Touching Spirit Bear Notes
11/11/13
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Michaelsen
Cole Matthews – Main character – Cole Matthews, a 15- year-old boy, beats up Peter
Driscal after Peter informs police that Cole had robbed a hardware store and then trashed
it. He is the protagonist.
Setting – Present day, Minneapolis, Minnesota and a remote (isolated) Alaskan island
Plot Graph – What the story is about.
Exposition – ( Setting, Main characters and problem or conflict) Cole Matthews, a 15
year old boy, beats up Peter Driscal after Peter informs police Cole broke into, robbed,
and trashed a hardware store.
Types of Conflict –
Man Vs. Man – A problem between characters. Example: Cole fights Garvey
initially. Cole fights Peter. Cole versus his father.
Man vs. Self – A problem within a character’s own mind - Cole is trying to learn to
control his anger.
Man Vs. Society – A problem between a character and society, the law, or some
tradition Example: Circle Justice versus Cole
Man Vs. Nature – A problem with some element of nature, such as a blizzard or
hurricane Examples: Cole fights the Spirit Bear. He also fights against the weather.
Rising Action (Details that lead to the point of highest tension or climax)
 Meets Garvey, his parole officer
 goes through Circle Justice Meetings
 banished to the island
 burns hut/supplies
 tries to escape island by swimming, current or tide stops him
 mauled by spirit bear
 recovers for six months
 Circle Justice sends Cole back to island
 Gains a better relationship with mom
 Begins to carve out the totem pole and starts to learn from the animals he sees
on the island and starts dancing their dances
Symbols Within the Story
Wolf – they run in packs, they rely on one another
Whales – they are graceful and always migrating, but they don’t
always have a home
Climax – (when a character changes or is forced to change. It is generally the point
of highest tension) When Cole dances the anger dance and learns to forgive himself.
Falling Action (A sharp decline in dramatic tension)
 Asks Edwin if Peter can come to the island
 Peter tries to commit suicide
 Cole wants to teach Peter to forgive, to become invisible, roll the ancestor rock,
soak in the pond
 Garvey brings Peter
 Peter’s father threatens Cole
 Peter ignores Cole
 Peter secretly trips, throws rocks, and eventually hits Cole
 Cole is forced to sleep in tent, get wet because Peter does not want to be in the
same room with him
 Peter carves a bear on Cole’s totem pole and agrees to teach Cole how to do so.
 Boys carve the totem poles together
 Peter and Cole see the Spirit Bear
 Cole gives Attow to Peter
(Snickers Bar was a peace offering – it is a turning point for Peter)
Resolution (The conclusion of the story. The problem/conflict is solved)
 Peter and Cole carve a circle on the totem poles
 Realistic stories refer to stories that indeed could happen to people and animals.
It is within the realm of possibility.
 Types of Realistic Fiction
– Factual realism- people, places, or events are real (must be accurate)
– Situational realism- the situation can likely happen. Example- the survival
story.
– Emotional Realism- believable feeling and relationships among characters.
Coming of age stories are examples of this.
– Social realism- an honest portrayal of society and its conditions at the
moment
– Contemporary Realism- takes place in present time and shows attitudes
and beliefs of today’s culture
Additional Literature Vocabulary
Narrator – The speaker who tells the story. This person may also be a character in the
story. This is not the author.
Point-of-View- The perspective from which a story is told
Protagonist – Main character in the story usually a hero or good guy
Setting – the where and when the story takes place
Symbol – An image, object, character or action that stands for an idea beyond its literal
meaning.
Theme – The story’s main ideas. The message the author intends to communicate by
telling the story. Themes are universal truths that are suggested by the specifics of the
story.
Themes of TSB – Think of specific evidence from the text to support one of these or
come up with your own.
Controlling Anger
Life is a circle
Forgiveness
Foreshadowing – A writing technique that gives the reader clues about events that will
happen later in the story
Imagery – The use of selected detail to describe one thing in terms of another. This
comparison helps suggest additional meanings and feelings.