Touching Spirit Bear: Chapter 1  Summary & Analysis

Cole kneels in the boat. He strains at his handcuffs, even though he agreed to wear them until he reaches the island where he’ll begin his yearlong banishment in Southeast Alaska—the only way to avoid jail in Minneapolis. Garvey, a Tlingit Indian and Cole’s parole officer, sits in the middle of the boat. Cole doesn’t trust Garvey; he doesn’t trust anyone who doesn’t fear him. Edwin, a quiet Tlingit elder, sits in the back. When Cole met Edwin at their last stop, Edwin made Cole put his clothes on inside out to show humility and shame. Everyone thinks Cole is sorry for what he did, but he isn’t. To Cole, this is a game.

Feeling a sudden wave of anger at Edwin, Cole spits so that the wind carries it back and it lands squarely on Edwin’s chest. Edwin wipes it off; Cole feigns horror. He wonders what Edwin is afraid of. Cole thinks back to everyone who tried to help him in Minneapolis. Nobody really cares about him; they sent him to drug counseling and therapy, but everyone “referred” him on. Cole soon learned that adults “referred” him when they were tired of dealing with him. He’s already been arrested many times and every time, they warned him it was his last chance. Cole now knows that he can always count on having one more last chance. It doesn’t really matter now, though. He doesn’t plan to honor his contract with Circle Justice; he’s not staying on the island.

Last year, Cole robbed and trashed a hardware store. A week later, when he bragged about it at school, a kid named Peter Driscal turned Cole in. Cole beat him bloody in the parking lot and smashed Peter’s head against the sidewalk. This landed Cole in a detention center. At the detention center, Cole refuses to do his schoolwork and thinks that he’s only here because Peter wouldn’t fight back. What angers Cole most, however, is his mom and dad’s behavior. They used to always come to his rescue with a lawyer and money, but that changed when they got divorced. This time, the police refuse to let Cole go. Prosecutors attempt to get his case transferred to adult court, and even Nathaniel Blackwood, the expensive lawyer Cole’s dad hired, doesn’t know if he can help. Cole resents his parents for this.

Cole thinks that his mom never stands up to anyone, while his dad drinks and blames everything on Cole. He tortures them when they visit by ignoring them. It irks Cole’s dad the most—with guards watching, he can’t hurt Cole. His parents finally stop visiting, but Garvey visits daily. Cole doesn’t understand what Garvey wants. One day, Garvey asks if Cole would consider applying for Circle Justice, a healing form of justice used by native cultures. He explains that normally, if Cole were to kill Garvey’s cat, for instance, Cole would pay a fine and they would still hate each other. But in Circle Justice, Cole would sign a “healing contract.” It might require him to help Garvey pick out a new kitten, watch a vet operate, or help care for a cat.

Cole is dismissive and doesn’t know why he’d do this, but Garvey points out that Cole is also a victim—something happened to make him kill a small animal. When Garvey reaches out to clap Cole on the back, Cole shrinks. Nobody touches him except to hurt him. Garvey continues that justice should heal, not punish. Healing, however, is much harder than punishment, as it means an offender needs to take responsibility for their actions. As soon as Garvey mentions that participating in Circle Justice might reduce Cole’s jail sentence, Cole puts on an innocent voice and says he’s interested. He thinks that Garvey is a sucker.