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.