Cause/Effect- A Boy No More

Author’s Note: This oral report is a cause and effect analysis of the happenings in the novel Touching Spirit Bear. This is a very short analysis that talks about the book.

Touching Spirit Bear is a fictional and adventure story that has many twists and turns throughout the book. Cole Matthews, a teenage boy lived his life learning nothing but anger and power. Cole is just like any ordinary boy who goes to school and gets an education, but beats people up and acts as he is the boss of everyone in the world. Cole one day goes to the extreme and sends a boy named Peter Driscal in the hospital smashing his head on the sidewalk. The event that I am going to analyze is after Cole is sent to Circle Justice, goes to the Remote Alaskan Island to learn to survive in the wilderness and throw away his anger. Cole’s parole officer, Garvey sends Cole to this remote island to change his ways for good.

The climax of the story was Cole being sent to a remote island, just a few days after he beat up Peter and sending him to the hospital. When Cole was sent to the island, he had to learn to fight for his life, no matter how painful and invigorating living there was. When Cole was on the island, no matter how hard he tried, there was no way to get off of the island until the end of the book. Cole knew that surviving on this island would not be easy but Cole tries as hard as he can to survive and knew what he was going to do in the times on this crucial island.

Then, as Cole is trying desperately to save his life, he gets mauled by a giant Spirit Bear as Cole kept threatening the Bear to think that the Bear was afraid of Cole. As Cole’s body was about ready to shut down and ready to die, Cole’s parole officer Garvey and a Tlingit elder named Edwin were able to meet again and save Cole’s life. As Cole was healing, he was sent back to the island and started to learn how to roll his anger and pain away. Cole then turns his figure around and was able to return home. As Peter was in the hospital, healing from the attack, Cole was able to connect with Peter and have Peter not to be afraid of the new Cole Matthews.

Cole was able to accomplish everything that was asked of him to do on the island because the parole officer Garvey asked him to survive and change his ways in the days that Cole was there. Cole would have never changed if he hadn’t given up on himself and just said enough and stayed home after the bear attack and being the same Cole Matthews as when he arrived on the island. For a boy at his age, it was hard for him to survive on his own because his parents never taught him to help himself survive. However, Cole was able to do beyond what Garvey had asked, but was able to change himself from the inside out and become friends with the boy that he had put in the hospital.As a result of Cole’s ways, Peter was able to learn to trust Cole and know that Cole deep down changed himself so that this situation would never happen again. Cole and Peter were then able to be best friends and live on the island together, knowing that they could trust each other and know that they each have each other’s backs for life.