Essay On Touching Spirit Bear

Have you ever felt close to a certain animal, as if you share the same traits? I share the traits of a lot of animals, and was hard pressed to narrow it down to four. In Language Arts class, we did a novel study on the book Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. In this novel, the main character is on an island and was told to carve a totem of his spirit animals. We, too, were forced to create a totem. So, I decided to use the four animals that represent my life. My past is most accurately represented by a swallow. My present is represented evenly by a cat and a raven. My future will likely be represented by a wolf. After careful consideration, I believe that my life is most represented by a swallow, a cat, a raven, and a wolf.

My past is a mix of play and serious work, which reminded

In my past, I would burst outside to play in the sunshine whenever I got the chance. I would live a hundred different stories all at once, much like a swallow seems to do. For instance, my friend and I would often pretend we were dragons, or birds, and would swoop about on the swings and jump off, learning how to ‘fly’. It usually resulted in several bruises and a sore ankle. However, it was the spirit of the flight that counted. During the winter, the swings became too slippery to safely swing on, so we had to use tall snow banks to drop off of. We would slip our way to the top, make a nest of broken sticks and snow, then ‘fly’ away to find more materials. This, too, resulted in bruises and sore ankles. When at home, I would do ‘such important jobs’, as my Mum put it, such as bringing wood in for our fireplaces, filling the cat food, and shoveling away snow. My parents always explained why we did each job, which I am grateful for. It was easier to do a chore when I knew exactly why I was doing it. For instance, my Dad and I where hauling wood one day, and he asked me if I knew why we had to do this so often. I