Touching Spirit Bear
Chapters 1&2
In chapters one and two of Touching Spirit Bear you get a good sense of the main character, Cole Matthews. Cole is a 15 year old boy who grew up in Massachusetts. He’s grown up neglected by his two drunk, divorced parents. He’s been a juvenile delinquent for a good half of his life. He mainly robs and wrecks stores. His crimes have gotten increasingly worse as time passes.
Cole needs to learn some of the Native American’s Ten Commandments. This would help with his behavioral issues.The first Commandment says that you should treat the Earth and everything on it with respect. This is one thing that Cole doesn’t do very well. He lashes out at people every chance he gets. Cole has some anger issues that he can’t seem to control. Even with counseling. The problem is he doesn’t want to change his ways and adapt new habits.
One other very important Commandment is Commandment number nine. It says that you should be truthful and honest at all times. Now Cole has some problems with telling the truth. He’s lied his whole life about almost everything. He’s lied to keep himself out of trouble, like when he is a suspect in a store robbery. He’s also lied in the past to get what he wants. Telling the truth and being honest with people would be a very hard concept for Cole to learn, especially because he doesn’t trust anybody.
There is one last very important Commandment. It is number 10. The 10th Commandment states that you should take full responsibility for your actions. Cole never takes responsibility for his actions. He just blames all of his problems on everybody else and hates them, when who he really should hate is himself. He is the one who can’t seem to accept what happened in the past has happened and that he should move on. Cole releases all of his anger at everybody by doing evil things to them, like robbing and destroying their stores and homes.