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Touching Spirit Bear Character Analysis

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In the novel "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen, one of the main characters is
Cole Matthews. Cole is a 15-year-old boy from Minneapolis, Minnesota. However, unlike most 15-year-olds, Cole has been in trouble with the law for most of his life. Throughout the plot, Cole goes through several dramatic changes. As the plot unfolds, it reveals how Cole thinks, looks like, sounds like, what Cole does, and how others think of him. These are the five elements that define characterization and describe Cole as a character.
First, one way of characterizing Cole is by describing how he thinks. At the beginning of the story, Cole has a negative attitude toward the people around him. He thinks that he is this tough guy and that no one can stand up to him. Cole is blinded by his emotions, rather than thinkings things out thoroughly. An example of this is when he attacked the Spirit Bear purely out of hatred and seeing that the bear wasn't afraid of him. This ends up getting him nearly killed! Up until …show more content…
The many characters in "Touching Spirit Bear" all have different opinions on Cole. However, most doubt that he will ever change for the better. Garvey and Edwin seem like the only ones that support Cole and believe that he has a chance at reforming himself. Cole states that he had the members of the justice circle thought he was sorry when he really wasn't. But, when he wants another chance at going back to the island there is doubt in their minds. Peter's family and lawyer wanted Cole to go to jail and pay for his crime. Much of the characters also showed concern for Cole and wanted to help him. In the second part of the novel, Cole's positive changes persuaded others such as Peter's family to give him another chance. Even Peter ended up giving Cole another chance and started to get along with him! Cole's interactions with others in the story and their thoughts about him changed in a positive

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