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Symbolism And Theme In Touching Spirit Bear

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Bennett Jamieson, Ian Barfield, Preston Nelson, and Griffin Hildabrand Mrs. Holsather-Nelson Advanced Language Arts 7 April 2023 Symbolism and Theme Throughout Touching Spirit Bear By Bennett Jamieson, Ian Barfield, Preston Nelson, and Griffin Hildabrand “Touching Spirit Bear” represents the theme of forgiveness and self awareness through many forms of symbolism; these include animals, food, and something as simple as soaking in a pond. Three supporting examples include the soaking pond, the spirit bear, and the totem pole. The soaking pond helps Cole become “invisible” and calm his anger, the totem pole shows forgiveness after Cole and Peter carve a circle together, the spirit bear makes Cole realize that he’s not in control and everyone …show more content…

One mor The soaking pond is brought up throughout the whole book to help Cole heal his anger and become “invisible” to let him connect with nature. Every morning when Cole soaks in the pond he becomes “invisible” which helps him relax and simmer down his anger. Soaking in the pond has also taught him how to become more gentle; he loses the urge to hurt animals and gains the urge to be at peace with them and everything around them. The soaking pond represents Coles healing through a connection to nature. Cole learns to blend in (become invisible) with nature and learns how to be more gentle and less destructive. Clearly, the soaking pond was essential in Cole's healing process and helped him cool down after feeling a surge of …show more content…

The spirit bear, the totem pole, and soaking pond support the theme and are meaningful to Cole because the spirit bear was the climax and turning point in the story where Cole realized he’s not in control and wants to live. It supported the theme because Cole got to feel how it was getting beat up just how he did to Peter. The totem pole was not only important to Cole but also Peter it’s the last symbol in the book that heals the friendship and spirit wound between Cole and Peter. The soaking pond is a piece of symbolism that shows up extremely frequently throughout the book showing repetition. It’s important to Cole because he would hike to it every day at the crack of dawn to soak in it and soothe his anger it was the main for of symbolism he always went to when he was angry and needed a break. Cole and Peter experienced many ways of development and change on the remote Alaskan island from soaking in the pond to healing eachother and themselves by carving a circle in the totem pole. “Touching Spirit Bear” by Ben Mikaelson is full of examples of symbolism and theme. Now by reading this, do you think you could have survived on the Alaskan

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