Violence and Cole S School

Ben Mikealsen’s novel – Touching Spirit Bear, Cole is a 14 year old juvenile delinquent from Minneapolis. He is a very angry, furious, fierce and violent boy who does not seem to have any control over his anger. Although he might be a very angry and impatient, he is also honest, strong, reflective and hardworking person by the end of the book. What is the cause of Cole’s anger? What helped Cole changed into a better person? What role does the Spirit Bear play?

Cole does not seem to have any control of the unforgettable emotions. “Edwin told me once that anger was a memory never forgotten. He’s right” (Page 130). The main cause of his anger is his own angry and alcoholic father and shy hopeless mother. Cole is beaten up by his angry father without any mercy, and his shy mother only watches him getting beaten. She does not even attempt to stop her husband from beating her own son. These irresponsible actions by Cole’s parents, made him feel that he was worthless and lived his life for no reason. “You don’t get it do you? My parents are divorced and don’t give a rat if I live or die. All they care about is themselves. Nobody cares about me. All my life I’ve been dumped on” (Page 27). As a result, the anger that was building inside of him eventually got out of control.This anger causes Cole to commit crimes. Cole robbed and trashed a hardware store. Peter, a boy at Cole’s school, found out that Cole did this act of violence. So, Peter told on Cole. Cole found out, in which he got very angry and mad. Instead of confronting Peter, Cole decided to smash Peter’s head against the sidewalk, very badly.Once Cole was sent to the island of Drake in Alaska, Cole felt depressed and angry at the same time. Cole eventually burnt down his cabin. Another example of his anger is dealing with the Spirit Bear. The Spirit Bear was calmly looking at Cole. Cole realized that this bear was not afraid of him. So, Cole let out his anger and tried to kill the bear. Instead of Cole hurting