Cole onto the island instead of spending months in prison. Garvey is generally a supportive character and a mentor to Cole in many ways. Later, he reveals that he spent time in prison and proves to Cole that finding forgiveness is