The Pond

The Pond

Author's note: This is a Haiku about the pond that Cole soaks in every morning.

A frosty ocean

Able to empty the mind

Where you forget all

The Role of Family

 Author's note: This my writing piece for Touching Spirit Bear. This piece is a theme analysis about the Role of Family.


Families look out for each other. Families protect each other. Families are forgiving to each other. However, perfect families never occur whether in novels or real life.  A main character's actions are often determined by the actions of others within their family.  The way family members act is critically influential to the rest of the family.

In the book Touching Spirit Bear, Cole was beaten by his father for misbehaving.  Abusing your child was the only thing that Cole's father new because that is what his father did to him. If Cole's father wasn't abused when he was a kid, Cole would never have gotten anger issues. And if Cole never became angry he never would have destroyed Peter and his life.  This shows that actions that have occurred in the past will infect future generation like a disease.

When Cole was on the island he had no family to guide him.  That being said, he also had no family to guide him when he was at home because his parents had a high level of ignorance for him.  Without being able to control anything at home he was molded into controlling everything anywhere else.  If they had cared for Cole he would not be the control freak juvenile delinquent he was forced into becoming, thus altering his life completely.

Another survival book very similar to Touching Spirit Bear is My Side of the Mountain.  In the book Sam Gribley runs away from home because he lives in a large family were he is often forgotten. Sam felt unloved so he ran away and lived in the forest for a whole year before anyone found him. His family shunned him unlike Touching Spirit bear. 

The Outsiders, a book where Ponyboy and his brothers have no parents, is also heavily impacted because of the absence of his parents. Darry, Ponyboy's older brother, is unable to go to college because of his family's loss. Ponyboy and his makeshift family do not get along well either which also makes Ponyboy run away. If the family was unabridged, they could return to an average life instead of forcing Ponyboy to run away.

In every book the family will affect the main character for the better or worse. Main characters instinctively make the same mistakes that their parents did because of how strong of an influence your family is. An action made by a person in the family affects you unwillingly.

Thank You, Ma'am... not really

 

Author’s note: This is an alternate ending piece for Thank You, Ma’am  about what would have happened if Mrs. Jones had not given him the money. Warning: the last paragraph is creepy. 


  When they were finished eating she got up and said, "Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. As she opened the door Roger began to limp out the door when Mrs. Jones slammed the door square on his forehead as he stumbled backward.

“You’ll never buy them shoes!” Mrs. Jones cackled as she blocked the only escape.

“You can’t keep me here” Roger screamed, “I have to get home!”

“I thought you have no home or no family, you silly boy” She taunted.

“No, I do have a home and a family” Roger halfheartedly stuttered.

“Do not lie to me!” Mrs. Jones roared. 

                Roger lunged for the door but Mrs. Jones was surprisingly faster. She then held him by the wrist and forced him down into the kitchen chair.  Prior to opening the closet door she tied some rope firmly around his hands, feet and body. Grabbing a towel from the table, Mrs. Jones tore it in two and gagged Roger.  Flailing his every muscle Roger unwillingly was set down in the closet like a toddler after a temper tantrum. Then one of the bystanders living in the house eased the door closed. That was the last time Roger saw Mrs. Jones; and the last time Roger saw anyone.

Touching Spirit Bear Prediction

Cole will change. I think he will become a nicer person because the way the book is written shows he is all bad and that he has to turn good. When he was worried about the birds he had some compassion. When he was laying on the ground he started to see that not everything feared him and that he is part of the ecosystem and he should learn his place.  In the book The Outsiders  Dallas Winston is similar to Cole because he is completely reckless and thinks everything runs around him. In the end of the book Dallas changes heart and cares for other people, so I think that Cole will do the same. The book is written like a comedy because Cole is in control if his changes. At the end of a comedy the setting is positive and I think that this shows that Cole will become a better person.