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Lessons In The Things They Carried By Cole Matthews

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A broken person can be fixed. Cole Matthews is a fifteen year old juvenile delinquent. In the story he was described as mean, ruthless, irresponsible and disrespectful. So because of Cole’s actions and all the trouble he had caused he was banished to an island. Cole, on the island, was attacked by a bear.. He realized how small and meaningless he was compared to the bear. Which caused Cole to change his point of view. Cole was able to change, physically and mentally. He went from a person who couldn’t control his anger and caused a lot of trouble, to a person who can accept when they're wrong, someone who can problem solve, and someone who can control their emotions.
In the story, Cole learned his limit when the bear attacked him. In chapter …show more content…

He explains that life is like a hotdog because you have to make of it what you will, just like with life. In the story this event is after they had finished building Cole’s shelter at the island. Edwin, Garvey, and Cole were all sitting around the fire cooking hot dogs. “All of life is a hot dog. Make of it what you will. I suggest you make your time here on the island a celebration.” (pg. 139). This quote from Garvey explains why life is like a hot dog. Garvey cooks his hot dog well, places all these toppings on his hot dog then proceeds to cut it into thirds for each person to get a piece he then explains why life is like a hot dog. He proceeds to say that you should savor the hot dog just how you should savor life and make of it what you can. Life is like a hot dog if you think of it in a different, deeper way. This allows Cole to think life in a different way, at this point Cole is pretty much a completely different person. Cole doesnt shut up Garvey but listens to him, he allows Garvey to explain himself. This is the same Cole who would once disrespect people and didn’t care about their opinions. The same Cole who would cause trouble all the time, but he now has

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