The Secret Lion Symbolism

The challenging years of early adolescence links childhood with adulthood in baffling ways that many youngsters wish to avoid. In The Secret Lion, written by Alberto Rios, symbolism is widely used to reveal the lessons that the narrator learns, along with his friend Sergio, as they try retaining childhood while stepping into the monotonous world of adulthood. Although the arroyo is a filthy river polluted by sewage, the rebellious boys consider it as their “Mississippi”. The narrator frequently refers to the arroyo as “... the one place we were not supposed to go”, portraying their rebellion side to readers as they go there anyway since it was the only place where they obtained freedom from the “changing” world. This leads reader to believe that the boys are emotionally attached to the river for they continuously visit the place to relive their childhood memories such as becoming the “Vikings of America”. As time passes by, the boys’ perspectives of the river changes, whereas the river does not. Readers can conclude this since they stop visiting as the arroyo becomes unpleasant. At this point in story, the readers conclude that the boys have realized that fate is inevitable. As the boys wander far from the

The golf course in The Secret Lion was “heaven” to the boys, who expressed euphoric behavior by running around laughing, hitting each other playfully and acting wealthy there. Unfortunately, their “heaven” is shattered as two golfers inform them that they were on private land. Through the golf course, readers got another glimpse of the boy's’ innocence as they didn't know what golf was. Although the boys felt defeated when exiting the expensive land, realizing that yet another thing was taken away from them, they accepted early adulthood after all. From this, the readers can conclude that the young boys understand the importance of