Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Changing Characters

 Authors Note: In this selection, I am writing about, in Spirit Bear, Cole can change and help other people change.

Some people never change. On the other hand, people can change there lives for ever. For example, a fifteen-year-old  irresponsible juvenile from Minneapolis, Minnesota, arrives on a unproductive island near the city of Drake in Southeastern Alaska, in handcuffs. Not willing to change, the school, his parents, and much more, force him to live in an island, until he changes. This guy bullies, and bullies, kid after kid, leaving people in misery.

When Cole arrives on the island, he is consumed by anger, acrimony, and dissatisfaction, to change. As shortly as Edwin, a Tlingit elder, and Garvey leave, Cole sets fire to his constructed shelter and supplies, he tries jumping into the ocean to swim to freedom. Getting caught by the rising tide, he is incapable to escape the island. In his first few days on the island, he has several encounters with a magnificent, white bear called a Spirit Bear, and he is decisive to kill it out of anger. 

Some days later, he saw the bear, desperately in need for food, he tries stabbing the white creature with his knife and a makeshift spear. The bear is not only hesitant but instead fiercely attacks Cole, breaking his hip and right arm as well as knocking him out. Left to die after the attack, Cole comes to realize his own liability and need to change quickly. A while after the attack, the Spirit Bear obediently approaches and comes within inches of Cole’s face. Cole  reaches out to touch the bear and grabs a tassel of white hair from its back. Cole is overwhelmingly moved by the bear’s serenity. Edwin and Garvey back to find Cole close to him death, with mosquitoes and putrefaction all around him.

Back on this small island, Cole is forced to build his own shelter, and Edwin teaches him a series of rituals that will tolerate his healing and forgiveness progression throughout the year. He is commanded to take a bath in a freezing pond every morning to clear his mind of anger. Then, he must take a large rock called the “ancestor rock” up a hill, and then roll it back down as a symbol of releasing his anger. Just as he is growing in his own development of healing, Edwin tells him that Peter Driscal, the boy he had attacked, is not doing well. The boy has developed depression and has attempted suicide, twice. Cole insists that the best way to heal Peter is to have him come to the island and see how Cole has transformed. Peter’s depressed, but desperate, parents agree on the condition that Garvey stays with them on the island. Cole shows Peter the natural wonders of the island and his own healing process, which allow Peter to understand how to forgive Cole and accept that his life has worth as well. As the two forgive each other, they see the Spirit Bear one last time, peaceful as it watches the two former enemies now reconcile. 


See, everyone can change, I mean if the want to. I guess Cole really understood what he did wrong. We can't change on our own, we need friends, or family to help. We need to be surrounded by the people we love and the people that care about us. We need to get help by letting the anger out of us. Everyone needs to realize that the best thing on earth is to be happy. To actually have friends that like you for you. No matter how hard changing your life may be, never give up. Deep down inside you are a wonderful person. 

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