Imagine being in the shoes of Cole Matthews’s, a fifteen-year-old boy who was in Circle Justice for beating up another kid who rated you out to the teachers, but now is trying to make right for what he did. How can he do this even though very few people will forgive him? Read this essay and find out how he transformed into a better person. At the beginning of the book, our protagonist Cole Matthews was a fifteen-year-old boy who got into a lot of trouble with the law. He would even brag about it at school, too! But on the part when he was bragging about breaking into a warehouse, a boy named Peter Driscal told him, and he wasn’t very fond of Cole. So at the end of school, Cole smashed Peter’s skull onto the sidewalk. It was so chaotic that other students and teachers had to pull Cole off of Peter. …show more content…
After the meeting, the people there voted on sending Cole to an island far away, and was forbidden to see anyone. So off he goes with a Tlingit Indian named Edwin and his patrol officer, Garvey. In the middle of the story, Cole was still angry about others, and especially his father. But after being mauled by the spirit bear, Cole was little, but is still angry at everyone. When he got back to Miniapolis and was tempted to go back to the island, Cole knew not to mess up his last chance at redemption. The end of the book is Cole trying to do the dance of anger, rolling the ancestor rock, soaking in icy water, and Peter going to the island. Cole was trying to do the dance of anger on the island so many times, but one night he did the dance of anger. He danced the dance all night about his life. The soak and ancestor rock was to get rid of his anger, too. But on one rainy night, Cole got the news that Peter had committed suicide. Cole was shocked by this news, so after Peter tried another suicide, Cole told Edwin to bring Peter to the
... Peter and Cole then had to try to heal himself by learning how to forgive, get over his anger ,and learn to have a clean mind. Over the course of the book he learned to forgive and went from having a chip on his shoulder and blaming everyone to learning to forgive by clearing his mind and forgiving himself during a dance. By the end of the book he learned how to get over his anger from beating up Peter to dancing the anger dance. He also by the end of the book he had a clear mind, In the beginning he did not have a very clear mind and let anger cloud his judgement. When Cole was on the island for the second time he learned how to have a clear mind by dancing, Soaking, and rolling the ancestor rock. Over the entire book you can see Cole changing making him to be a dynamic character which makes this book very interesting. Clean (past mining), No real meltdowns ever.
Burke intentionally places frequent flashbacks throughout the novel to ignite curiosity in the readers. The novel soon reveals that not only did Daniel’s illegal action cause him to “lose his spirited outlook on life” (Burke, pg 123), but it also uprooted everything Tom once had. Nevertheless, lesson by lesson, the tragic incident succeeds admirably in teaching Tom to overcome his weaknesses. In addition to drink driving, Burke has significantly addressed the common issue of a teen’s sense of insecurity in numerous ways.
Cole and peter whet to the pond and soaked. They had soaked so many times that that they just jumped in the pond with a splash. As they carried the ancestor rock up the hill they paused in their tracks. Less than 6 feet away was the spirit bear. But something was different about the bear, it had open wounds and blood on its white fur. Peter and Cole just stood there in that same position with the big ancestor rock behind them. The Spirit bear was so still that it amazed them so much that it scared them. At once they inched backwards down that hill.
... to jail. He moved away, and the distance between us seemed to grow bigger and bigger” (280). The reader is left pondering the good character of Steve, the bad friends he spent time with, the doctoring of his testimony, and the information that Steve provided us hinting both at his guilt and at his innocence. We are comfortable with the fact that he has been let free, but has been warned. If he were involved in the crime, at least he may have learned his lesson through his time in prison and on trial. If he were not involved in the crime, at least he is free to start over and move on from the experience.
I am reading Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen. I have enjoyed reading the book so far. The book is about a boy named Cole whose parents have not treated him very well, so he makes poor decisions. One of the decisions he made was beating up a boy at school to the point where he was bleeding and helpless. This decision that he made caused him to either be tried as an adult at court, or to be part of the circle of justice program, which would require him to be by himslef on an island and he would have to fend for himself and this would hopefully get him to be in touch with his inner peace. When cole got to the island he was not positive about it at all. It stated “Cole felt his anger
The novel, Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman shares the story of Brent Bishop, a teen who moves around often and has a hard time doing so, leading him to become extremely insecure about himself. The reader experiences Brent going through a troubled move as he loses control of himself at a party where he was bullied and became drunk. He ended up suffering the consequences of his actions by becoming suicidal on the road and ultimately killing another teen, Lea. Brent then leaves on a journey in search for becoming a better person and in restitution for Lea’s family. Brent's actions both before and after his journey result in many different consequences,both positive and negative, and they all changed him in one way or another.
Throughout this particular case the audience learns numerous details about how John 's personal life may have led him to be a killer. John was a part of a group at school known as the "freaks" who were constantly victims of the popular kids ' bullying and taunts. John was even mugged at the young age of only thirteen by some older classmates. John 's father 's response was highly negative and abusive, telling John repeatedly that he was ashamed of him and that he needed to toughen up and be a man, and bought his son illegal weapons and violent video games instead of helping his son confront his conflicts. Later in the case the jury is introduced to Leo Clayton a boy who has experienced numerous of the same traumatic events that John had been tormented with, except for the fact that Leo 's father actually listened to his sons silent cries for help and confronted Robert about John 's inappropriate behavior at school towards Leo. While this did not eliminate Leo 's problems it did open a healthy and communicative relationship between father and son and showed Leo that he was not fighting this battle alone and that he was
Before the move to Coghill, Tom wanted his old life back. He sees the accident as the end of his life, though this he seems to have lost connection to his family and his sense of identity. Tom feels guilty and ashamed about the irrevocable consequences of Daniel’s irresponsibility and the impact this had on other people and their families. Retreats into a depressed state which feels empty and black. After the accident, Tom’s life was changed forever.
Introduction:The road to maturity and adulthood can be a long and difficult road for teens, especially when it comes to decision making and changing your view on the world. The popular short story, “On the Sidewalk Bleeding”, written by world-renowned author, Evan Hunter in 1957, displays this perfectly. Hunter uses the protagonist, Andy, to illustrate his development from adolescence into adulthood as he shifts from a state of ignorance to a state of knowledge, from a mindset of idealism to realism and from a selfish personality to a selflessness personality. Hunter expresses the major theme of coming of age through this protagonist character who is seen shifting from a state of adolescence to a more matured state of adulthood throughout the story.
The boy’s growing maturity, autonomy, and painful disillusionment are used by Rios to impart the loss of innocence theme. He discovers his carefree times are taken away by nature, his mother, or merely because he is growing up. His experiences equate to that of the lion’s roar, wondrous and unforgettable, much like the trials people are subjected to when they begin maturing and losing their innocence. In the end, the boy develops into a mature and self-sufficient individual who discovers a new way to enjoy life and all its intricacies.
Through this romantic lifestyle, Cole will face many infractions that he will have to face that are relatable to Greek tragedies. According to Rees from English Literature notes and guides Greek tragedies are usually known for men’s small insignificance in the face of a strong power that controls and mostly destroys the human life. For Cole, the divine power he faces is nothing more than the power the corrupt law in a foreign country he knows hardly anything about and what comes with the foreign society.John discovers that preconceived notions about men and human society are false, and he finds that they do not live the in a romantic world as he does and as he supposed they did. Until John finally realized that he was susceptible to getting hurt because he was not yet ready for the real world, but only ready for the one he had a preconceived thought
Chris a sixteen year old African male enter into therapy seeking professional help. Chris grew up in an urban neighborhood in New York, together with his mother and father. Chris develop problems due to longing attention. He begins to act out, hang around with the incorrect crowd, and get into fights.
There are a million acts of kindness each day. Some young man gives a stranger a compliment, or a teacher brightens a students morning. But, in the world we live in today, these acts are rare to come by. In this short story Thank You, Ma’am, the boy, out of mysterious luck, gets taken in by the woman whom he was trying to steal a purse from. Her actions, following the incident towards the boy, may have seemed very kind and understanding, but the boy needs a more solid way of punishment. He requires discipline that will show him that as complicated as life is, there will not always be someone for you to lean and depend on.
In the book The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, iron is a common image used throughout the book, not only as a repeating topic but as a metaphor for the control Hester has over her mind. According to the book iron is a prison, a restrainer, and a restricter, but in reality Hester has the ultimate control to impose these onto herself not the iron. Hester feels as if iron is holding her back in New England, but it can be seen that her mind is what is restricting her from leaving. In addition, Hester is able to find reason in her life by preventing the restraining iron framework most of the community follows using her ability to control the prison in her mind. Overall, the image of iron used in the novel is referring to the iron prison in Hester's mind and how it is the ultimate restricter of her life as well as the controller of restraining beliefs.
Life is filled with lessons, and often times there are little reminders to keep those lessons in our minds for later use. Sometimes lessons learned in life are learned the hard way, like in Cole’s instance. One of the lessons Cole learned is in order to heal he must first right his wrongs; stop blaming those around him for his problems, and to forgive. To Cole, these were just cliché sayings repeated on and on by others around him who didn’t trust. He always brushed these words aside thinking he could do everything on his own and life only revolved around him. After being mauled by the Spirit Bear and having to survive on his own, he began to open his eyes for the first time. He began to grasp it was not anyone’s fault but his own he was stuck in his position. Cole finally started to recognize if he held on to his grudge against his father he would never be able to let go of his horrible past and start living again. Most importantly, Cole learned he could never live with himself if he did not help Peter Driscal. I think this life lesson Cole learned will forever be symbolized by the Spirit Bear. Without the bear, Cole would have never learned integrity and being trusted is real power, not the fake power of freighting people into doing what he says.