Touching Spirit Bear Analysis

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Cole Matthews has been wreaking havoc across Minneapolis all his life. One day, he pushes things too far, and falls over the edge. After beating Peter Driscal bloody, he is given a choice between jail and banishment. Wanting to do anything to stay out of jail, he chooses to be sent to a remote island in Alaska for a year. During his stay, Cole meets a spirit bear, and barely makes it out alive. His life, will never be the same again. Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen, proves that one can only change if they truly want to. Upon first arriving at the island, Edwin tells Cole, “you can find yourself here, but only if you search” (Mikaelsen 20). Edwin and Garvey were trying to help Cole change his ways. However, at the time, Cole had no …show more content…
The island was a good place for Cole to turn his thoughts inwards and reflect on himself. Only then could he change, improve. Since Cole had no intention to change, his didn’t. The moment in which Cole made the decision to change was when he was lying on the ground after being mauled. Lying in the ground, he realizes “he wanted to live” (Mikaelsen 98). Following this moment, Cole goes on think about all the bad choices he made. He makes the decision to change, but to do that he has to survive. He tries to eat, drink, and make an effort to survive because he wants the ability make the right choices and live his life. From this moment on, Cole is changed. After being mauled by the spirit bear, Cole was in the hospital for weeks. Once, when his mom visited him, she said, “I realized I couldn’t change your father, but I could change me” (Mikaelsen 145). Cole’s mom use to use alcohol to block out reality. She didn’t want to face the truth of Cole’s dad beating Cole. Only when she accepts the fact does she stop drinking. She wants to put a stop to the things that have gone wrong in their life. The first step for her was to lose the alcohol. In Touching Spirit Bear, Garvey, Edwin, Cole, and Cole’s mother, and Peter all go through or have gone through changes that made them better
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