Touching Spirit Bear Analysis

948 Words4 Pages
he protagonist of Touching Spirit Bear, Cole Matthews, is a baby-faced fifteen-year-old boy that lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has a bigger build, but apparently looks like an innocent boy. We learn of his age, location, and appearance mainly on page five. The text states “He was an innocent-looking, baby-faced fifteen-year-old from Minneapolis…” (paragraph 2, sentence 6), which confirms those traits. Him having a bigger build is only an inference based off of him being a bully. We also learn that he’s been in trouble with the law a lot, and that his parents abuse him. The evidence for him being in trouble with the law is also on page five, in which that same sentence finishes with “...who had been in trouble with the law half his life,”. There are many points throughout the book that hints at Cole being beaten, but it is confirmed during an argument with Garvey. On paragraph 5 of page 28, Cole shouts, “ ‘You don’t know what it’s like being hit over and over until you’re so numb you don’t feel anything!”.…show more content…
He’s growing up in a broken home, with two alcoholic parents that are selfish. One of them beats him and mocks him, while the other turns a blind eye and ignores the situation. This combo isn’t good for anybody, but can still be handled in other ways. The main problem with him is that he’s too stubborn and shuts people out when they try to help him. He has had plenty of opportunities to clean up his act (especially with being well-acquainted with the authorities), and to tell someone with power about his abusive family relationship. He’s weaker than he tries to seem in the beginning, but he is mature enough to realise that he’s weak after being mauled half-past-dead by a bear (Don’t really know if I can give him credit for that). All things considered, he’s an obnoxious, evil kid at the beginning but becomes a likeable/relatable person not that far into the
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