Page 18 - Cornice_Grade 8

Did Cole Fail Banishment Or Did

Banishment Fail Cole?

Touching Spirit Bear is a book written by Ben Mikaelsen. The protagonist of

this story is a 15-year-old boy named Cole Matthews. Cole is an only child

who lives in the state of Minneapolis with his alcoholic parents. His father

had abused him for as long as he could remember, and his mother never
tried to protect him from his father. This is how he gained his childhood

trauma. So because of his childhood problems, he had been growing up

thinking that anger and violence were the only ways to solve problems.

One fateful day he did something that would change his life forever. He

made one of his classmates, Peter Driscal, egregiously injured by smashing

his head against a sidewalk after Peter ratted him out to the police saying

how he’d broken into a hardware store the other day. Once helped by a
fellow Tlingit and Parole Officer, Garvey, Cole was given the opportunity in

court to undergo a healing circle, which is basically a banishment to an

island on the coast of Ketchikan.

Cole had to stay on the island for a year. He was provided with everything
he needed to help him survive the island. He had all the necessary supplies

and even had a shelter built for him. He even got a weapon to protect

himself from the wild, dangerous animals. He was also given a very valuable

piece of cloth called the ‘at.oow’ by Garvey. The at.oow had been passed
from generation to generation to people like Cole as a symbol of trust. It

was never owned by anyone, no one could ever possibly own it. But Cole

being his usual self decided that it would be better to betray everyone’s

trust. With only freedom in his mind and rage enveloping him, he burnt down
all his supplies as well as his shelter. He even tried burning the at.oow in the

fire but luckily he missed it. He even had an idiotic plan to swim away from

the island at night. The only reason he’d even agreed to get banished to

the island was because he just wanted to avoid going to jail. His anger had

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