Analysis Of Touching Spirit Bear By Ben Mikaelsen
Circle Justice is a Native American form of justice, that seeks to heal instead of the regular punishment ways. In it volunteers from around the community help sentence offenders and help them lead better lives and live better. As portrayed in the novel "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen. Another name for this type of justice is restorative justice. Although it originated in Canada, it is mostly practiced in some Midwestern states found in the United States, but mostly Minnesota.
Circle Justice focuses on healing the offender, victim, and community whereas other various justice forms focus on punishing the offender. Some of the goals of Circle Justice include:
Promoting healing for all affected parties.
Providing an opportunity for the
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He is with two men, Edwin and Garvey, who are instructing him on the terms of his banishment to the island. After the first few chapters we learn through anecdotes why Cole was sent to the island.Cole had viciously beat a classmate of his named Peter Driscal, after Peter snitches on him. Peter suffers from various problems as a result of Cole’s attack. Which only adds to Cole’s previous history with the law. Cole is given the option by an officer named Garvey to either be tried as an adult and sent to prison, or to path of Circle Justice to avoid prison. Cole agrees to later as he does not want to go to jail. A series of “Circles” meet in order to decide Cole’s sentence. The Circle, consisted of Garvey, Cole’s parents, Peter, Peter’s parents, and other members of the community who volunteered to be there. At the meetings it is revealed that Cole’s father is an alcoholic and is physically abusive to Cole. The Circle decides that by banishing Cole to a remote Alaskan island, they can teach Cole a lesson and protect others from him without sending him to jail, per Garvey’s request. Garvey tells Cole of a pure white black bear which is called the Spirit Bear. When Cole arrives on the island, he is angered by the way that all the adults are treating him and fights back by making his banishment look as if it were all a game to him. After Edwin
Lessons In Touching Spirit Bear By Chase Matthews
364 Words | 2 PagesIn the book Touching Spirit Bear, a native boy named Chase Matthews, is constantly getting into trouble. Chase gets sent to a live on an island by himself, as punishment for a year where he couldn't hurt anybody but runs into an unlikely friend. Chase makes many mistakes but learns from them when he's on the island. This book has taught me a lot of stuff that comes into my life every day Chase burns down the small hut and all of the food that was left for him, tries to kill the spirit bear and when he talks to the spirit Bear. When Chase is dropped off by the elders on this remote island, he tries to act as though nothing can hurt him.
Quotes From Lord Of The Flies Cole
1377 Words | 6 PagesAdditionally, Edwin wanted to show Cole that he will support him no matter what just like Garvey. When Cole, Garvey, and Edwin first got to the island Edwin left the skiff out on the shore without the spark plug just incase cole tried to escape. “Garvey and I believe in your potential, you haven't earned trust not trying to escape in the skiff is a good first step.” (page 137) From that day on, Edwins attitude towards Cole started to change.
Touching Spirit Bear Analysis
1607 Words | 7 PagesTouching Spirit Bear: Cole’s Conflicts Have you ever thought about all the conflicts in your life? If you look back you probably realize that a lot of them were bad, but you must have overcome them if you are thinking about them now. You’d most likely figure that a fifteen-year-old wouldn’t have to much to worry about yet, but Cole Matthews is unlike any child that you could ever imagine. Lets just say that some of his conflicts include being beat by his father and in general being ignored by both his mother and father, he was mauled by a bear (the Spirit Bear if you will), and he has to attempt to help Peter Driscal, the boy he hurt at the beginning of the story, but do you know how hard it is to even try to talk to the person whose head you
Foreshadowing In Touching Spirit Bear
620 Words | 3 PagesInstead of killing Cole, the bear walks off, leaving Edwin and Garvey to discover him on the brink of death. When Cole finally has the ability to choke out sentences at the hospital, he declares that he is beyond anger. Cole wanted to stop having his destructive fits of anger and was sure that he would stop being mad. Things would change. Edwin, an elder that Garvey asked assistance from while planning Cole’s banishment, countered his statement by explaining that “A person is never done being mad.
Touching Spirit Bear Character Analysis
1269 Words | 6 PagesAt the beginning of the novel, Cole Matthews is a vicious teenager who thinks he is superior to everyone, but is, in fact, hiding behind a shield of anger, the result of being brutally abused by his drunken father. Cole’s father, Mr. Matthews, drinks non stop until he becomes a monster, and then ruthlessly beats Cole up. When talking to Garvey, a proud, Tlingit indian, who is also his parole officer, Cole opens up about his father’s abuse saying, “‘You don’t know what it’s like being hit over and over until you’re so numb you don’t feel anything!” (Mikaelsen 28).
Touching Spirit Bear: Character Analysis Of Cole Mathews
480 Words | 2 PagesHe seems like the person who uses lies to escape the truth of his life. Cole feels to that since he keeps getting more chances, there is nothing to lose. He doesn't realize that sometimes telling the truth and getting in trouble is better than telling a lie and facing the guilt. In conclusion throughout the novel Cole Mathews has a very big temper, he doesn't trust anyone ever, and he never tells the truth.
Barry Levinston's Sleepers And The Restorative Justice System
849 Words | 4 PagesThe movie "Sleepers" directed by Barry Levinston stared four boys Shakes, Tommy, Micheal and John. The boys stole a hot dog cart from a vendor, while the boys were running away with the cart it slipped away from their hands into the subway station, and it accidentally crushed the man at the bottom of the stairs severely injuring him. Now the four boys are facing three charges mischief causing danger to life, mischief under over $5000 and theft. The Canadian criminal code outlines mischief causing danger to life as an indictable offence with the max penalty of life imprisonment, mischief to property and theft over $5000 can either be a summary conviction or indictable offences with the max penalty of 10 years imprisonment (Criminal
Quotes In Touching Spirit Bear
608 Words | 3 PagesCole has changed how he feels about nature from the beginning of the book, exactly like how the first and final haikus differ from each other. The following statement shows how he has changed and realized he is a small part of a big circle, and is what inspired the “realizing life’s a circle” part of the haiku: “Standing beside the totems, explained to Peter that being invisible was being a part of life’s circle and accepting it. ‘This morning, when we forgave each other, we also forgave ourselves,’ he said. ‘We allowed ourselves to become a part of the big circle. . . .’” (Mikaelsen 239), whereas in the beginning Cole hated the idea of the circle and only thought of
The Spirit Bear Analysis
1282 Words | 6 Pages“Whatever happened he could always count on having one more last chance.” (Ben Mikaelsen, 6) These two pieces of evidence tell me that Cole was getting into trouble, so much without anybody caring, that he knew he would have no consequence to it. I feel that Cole was so ignorant, that he didn’t know what to expect in the real world. So when he did finally do something so bad that he needed a consequence, he had a fair share of troubles from the real world, it was like reality was smacking him in the face telling him to smarten up.
Symbolism In Touching Spirit Bear
515 Words | 3 PagesEverything will turn out right in the end, and Cole exhibits this. The whole reason that Cole ended up o the island in the first place is because he made bad choices. These choices led to more bad choices and then Cole had a traumatic experience. This changes Cole’s life forever.
Touching Spirit Bear Analysis
1030 Words | 5 PagesFirst of all, Cole was able to overcome his adversity because he wanted to change into a better person. At this point of the story, Cole is in Rosey’s hotel and Cole, Garvey, and Edwin are talking about what happened on the island. “Cole nodded. ‘I do, but it’s okay.
Touching Spirit Bear Book Analysis
1076 Words | 5 PagesCole was beaten by him throughout his childhood. This pain and anger gave him the personality and characteristic to inflict pain on other people. The two final themes have a very strong connection. In order to heal, mentally and physically, you have to learn to forgive and receive forgiveness. This was a lesson the reader and the main character, Cole, experience throughout the book.
Essay On Touching Spirit Bear
931 Words | 4 PagesThe relationships in Cole’s life all had a different impact on him but specifically his relationship with Peter affected him a lot. Especially the part of the book when Cole found out that Peter told on him. “‘You’re a dead man,’ he warned... He laughed when he saw fear in Peter’s eyes”(7-8). This shows the relationship at the beginning of the book and clearly it wasn’t good.
Role Of Banishment In Cole Matthews's Lessons
483 Words | 2 PagesCole makes those points obvious when he says that he prefers people having fear in him. Cole infact gets offended of someone/something doesn’t get startled by him. Cole likes control of the situation (when he thrashed Peter, for example.) Throughout the book Cole made it clear that he was infact thinking out failing banishment, when he atemped an escape. Every action Cole took on that island was to prevent change, and what the act of banishment was meant
Going Straight Summary
772 Words | 4 PagesDiscussion 1_ Going Straight Explanation of the Four “H’s” as they Relate the Society Bartollas & Miller (2014), identify four key components that are critical to facilitating a juveniles’ ability to turn their lives around for the better. These four essential components included habilitation, healing, hope, and honor. Habilitation involves teaching juveniles to respect the system and abide by its principles and conventions. It helps juveniles appreciate the importance of living productively within the community, and assist the juvenile become a better citizen in order to be released into the community.
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