The Secret Lion Summary

In Alberto Alvaro Rios's story The Secret Lion, the theme captures how change is imminent and how a child's innocence cannot be spared. Just as our world constantly revolves around our sun, we must also revolve around an essential part of our life course: change. From the caveman to the modern man change has always been present, and although we constantly change, not everyone responds the same way. The transformation from elementary to middle school, the arroyo, the grinding ball, the golf course and the lion represent symbolic objects vital to the understanding of story's theme.

The first symbolic objective in "The Secret Lion" is the transformation from elementary to middle school. Here we read about the authors' first encounter with change
They had found the Garden of Eden in the middle of the dessert. "It was just what we thought it would be. Perfect." The narrator and his friend Sergio were so happy that they even ran around laughing, hitting each other and acting like they were rich. They even found a hole for the soda that fit perfectly and nothing could wrong in this perfect world. But all of the sudden just as everything else before, it all came crushing down. This time, however, realizing that they could never find heaven and that life had disappointed them again, they decide to take a new approach and instead be strong and keep their heads up. "We grew up a little bit, and couldn't go backwards." (Kriszner 169) The last symbol used in The Secret Lion is the lion represents adult hood, the lost of innocence and fate. Throughout the whole story, the author claims that the lion is present but he just can't explain what it is "but it was there nonetheless like a lion."(Kriszner 166) The lion signifies the change from an innocent child to an experienced young adult. He didn't know what was happening to him, why he couldn't talk to girls, why asking questions at school was wrong and why everything perfect was being taken away. Just as chaotic as it can be, when a lion spreads terror while attacking other animals; children, just as the animals, run everywhere lost never knowing what to do. At the end however, everything calms down and life continues normally. That is what the narrator did after the "lion" had attacked he went on living the best he could without his childhood innocence. "We went back to the arroyo…and tried to have fun the best we could." (Kriszner 169) He realized at last that fate was