The Secret Lion

The unnamed narrator and protagonist recounts his story in retrospect, focusing on two episodes from his boyhood in the outskirts of Nogales, Arizona. The story implies that he comes from a lower economic class, and his first real encounter with The Reality of Class Differences—being kicked off the golf course at age five—marked a pivotal Loss of Innocence. The narrator suggests that this event permanently altered his worldview, making him more aware of life’s imperfection and transience: “Something got taken away from us that moment. Heaven. We grew up a little bit, and couldn’t go backward” (102).

The narrator is consequently resistant to change, especially when it’s associated with growing up. When he enters junior high, the narrator experiences dramatic shifts in both his schooling and his relationship with his peers. To cope with these changes, the narrator yells his frustrations into the void of the arroyo; outwardly confident, he feels that he has “solved junior high” (98). However, his feelings for the grinding ball demonstrate his underlying awareness that no such “solution” is possible. The best he can do is try to preserve a memory of perfection by burying the ball, which is why he quickly gives up trying to find it: He does not want the passage of time to ruin this experience too.