Circle Justice

Themes: found within Touching Spirit Bear

Involved in
Coles journey through Circle Justice because he hurt Peter Driscal.
Anger vs. Forgiveness Culture/Tlingt culture
Cole chooses Circle Justice instead of Juvenile
Detention because he thinks it will be easier to
escape
Cole slams Peters head on the sidewalk and
get in trouble
Garvey and Edwin are assigned to help Cole
through this Tlingt process of forgiveness
Circle justice involves the community by discussing
Coles fate instead of a court, and allows alternative
ways for him to make amends for his crime.
Coles punishment is being sent to an island in
Alaska alone for a year by himself with minimal
supplies
Cole receives an At.oow, from Garvey as a present.
The At.oow is a trust blanket and a symbol of
friendship
The Spirit Bear is an all -white big black bear that
very few have seen, most people believe he is a
myth, special animal
Cole creates a totem pole for everything he has
been through and learned while on the island
-Cole learns about justice, anger and forgiveness. Not everyones life is as simple as it may seem and everyone is fighting their own battle.
-Cole learns about the power of nature and that not everything can be fixed or solved with money or a simple sorry
-Different cultures have different customs and cultures that need to be respected and appreciated
Cole sets fire to his supplies and thinks he can
escape the island
Cole gets attacked by the spirit bear and gets badly
injured: he must go back and make amends. He
needs to learn to forgive the bear
Cole learns to work with Peter and in the end
forgives his parents, the Spirit Bear, himself, and
Peter for what happened, Peter did too.
Cole learns about himself and about traditions and
practices different from America culture such as
rolling the ancestor rock and bathing in the cold pond