For Cole, the bear isn't just a bear Remember me. Forgot your password? New User? First Name. Last Name. Major themes such as violence, personal transformation, and isolation show up in the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen.
The story follows a young man named Cole Matthews who is subjected to physical abuse at home by his father, which results in him lashing out at others.
Why does Cole think the bear attacked him? Simply because it was trying to protect itself from Cole. His parents beat him for everything he did. What did Cole do with the fistful of white hair he pulled from the Spirit Bear?
The gulls swarm around Cole, not really hurting him, but irritating him with their movement and noise. Why doesn't the Spirit Bear's attack make sense to Cole? Cole thought Spirit Bear were imaginary -spiritual, not material. Cole thinks the bear should have been scared and run away. Cole believes that he did nothing to deserve the brutal mauling.
Cole thinks Garvey and Edwin had brought the bear to the island and it was tame. Why does Cole save the handful of the bear's hair after the mauling?
Cole believes that taking part of the bear will give him strength. Cole keeps the hair as a reminder of his own foolishness. The hair gives him a sense of power and proves that he fought the bear. The hair will make good fire-starting fuel.
While lying on the ground. Cole sees nature around him as a part of something bigger, but he doesn't feel a part of it. How does Cole describe "his place"? His place is in his own mind, where no one can hurt him: not the judge, not his father, and not the Spirit Bear. His place is in jail, the jail of his own home or the island or the prison where Garvey visited him. His place is at the bottom of the heap where no one cares, no one loves, and no one pays attention to him.
His place is wearing dry clothes in a safe, warm room, sleeping and eating without a care in the world. As Cole lies injured in the cold rain, what are his thoughts? Cole remembers the beating from his father and thinks they were nothing compared to his. Cole fears death.
He wonders how it will feel. He also fears not dying immediately, but slowly and in agony. Cole thinks about Peter and how Peter must have felt after being beaten up-alone, helpless, and in pain. Cole worries that he may not get a chance to become a better person before he dies. What recurring nightmare of Cole's has become a reality?
In pain and helpless from the bear attack, Cole wipes blood from his mouth. What does he notice about the blood? The blood looks identical to the bear's blood on his knife and Peter's blood on the sidewalk. There is not as much blood as Cole expected for the number of wounds and the severity of them. The blood is attracting animals and insects that feed on blood, and Cole is helpless to fight them off.
There is a lot of blood, and Cole worries that his injuries are more severe than he had thought. Cole feels a jail cell would be preferable to what he is dealing with on the island. Which of the following would NOT be an advantage of being in jail? Cole would be warm and fed. Cole would have safety and comfort.
Cole would have some control. Cole would actually have more freedom. Why does Cole want to knock a nest of baby birds from the tree? The sight of the mother bird feeding and caring for the baby sparrows reminds Cole of how unloved he feels and how insecure his own life is.
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