Turning His Life Around

Nick Roberts

2/22/12

Authors Note: This is a writing piece about Cole changing and turning his life around in the book, Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen. The purpose of this is to explain two important quotes in the book and how they relate to me.

How would you feel if you were in so much pain that you didn’t want to live? In the book, Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen, Cole Matthews says a quote that really stands out to me on page 98. Cole says, “Why couldn’t they (the seagulls) wait just a little longer until he had died.” This quote stands out to me because Cole has given up on life. He couldn’t tolerate the pain and suffering anymore, so he wanted to die. This saddens me because I believe that Cole wanted to turn his life around, but first he would need to survive.

I can’t relate this to my life because I have never been in that much pain and suffering that is described in this book. I can relate this to a friend at my old school. He always seemed depressed and down. Sometimes even when he was talking to you, he would say he was waiting for the right time to die. I think that he gave up in life because he had parents who didn’t care and he was lonely. That made our class very scared so we started to hang out with him and talked him out of killing himself.

Another quote that really stands out to me is on page 106. Cole says, “Why do you guys help me?” This is a turning point in his life because he finally found out that people in the world do care about him and will be there for him. In his past, he could never trust anyone, not even his own parents. Now he has come to trust in Garvey and the world. Also this means that Cole has come to realize that he has really affected other people and that he has really messed up. This is a when Cole has finally made the decision to turn his life around and start fresh.

            I can relate to this quote because I sometimes can be mean and yet people still help me. Also Cole and I don’t like being helped because we think we know everything. The people who usually help me despite my anger are my parents. No matter what I do, they will still help me. Cole and I need to work on being more nice to people and excepting people’s help and learn to let people who know more about things help us because they aren’t trying to hurt us, they are trying to make us better.

            As you can see, Cole has come a long way from where he used to be in Minnesota. He has changed almost everything about himself for the better. Cole wants to impact his society positively after his near death occurrence. His near death occurrence has taught Cole a lot about the world. It opened his mind and heart to see the beauty of the world. As stressed by Cole in this book he is very thankful that he got this second chance and he will never go back to his old self.

A New Chapter

Authors Note: This is a predicting piece about Touching Spirit Bear explaining what I predict will happen and explains a new chapter that I think would happen in this book.

           

How would you feel if you were a criminal for half your life? In the book, Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen, Cole is a mean bully who beats a kid up named Peter Driscal. Cole was later arrested and sentenced to a choice between being banished to a deserted Alaskan island or going to jail. He chose the island because he thought it was the easiest. On the island he tried to kill a Spirit Bear, but got mauled. About 1 day later he was taken to the hospital. Once he recovered, he had to go back to the island to finish his year on the island. When he returned to the island, he was a changed person. Three weeks later, Cole got word that Peter had tried to commit suicide two times and was coming to the island to see if Cole could do something to help him.

I predict that they would be awkward together, but in the end they will become best friends. I believe this because Cole seemed scared that he caused a kid to be so scared of him that he would attempt suicide two times. Also I think that Cole will teach Peter to be “invisible” by learning to forgive and clear their minds to be able to see the Spirit Bear. I believe this because Peter states, “Spirit Bears don’t exist.” This makes Cole sad that he has messed up his life so much that no one believes him and also that he can show how this island can change a person’s life around.

“I don’t want to be here with this criminal, why are my parents so stupid?!” thought Peter as he arrived to the island. When he got off the boat and saw Cole, Peter immediately, ran for the cabin, stumbling every few steps.

“I’ll go check on him,” said Garvey.

Cole mesmerized by the image of Peter being so scared of him thought to himself, “Have I really hurt this kid that bad that he is afraid to look at me?”

Three days later

“Hey, do you guys want to go swimming in the pond with me?” Cole asked hesitantly.

“Sure” replied Peter and Garvey simultaneously.

After a long hike to the pond, Cole explained to Peter how to become invisible. He only explained this to Peter because Garvey was the one who helped Cole become invisible. After they soaked in the pond for a while, a faint rustling in the distance occurred.

“What was that?” Peter said partially frightened.

“I don’t know, just relax Peter.” Cole said in a very relaxed manner.

After about 20 seconds they heard another rustling this time closer to them. When they turned their heads, there it was, a Spirit Bear about 20 feet away from them standing at a staggering 8 feet tall.

Peter started to scream, but Cole placed his hand over his mouth and calmed him down.

“It won’t hurt you Peter, if you don’t threaten it,” whispered Cole.

Peter convinced Cole to take his hand off his mouth and Peter stared at the Spirit Bear with amazement.

“We became invisible,” said Cole with a big smile on his face.

“Cool!” exclaimed Peter.

Later that day, Peter’s parents came on a boat to pick Peter up. Peter and Cole exchanged goodbyes and Cole watched Peters distant outline disappear into the sunset.

With the biggest smile Cole has ever had, he said, “I finally have a friend.”

Touching Spirit Bear Essay

 Authors Note: This is an essay describing the conflicts that occur in the book Touching Spirit Bear.

          
          I am reading the book, Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen. It is about a boy named Cole who is a bully at his school and robs places. He beat up a kid at his school named Peter Driscal and caused him to have permanent brain damage. Cole was banished to a deserted island for one year. On the island, he encountered the Spirit Bear, a mythical bear that the Tlingit Tribe believes in. It remained calm in a time of adversity and Cole, who thought that everyone was afraid of him, was enraged when the Spirit Bear was calm and relaxed. Cole tried to kill it, but the bear was just pure muscle and beat him to the point that he was basically paralyzed. There conflicts in this book that can be explained.

          The first conflict is person versus nature. This happens when the Spirit Bear and Cole got into the big brawl. Cole was told that anything you do to animals, you do to yourself. So when he tried to kill the bear, the bear tried to kill him and won. Cole realized this, finally, when he was almost paralyzed and I believe is trying to turn his life around because he you learn a lot from near death experiences. Also Cole believes that this is God’s way of giving him one last chance to make a difference in his society.

          Another conflict in this book is person versus society. Cole is well known by many people for terrible reasons. His society knows that he is a robber and a bully. He will never change his past, but he can perfect his future by turning his life around for the better. The society is scared of Cole and believes that he should be in jail or juvie for the rest of his life for what he continually does to the society. To the society, Cole is like an adult and they believe that he should be treated like one and be locked in jail for a long time.

          The last conflict in this book is person versus self. When Cole was on the deserted island after being beat up by the Spirit Bear, gave up on life. He states, “Why can’t the seagulls wait a little longer until I die.” This clearly shows that Cole can’t fight the pain any longer and wants to die. This I believe is the easy way out. Cole has shown to be a very strong and tough person who would never give up. He would be the last person anyone would think who would give up on a fight.

          As you can see, Cole is a tough kid who has a bad attitude. He believes that everyone should be afraid of him and that attitude left him almost dead in the middle of nowhere. He also always took what he thought was the easy way out. Cole first thought that going to this island was the easy way out of not going to jail, but proved to be a lot more than he could handle. He wants to change his life around and I know that for a fact. If he wants to, it will take a while to do and will test himself in many different ways, but I believe that if he really wants to change his life, he can and will.

Speech

This is a writing piece about Cole Matthew's explaining him for the speech. 

Cole is a very interesting person. He has fun beating kids up and believes that the whole world should be afraid of him. Cole has anger problems and lets his anger fuel and control him into doing very bad things. He is beaten at his house and that could be a reason why he is the way he is. Cole is used to getting what he wants when he wants it. He believes that he can do whatever he wants without a care of the people he is hurting. He has been arrested many times and is used to being in juvie. He has no friends and has no one too look up to. I think that Cole needs someone to look up to that he feels safe with. 

A character in this story that Cole has impacted was Peter Driscal. He beat Peter up because he told the police that he had robbed the local hardware store and was bragging. When he found out, he beat Peter up so much that he caused permanent brain damage to Peter. After this, Cole was banished to a remote island by the I think that when Cole was banished to a remote island and was beaten up by a white bear. He learned what it felt like to be beaten up and not in control of the situation.