Author's Note: This piece is about character development. When I wrote this piece I wrote about Cole from the book Touching Spirit Bear and how his anger and attitude developed throughout the story. Also I wrote how Cole was similar to the character Roger in the story Than You Ma'am. In the last paragraph I explained what I learned from the character(s).
In the beginning of Touching
Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikealson, the main character Cole has uncontrollable anger
issues and an awful attitude. However, throughout the story, Cole learns how to
control his anger and develops a better perspective on life, instead of having
a bad attitude about it. Because Cole is physically abused by his dad,
naturally Cole is a bully himself and feels unloved. As the story unfolds, Cole starts to realize
that he is loved by his mom and that people genuinely care about him.
Throughout the book Cole grew up and matured in the wilderness of Alaska while
on his one year banishment.
Ever since Cole was mauled over by
the huge white spirit bear, he gained a respect for animals and people. Over
the six long months it took him to recover from his traumatic experience with
the spirit bear, his mother came to visit him frequently. Cole never felt that
his mom ever loved him because when his dad beat him, mom never did anything to
bring an end to the physical abuse. She just watched it happen and stood idle. He
learned through many conversations they had, in the hospital, that his mother
really does love him and that she felt her hands were tied when it came to the
abuse.
In addition to Cole being mauled by
a bear and finding out his mother loved him, he recovered “the circle”, a
special type of court, and had another meeting. It was decided that Cole had to
go back to the lonely, Alaskan island. As soon as Cole arrived at the island,
Garvey has Cole re-build the cabin he burned the last time he was there. Garvey
would wake Cole up every morning before sunrise and make him soak in the water.
After wading in the water for some time, Cole carried a boulder, which
represents his ancestors, up a large hill. When he got to the top, Garvey shouted,
“this rock is your anger, now push your anger away.”
The book, Touching Spirit Bear, reminded
me of Roger from the story Thank You, Ma’am. In Thank You Ma’am, the main
character Roger, determined to buy a pair of new shoes, decides to steal a
women’s purse but the purse breaks and he stumbles backward and hits the
ground. The victim, a woman, takes him by his shirt collar to her home and
teaches him a quick lesson about “right and wrong”. After she teaches Roger to
be nice, she gives him ten dollars. He went from being a disrespectful, sneaky,
unclean, determined thief, to a nice, trusted boy. Likewise, Cole was an angry,
sneaky, impertinent bully and developed into a better person as well. In the
end, he respected animals and people, as well as earned everyone’s trust .
What if Cole’s attitude stayed the
same in the book? His hatred, anger, and violence would have landed him in jail,
and he would have been bailed out by his mom
again and again. He would have beat up another kid and it would have been a
continuous cycle. Likewise, Roger would’ve bought a gun with the ten dollars
and found another victim to rob. The story line for Thank You Ma’am wouldn’t
make any sense and confuse the reader because the story is about a kid, Roger,
turning his life around. Both stories show that people can change for the better
because of an event that happened in their life. It just takes time.
