The Setting of Touching Spirit Bear
Editor's Note: This is a post describing the setting in the novel Touching Spirit Bear. I am doing this for my Language Arts class.
Did you know that in the book Touching Spirit Bear, Cole lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Setting in a novel is an incredibly important part of the quality of the book it is going to be. If a book doesn't have an amazing setting, it will not be a good book. That is why I am writing a blog post right now; I'm going to describe the amazing setting from Touching Spirit Bear. The three parts of the setting of Touching Spirit Bear I'm going to talk about will be the time, location, and mood of the novel. Each of these setting elements affects what will happen in the novel and why.
Firstly, I'm going to talk about the time of Touching Spirit Bear. Time is incredibly important to Cole when he's on the island. He wants to use his time wisely to complete many tasks as quickly as possible. For instance, Cole wakes up early in the morning to soak in the water, then rolls the ancestor rock down the hill. Without using the time Cole has, he would be angry the rest of the day and he wouldn't heal during his stay on the island. Winter is an extreme factor in what Cole does on the island. As Edwin describes it, "Winter will be the hardest. Weather is bad, days short, the fire warm, and the stream too bitter to soak. You’ll find yourself wanting to stay inside beside the fire where it’s easy for your anger to fester like a Devil’s Club thorn. You’ll stare into the flames and remember the bad times" (146). The time of the year (winter, in this case), will make it difficult for Cole to survive through the stay on the island. It will make it hard for Cole to use his time wisely and conquer his anger.
Time is not the only element of the setting of a story. There is also the location. Obviously, the main location of this novel is the banishment island that Cole stays on. This has a major effect on the outcome of the story. If Cole never went to the island, he would never have healed. He wouldn't be mauled by the Spirit Bear, dance any of the dances, or soak in the water. His anger would still be present in his life and he would not have forgiven Peter. Peter, no doubt, would not have forgiven Cole if there wasn't this main location in the novel. This island brings Peter and Cole together in a confined space - if you would like to call it that - and prevents them from really doing much without seeing each other. Furthermore, Cole living in the United States may be a big factor on the consequences he was given. Had he lived in Canada, he would be under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). That might have made his consequences less severe. He probably wouldn't be sent to an island off of the coast of Alaska. Instead, he would be properly rehabilitated and then, reintegrated into society. Moreover, the location of the novel effects Cole's personality. Cole realizes that the world is beautiful and that he isn't the most important person in it.
The last element of setting is the mood of the novel. Both location and the time of the novel help to establish what the mood of the novel is. For example, in Touching Spirit Bear, Colebeing on the island alone for a year helps to establish a mood of isolation and solitude. This mood affects the plot marginally. If Cole didn't have the feeling of being alone or the feeling of him having to fight for himself, he wouldn't figure out what the roots of his anger are. While Cole is lying on the ground after the bear mauling, a storm begins. A mood of fear is present during this time. This is when Cole has a big change in perspective. After Edwin teaches the Circle Justice about how life can happen when you're not ready, by pushing Cole, he describes what he believes happened to Cole on the island, "I believe something significant happened to Cole on the island. Six months ago, he would have come up off the floor swinging after a push like that” (128).
A setting has an extreme effect on the plot, characters, and mood of a novel. Time, location, and mood have had an extreme handle on Cole during this story. Next time you're reading a novel,take a moment to realize how much of the plot is being affected by the setting.
Did you know that in the book Touching Spirit Bear, Cole lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Setting in a novel is an incredibly important part of the quality of the book it is going to be. If a book doesn't have an amazing setting, it will not be a good book. That is why I am writing a blog post right now; I'm going to describe the amazing setting from Touching Spirit Bear. The three parts of the setting of Touching Spirit Bear I'm going to talk about will be the time, location, and mood of the novel. Each of these setting elements affects what will happen in the novel and why.
Firstly, I'm going to talk about the time of Touching Spirit Bear. Time is incredibly important to Cole when he's on the island. He wants to use his time wisely to complete many tasks as quickly as possible. For instance, Cole wakes up early in the morning to soak in the water, then rolls the ancestor rock down the hill. Without using the time Cole has, he would be angry the rest of the day and he wouldn't heal during his stay on the island. Winter is an extreme factor in what Cole does on the island. As Edwin describes it, "Winter will be the hardest. Weather is bad, days short, the fire warm, and the stream too bitter to soak. You’ll find yourself wanting to stay inside beside the fire where it’s easy for your anger to fester like a Devil’s Club thorn. You’ll stare into the flames and remember the bad times" (146). The time of the year (winter, in this case), will make it difficult for Cole to survive through the stay on the island. It will make it hard for Cole to use his time wisely and conquer his anger.
Time is not the only element of the setting of a story. There is also the location. Obviously, the main location of this novel is the banishment island that Cole stays on. This has a major effect on the outcome of the story. If Cole never went to the island, he would never have healed. He wouldn't be mauled by the Spirit Bear, dance any of the dances, or soak in the water. His anger would still be present in his life and he would not have forgiven Peter. Peter, no doubt, would not have forgiven Cole if there wasn't this main location in the novel. This island brings Peter and Cole together in a confined space - if you would like to call it that - and prevents them from really doing much without seeing each other. Furthermore, Cole living in the United States may be a big factor on the consequences he was given. Had he lived in Canada, he would be under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). That might have made his consequences less severe. He probably wouldn't be sent to an island off of the coast of Alaska. Instead, he would be properly rehabilitated and then, reintegrated into society. Moreover, the location of the novel effects Cole's personality. Cole realizes that the world is beautiful and that he isn't the most important person in it.
The last element of setting is the mood of the novel. Both location and the time of the novel help to establish what the mood of the novel is. For example, in Touching Spirit Bear, Cole
A setting has an extreme effect on the plot, characters, and mood of a novel. Time, location, and mood have had an extreme handle on Cole during this story. Next time you're reading a novel,
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