Topic > Review of Cole Matthews' character in 'Touching Spirit Bear'

Cole Matthews is a stubborn and abusive character at least at first. He didn't have the best family background, with an abusive father and an indifferent mother. Cole Matthews is a rounded and dynamic character. His character has many lateral and complex personalities. You can see that he is a rounded and dynamic character from his way of thinking and how he manages to be so submissive when his father abuses him. But when Peter made him angry, dominance took over and started beating him. His stubborn personality is one of his secondary personalities. It gets the best of him when someone offers him help. His submissive side takes over when his father beats him and he can do nothing to stop it. His mother is usually too drunk to stop such madness. At the same time Cole is very hurt inside, his mother ignores him and his father abuses him. He can't help but react so impulsively when he is angry due to such events. He only knows about hurting people when he is angry because of how his father reacts to such things. He takes notes and causes trouble for everyone because of it. All this creates a very complex person. Luckily the Circle of Justice helped Cole change this complex personality, which brings me to why he is a dynamic character as he changes dramatically throughout the story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Cole Matthews was a careless, aggressive, and rude person before all the healing began. "'Cole jumped on him again and started banging his head against the pavement.'" You can see that Cole is careless based on the above quote from the book. He casually slams Peter's head into the pavement like he does it every day. '“Something terrible must have happened to you to make you want to kill a poor, little animal.'” . Cole states that he would even be able to kill a small, poor animal. Most people would pity a weak, small animal, but Cole thinks otherwise. He thinks that if something or someone is afraid of him, so much the better. He would just kill the poor little animal effortlessly, like a heartless person. He says it in such a casual way. Cole is also a very aggressive person. '"With anger simmering all day, he attacked him.'" Instead of taking the anger out into a different method, Cole decided to take it all out on Peter. This makes him very aggressive because he brutally beat Peter. He could have solved it a different way, but he decided to take all his problems out on Peter instead. After Peter's beating and when Cole was separated from the other students, Cole still decided to be aggressive, spit and laughed at Peter. "'Cole laughed and spat on him even as he was restrained.'". It was as if Cole wanted to do more and slamming Peter's head into the pavement wasn't enough. And the fact that Cole had the audacity to laugh at Peter's state. Cole was obviously restrained from harming Peter much longer, as six students had to restrain Cole. Cole is, last but not least, rude. The fact that Cole is rude is something you can tell right away as you read the first few pages. He calls anyone older than him "old." “'Get real, old boy.'” It is extremely rude and immature to call your elders old. Cole does it so rudely. On page eight it states that Cole didn't really care about Peter's health after the beating. "It serves him right." Cole grumbled when he was told about Peter's condition.'” How could Cole say that after all thetreatments and traumas that Peter is going through after the beating!? Instead of being a little kinder and apologizing for Peter's condition, Cole honestly doesn't care about anything or anyone. He is rude to nature and others around him, which ultimately led to his punishment of staying on the island. Cole went through multiple experiences that led to Cole's recovery. The first experience that caused a change was being mauled by the Spirit Bear. Cole screams at the seagulls who peck at his skin. He felt so weak that the seagulls only grunted instead of leaving. This has an impact on Cole because it shows that he isn't a tough guy after all. He's simply human. Cole isn't used to the feeling that others aren't afraid of him. In fact, Cole can't seem to get rid of this feeling of anger that is forming inside him. This led to the little lesson he learned from Edwin. The cane was also something that had an impact on Cole. The cane proved that anger will always exist, no matter what. Cole begins to understand that no matter what he does, the anger will always be there. Anger will always be a feeling that cannot disappear. Anger will be a feeling from time to time, but it's best not to be angry all the time. After the day was over, Cole would perform a dance he saw, the wolf dance probably had a great impact on Cole. After the Wolf Dance, Cole learns that you should accept help and that you need others. Cole didn't want help from others, so when he learned that sometimes you need to accept help. It really helped Cole understand that he can't do everything on his own. At first he didn't want to get help, but then he discovers that he needs help to survive, like a pack of wolves. This shows how Cole learned from his mistakes from his experiences. Cole has become honest, generous and repentant after all the healing. Cole showed his honesty through the totem pole. “'Cole said, 'I started to build a canoe, but I knew it was wrong, so I cut this deep groove so I couldn't try again.'” Cole had been honest that he had initially tried to build a canoe, since the log was perfect for a canoe. This showed an improvement in Cole's personality from before he lied. Cole also admits to following a routine to get rid of anger every morning. “Did you dip in the pond every morning?” Cole nodded. Cole usually did not condone such actions. He probably would have lied in the past just to get out of prison the easy way. Cole had also shown his generosity when Peter arrived on the island. For example, Cole decided to let Peter have the cabin. 'You don't have to sleep in this cabin with me if you don't want to,' Cole interrupted.'” (Mikaelsen 216). Cole offers the bed in the cabin where it's warm instead of where it's cold outside. Cole usually only wants the best for himself and wouldn't make such a generous offer for someone else. He also offers things to Peter. "And you, Peter?" Cole offered'” . Cole offers Peter a hot drink on a cold day. Like what I stated before, Cole shows an act of generosity by wanting to give something to Peter. Peter sadly thinks that Cole doesn't regret what he did to Peter. Cole, however, feels deep regret. 'He's so afraid of me,' Cole said." Cole feels a twinge of regret when he sees that Peter is scared to death of him. Cole just wants to make amends with Peter and go back to life feeling better. It's hard to do this because Peter is so scared, which is why Cole feels a hint of remorse. Cole even offers help just to make sure Peter will forgive him. "I'll do anything to help you and make things right..." When Peter and Cole argue towards..