Preview

Character Analysis Of Cole In Touching Spirit Bear

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
702 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Character Analysis Of Cole In Touching Spirit Bear
Cole Matthew, is young selfish, uncaring, changing, delinquent. Cole Matthews had been beaten by his dad most all of this life. Cole is a “baby-faced fifteen-year-old,” (5). The book Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, is about Cole changing. Cole starts of as a liar, a stealer, and a plain old jerk. But needed changed is good.

Cole's family is alway bailing Cole out of jail. “His mom acted like a scared Barbie doll, always looking good but never fighting back or standing up to anyone” (Page 9). Cole’s mom wants to seem like she has the perfect family, she doesn’t want people to know her husbands a beater and Cole’s a young delinquent. But Cole’s parents don’t care, “a devoted parent doesn’t whip his kid until a shirt can’t hide all the bruises” (Page 46), and that’s Cole's parents, Cole’s parent’s don’t care. Cole parents could care less about him, Cole’s mom lets Cole’s dad beat him. Cole has become a liar, and a young delinquent because of this parents. He doesn’t feel power at home
…show more content…
Cole already has seen “the inside of a dozen police stations, been through as many counselors, a psychologist, several detention centers, and two residential treatment centers (6). One of the kids Cole beat on was Peter, “Peter Driscal, was a ninth grader Cole had picked on many times before just for the fun of it. Still, no one ratted on Cole Matthews without paying the price” (Page 7). Cole did this because Peter ratted on Cole for breaking and entering a hardware store and vandalizing it, and stealing from it. Cole doesn’t have feelings for anything or anyone. “Later, after school, Cole cornered Peter outside in the parking lot. With anger that had been brewing all day, he attacked him and started hitting him in the with his bare fist” (Page 7). Cole also has done many other things, robbing, fights, and more. Cole almost beat Peter so bad that he could have killed Peter, next time Cole might kill

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    However, Mark’s family stated that they worry about the welfare of these children because Shawnquita has mental health problems and there is a lack of a father figure in the children’s lives. Mark’s family have observed that his children are already displaying abnormal behaviors and are at risk for becoming another victim of the problems that have been passed down from generation to generation. In particular, Mark’s daughter was born around the time of his incarceration and has not had her father involved in her upbringing her whole…

    • 89 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Chapter 1: The 15 year old Cole Matthews is a real criminal. He has been stealing a lot and now he also beats up Peter Driscal. He doesn’t go to trial but he has to go to Circle Justice. He has to go to an island and think about the things he had done and most important, change.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the book, Touching Spirit Bear, a boy named Cole has a bad temper, and it gets him into trouble more than once. His anger puts him in a predicament that almost causes him jail time. An Indian group called Circle Justice, focused on helping troubled teens, steps in to help. As a result, Cole has to spend a year on an island in south-east Alaska. There he is mauled by a rare black bare that is completely white called the Spirit Bear. Although he suffers near fatal injuries on the outside, his wounds on the inside begin to heal causing his life to change.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dubus Andre Killers

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It is pure torture for a mother or father to see the man that took away from them, something that can never be returned, their child. “He walks the goddamn streets,” (103) Matt says. Matt did not think that the justice system would release a man like this on bail. This murderer is now tending to his daily routines without a care in the world, while the victims of his injustice helplessly watch. They watch as the killer of their child is shopping at a local grocery store; Buying skirt steak and quart of two percent milk while they wait in line to buy flowers for their dead son’s tombstone. Watch as that same man, who has shattered a mothers bond, is enjoying a Saturday afternoon at a local barbershop for his weekly high and tight haircut. “It’s killing her,” said Matt. Dubus writes “she can’t even go out for cigarettes and aspirin” (103) without seeing him. Not only has he killed their child, he is now killing them indirectly.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While he has many similarities to Gene, Cullen Thomas’ story in Brother One Cell of prison in a foreign country, is a coming of age journey different from that of Gene’s in the sense that, Cullen has many impediments that are not just internal, but external as well. Cullen Thomas, despite being twenty-two, has a very childish mindset, and lives life carelessly without thought. Those thoughtless actions pile up, and eventually he is thrown into prison for smuggling hashish into South Korea, where he is teaching English illegally. When he is arrested his naïve mindset begins to crumble and he it forces him to face reality, a task he struggles with because of that childish way of thinking, as well as, a battle with the culture of South Korea that…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Touching Spirit Bear

    • 4777 Words
    • 20 Pages

    As Cole sullenly stares into the burning flames, he begins to remember his relationship with Garvey. Cole explains to Garvey in this flashback scene how much he resents his parents, especially after their divorce. He reveals how…

    • 4777 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathon made it well known through the frustration in his voice and the clenching of his teeth that he was upset to be in the hospital. He felt that he did not have any mental health disorders or substance abuse problems, though his chart and assessment stated otherwise. The patient also vocalized his anger with his parents through vulgar language and loud, rambling thoughts. He blamed his parents for putting him in the hospital, stealing his independence and “locking him up”. It was extremely challenging to listen to the patient talk about his parents in this negative way because from an outside point of view and through patient records it was evident that his parents had his best interest in mind. His mother did call the police to find Jonathon because she was…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If I was in charge of Shawn’s treatment I would not give him a break like he received from his judge in the film. His parents are…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Originating in the Bible, there is a belief that children are born bearing the weight of their parents sins. This idea is encompassed in the novel The Shadow of the Wind by Ruiz Zafon about a young boy named Daniel, who encounters a book that changes his life. Enlisting the help of multiple people, Daniel is able to uncover many of mysteries surrounding the book, The Shadow of the Wind, and its arcane author, Julian Carax. On Daniel’s quest to uncover more about Julian Carax, he finds that both Julian Carax and the antagonist, Javier Fumero had a painful past with sinful parents that mold the two boys into becoming self destructive men. Through the adulterous and abusive sins of Julian’s real father, Don Ricardo Aldaya and through Fumero’s mother Yvonne’s mental instability, the boys, Julian and Fumero, grow up to be men with serious mental issues eventually leading to their demise. Thus, the consequences of their parents sins lead them to become people that do not want to be.…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This particular story is about a family of criminals in Oregon and received attention throughout the United States and has been cited by politicians, law enforcement agencies, and researchers in criminology, and psychology. Dale Vincent “Rooster” Bogle, taught his children to steal, so that by age 10 his sons were already breaking into liquor stores or stealing tractor-trailer trucks. His daughters turned to petty crimes in order to support their drug addictions. By the time of his death in 1998, 28 of the Bogle clan had been convicted of crimes, including several of Rooster’s grandchildren. Tracey Bogle, the youngest of Rooster’s sons, is quoted as saying, “Rooster raised us to be outlaws…There is a domino effect in a family like ours…What you’re raised with, you grow to become. You don’t escape.”…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is simple to blame a child’s upbringing when something goes wrong in their teenage and adult life. However, both Wes Moore’s had a similar childhood, yet still ended up with different fates. For example, both of them had absent fathers and were…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Spirit Bear

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout life we all face problems, and sometimes these problems cause us to go over the edge do to the fact that we really don’t know how to control our anger. In the book Touching Spirit Bear Cole encounters many problems with life. People were tired of having to pay for his anger in their community. Eventually he was banished to an island to learn how to take control of his life. But what important lessons does Cole learn about controlling anger and how does it change him?…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    wes moore

    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Both Wes Moores did not grow up in the best circumstances. In the beginning of the book when the men were talking about their lives, the other Wes Moore says, “Your father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, my father wasn’t there because he chose not to be” (3). Both of these men lost an important person that could have potentially helped guide them into better directions. To make up for the lack of a father, both men had another role model whom they looked up to. The author Wes Moore’s biggest role model was his mother; he says, “She was my everything, the person I loved and respected the most in my world” (88). Wes’s mom took on the role of his mother and also his father, and that is why Wes respected her so much. The other Wes Moore’s role model was his brother, Tony. Wes respected Tony, even though Tony did not set the best example for his younger brother. Wes describes Tony as a “’certified gangsta’. Tony had started dealing drugs in those shadowy hallways of the Murphy Hoes before he was ten” (Moore 27). Clearly Tony is not the ideal model for a young boy who is in need of some sort of guidance from a father figure. Tony played the role of Wes’s father and from his gained experience he attempted to guide Wes in the right direction using his experience as an example of what not to do. Tony tries to help Wes because “Wes knew he was disappointing his brother, which hurt more than the beating he’d just taken. Wes was so confused. He loved and respected his brother. Tony was the closest thing Wes had to a…

    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    True Notebooks

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Every child wants to be someone in life but in order for them to be successful they need the support from their family. How could teenagers achieve that when their parents aren’t there to guide them in the right path? Therefore, they look for comfort and guidance somewhere else and end up with the wrong crowd. For example, Victor Martinez said, “ They don’t know what it’s like when you come from a family that didn’t have a father there to guide you in the right path” (Salzman 290).” Parents are the ones who guide us and teach us from right and wrong. Lacking his father in his life made a big impact on Victor’s life. He didn’t have that male influence that was able to be there to discipline him when doing wrong. For example, one article titled “The Lost Boys” mentioned “Teenage boys need very different treatment to girls in order to become responsible members of society. They need a male role model” (Sergeant). Of course, he had his mother but a mother can only do so much and be firm with a child compared to a male figure. A single mother is also working the majority of the time to support her kids. A young teenage boy having the absences of a parent will make a teenager vulnerable and turn to the streets to look for that support and love that they don’t get from home. They end up joining a gang and a mother probably doesn’t even realize the things they are doing because they are so occupied with work. So Victor not having his…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    During Author Wes’ life, he does some careless behavior like vandalizing walls and getting caught by the police. During Inmate Wes’ life, also does careless behavior like selling drugs and getting high even though he had a choose not to. These things are being done because they are not getting disciplined by any family member at home like they should and when our not discipline, your action are bad since you won’t get in any trouble. I know that they are not disciplined because when the Author got caught, his parents said ‘’Now you know not to do drugs’’ instead of doing something for his behavior. When I get disciplined, I know that my family care. So, family is an important thing because if you don’t have family that wouldn’t care enough, that will affect how you…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics