Touching Spirit Bear

This is a character profile of Cole Matthews, the main character in “Touching Spirit Bear.”

Touching Spirit Bear is about a teenager named Cole Matthews. Cole Matthews lives in Minneapolis he has anger issues that may have been caused because his dad beat him up and mother doesn't stand up for him. Cole Matthews gets himself into a lot of trouble .About a week after Cole robbed a hardware store without getting caught . A guy named Peter Driscal tattled on him and told the police all about the robbery . This made Cole very upset causing him to push Peter into the sidewalk making his head bleed and repeatedly kicking and punching Peter. So after the Peter incident Cole had to decide if he should go to jail for 2 years or 1 year in the circle of justice which could end up being worse than the 2 years in jail if he really doesn't want

Anger can get to people, and that happened to Cole Matthews the main character in the book Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, cole has a history of hurting or beating up people because of the way his dad beats him and his mom never pitches in to help. When he gets told on by Peter Driscoll, a freshman, tells on cole when he sees cole break into a hardware store cole gets in trouble and is mad at peter so he beats him up. Peter gets very injured. Cole is then sent to alaska as part of circle justice. Among this cole learns many lessons like how to forgive anger, honesty, and the circle of healing.

In the novel,Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, circle justice not that good for cole. I believe this is true because cole is just going to escape. Also because cole grew up with money his parents were wealthy . Lastly, cole never really had anyone in his life that really cared so it's really no different.

All people are born to survive. Hannah and Cole had to survive harsh environments to ever see their family's again. But they will learn totally different lessons to help them in the future.

In the books Touching Spirit Bear and Devil’s Arithmetic they have many similarities and differences in conflict. In the book Touching Spirit Bear it’s set on an island with a spirit bear. A kid named Cole Matthews got sent to the island as a consequence. In the book Devil’s Arithmetic it is set during the Holocaust. The main character is a girl named Hannah and she has to face all of the consequences the people in the Holocaust did. Although the two books have a lot of similarities in conflict they also have a lot of differences.

The realistic fiction novel Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen, the passage indicates that anger can never be forgotten. On Cole’s second trip to the island, after his mauling by the Spirit Bear, Cole still struggles with his anger. Edwin takes him to a freezing spring and teaches him, using two sides of a stick as an symbol, that you can never get rid of your anger, but you can focus on happier times. After Cole leaves the water and soaks in Edwin’s meaning, he concludes that Edwin’s message “makes more sense than all the weird things the counselors and psychologist have told me” (Mikaelsen 146). Cole will never stop being resentful of his life, how his parents neglect and abuse him, how everyone seemingly wants to just get rid of him.

There are many themes being shown throughout Touching Spirit Bear, but one that stood out the most is change. I learned about change mainly through Circle Justice. Circle justice is different than a regular court system because it gives opportunities to help someone heal and become a better person. It helps both the victim and the person who caused harm by trying to help the two. Circle Justice teaches to forgive, and to become better, rather than just giving out a punishment. Out of the many examples of change, one which had a major effect on everyone was when Cole was given the chance to be sent to the island. This had a lot to do with the change in Cole’s personality. After Cole was mauled by the bear, he realized that he wasn't as powerful

Guided by his mentors, Garvey and Edwin, as well as the healing circle process, Cole unravels his pent-up anger and pain. This is exemplified when he tells Peter that "the dances, carving the totem, carrying the ancestor rock, touching the Spirit Bear - it was all the same thing - it was finding out who I was" (Mikaelsen, Chapter 28), emphasizing Cole's realization of his true identity and purpose in life. Another instance of this growth is seen when Edwin teaches him that "anger is a memory never forgotten". You can only tame it" (Mikaelsen, Chapter 13), showing Cole's acceptance of his past and his commitment to managing his emotions constructively. Eventually, he also takes ownership of his past actions and acknowledges the harm he has caused others and the environment.

At the beginning of the novel, Cole Matthews is an angry and intolerable teenager who thinks the world owes him something and that all the crimes he committed are excusable. Cole came from a very unstable household where he was beaten badly by his alcoholic father and a mother who would ignore the pain he

As the novel begins, Cole is bullying Peter, so Peter tells the school to get Cole in trouble. Instead of apologizing, Cole becomes enraged and he, “warned the skinny red-haired boy, giving him a shove. He laughed when he saw the fear in Peter's eyes… he attacked him and started hitting him hard in the face with his bare fists” (7). This line from the novel represents using anger in a horrid and gruesome manner and Cole felt no remorse. Therefore, this segment of the book shows Cole before his transformations and before he could control his anger. This demonstrates the choices Cole makes before he realizes anger is a choice and he can control it. Cole's anger is like a wildfire and it spreads to Peter. Peter now feels sheer hatred and anger towards Cole. The anger Cole

For example, as Cole was lying helplessly on the ground he thinks a lot of what he has done in the past and he realizes he wants to live. “Suddenly in that moment, Cole made a simple decision. In death there was no control, no anger, no one to blame, no choices, no nothing. To be alive was to have choice. The power to choose was real power, not fake power of making others afraid” (Mikaelsen 83). After the attack, when Cole gets banished to the island for the second time, Cole doesn’t laze around after Garvey and Edwin leave. “Cole drove himself hard after Edwin and Garvey left, staying busy every waking minute of each day. If he had to spend a whole year on this island, he had no intention of living like an animal. Each morning, he soaked in the pond and carried the ancestor rock. Afternoons, he worked improving camp” (Mikaelsen 177). This demonstrates that he pushes himself so he can get off the island and probably try to change his reputation from a mean and scary boy to a changed boy. At the end of the novel it’s easy to tell that Cole has changed a lot and this is an example that he has mastered the task of

In this part of the story, Cole is telling Garvey and/or Edwin that he can help Peter, because he realized his true emotions. In the text it states, “I know he’s afraid of me and what I did. He thinks I’m a monster that’s coming back to get him. Maybe if he meets me again face to face, he’ll see I’ve changed. And maybe he’ll see that he can heal, too.” (Mikaelsen, Touching Spirit Bear, 206 - 207). This shows that Cole feels empathy for Peter and knows that he can change Peter’s mind about who he thinks Cole really is. Cole is a good person now, and even though he made a mistake back then, he is back on track and is capable of doing things that no one thought Cole would ever do. Peter is a good kid, and once he saw that Cole has become who he is now, Peter did realize that Cole was a good person, and eventually, learned that sometimes you just have to trust

He goes on to tell us about how his father constantly beats and tortures him. Then Cole says, “All I know is I don’t ever want to have a kid and beat him up.” (Mikalen 157-158). Even though his dad’s action has brought him antagonising trauma, he has learned from his father’s misconceptions. Cole is starting to change at this time in the story, but still carries on with

I am assuming that these two men, Garvey and Edwin, had been much like Cole and they too learned how to control their anger and make their choices in life better.