Touching Spirit Bear

Can you imagine a world were no one person cared about you? I know I can’t, but Cole Mathews can. Until a parole officer named Garvey came along, that’s how it was. The book Touching Spirit Bear is and epic thrill ride that takes you though the life of Cole Mathews. This book follows a hardcore juvenile delinquent who changed himself into another good person in this world.
I definitely think that the At,oow is a big symbol in Touch Spirit Bear. It represents pure trust from one person to another. It showed the trust between Garvey’s family and Garvey, then from Garvey to Cole and from Cole to Peter. The totem pole is important too. A totem tells the story of its creator’s life. Instead of his life though, Cole just carved what animal he saw first that day. The totem is important because in the Cole and Peter started to work on a circle in Cole’s empty spot on the totem. Together they worked and they grew a small friendship; maybe not big but it was better than a year and a half a go when Cole only wanted to smash Peter. The circle started at birth and ended at death. In between birth and death was for Cole to decide. It could be friendship, trust, love, life.
I think that Touching Spirit Bear is a comedy. In the beginning of Cole’s journey everything is like it’s always been; Cole beating up other kids and robbing stores. The conflict arises when another kid in his school confesses to what he knows about a robbery Cole participated in. Before Cole was caught he had to have revenge on the kid who was going to put him in jail again. After the beating of a life time on the kid who snitched on Cole, Cole was caught and sentenced to one year on an island just off of the coast of Alaska. Cole finally realizes the conflict when half of his bones were broken from a bear attach. That’s when he realized that he was just as weak as Peter. He was just as powerful as Peter. He was no different than anyone else. He was taken to a hospital and kept there for the next six months. The resolution is when Peter’s parents send Peter to the island to stay with Cole after Cole is sent back to the island. At first Peter tried to ignore Cole and just stay out of his way. Cole just continued his daily life. A couple weeks later though, Peter and Cole started to talk. Eventually they started to work together and everything between Cole and Peter started to resolved. It returned to normal when Cole stopped hating Peter and Peter didn’t feel as if in danger anymore.
There are many lessons in this book but I think that the main lesson learned in the story is to forgive and forget. The sooner everyone knows that the better. Everyone knew what happened that day on the sidewalk. Peter’s face did get smashed in by Cole , but after spending A couple of months on the island with Cole, Peter realized that it wasn’t his fault Cole hurt him; it was Cole’s father who hit Cole. It wasn’t Cole’s fathers fault that he hit Cole it was Cole’s grandfather, and the list goes on and on.
I can’t imagine what Cole has been through but I know he’s been through a lot. Cole is now just another person in our American society along with peter. The island really changed him. The Circle Justice isn’t such a bad idea.