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Cole Matthews's Touching Spirit Bear

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Touching Spirit Bear is a novel about a boy named Cole Matthews, who is banished to an island for a year as a punishment for beating up Peter Driscal and giving him permanent injuries. But how is being sent to an island going to help Cole change? I asked myself this question many times at the beginning of the book, but I soon realized that Cole did go through a transformation because of his banishment. I learned many lessons from this book, and I also really enjoyed reading it. Here are some of the things I learned. At the very beginning of the book, we can tell that Cole is angry all the time and has no interest in changing. In fact, the only reason Cole convinced The Circle of Justice to send him to the island was because he thought it was …show more content…
After what seems like forever, Garvey and a Tlingit elder named Edwin, come back to the island and rescue him. After Cole is healed, the Circle Justice agreed to let Cole go back to the island and start his punishment over. When Cole tells Garvey and Edwin about the spirit bear, they don’t believe him, but instead of showing them the fur, he throws it into the water, because it doesn’t matter what they believe, it only matters what he believes. Even though it is clear Cole is still angry, this is the first time we see Cole show signs of changing, throwing away is only piece of evidence that isn’t something Cole would normally do. The second banishment goes much smoother than the last. Edwin shows Cole that soaking in a freezing pond can clear his head, and carrying a rock up a hill can teach him to roll away his anger. Edwin and Garvey also show Cole that dancing like animals can teach you lessons. Doing this for a whole year shows Cole that we need to learn to forgive, and that people aren’t bad, they just do bad things. Cole finds his own ways to heal, like carving his totem and clearing his head to “become invisible” and see the spirit bear

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