The Secret Lion

RRJ Assignment: “The Secret lion” In this short story “The Secret Lion” Alberto Alvaro Rios invited me into the world of an imaginative Hispanic youth who is going through the coming-of-age crisis. The story is written in the first person point of view, and portrays the struggle of the speaker and his friend Sergio against the sweeping force of change that accompanies the transition from childhood to young adulthood. The antagonist is time-time that has the power to transform them into the dull and unimaginative adults that they know. They see this change happening to friends like Sandy who now only cares about playing the piano. These youths see in the ordinary objects, magic and greatness. Where adults see a polluted creek, they see a mighty Mississippi on which they can carry adventures and pretend to be Vikings. The hills are not just hills they are, by the power of imagination, mountains full of adventures leading to Heaven. Then there is the grinding ball. This ball to me was the greatest symbol that explained “The Secret Lion”. The ball symbolizes the perfect, powerful imagination (it is man-made, crafted, round) that we impart to ordinary objects and change them into extra-ordinary magical things. The ball to the adults is simply “…that dirty thing” to be thrown away. To the youths, it is a treasure to be excited about, admired and buried. This part about the grinding ball reminded me of Don Quixote vision of Dulcinea. With a secret lion on the inside the world can be transformed like magic. I loved the style and diction of the author. The hurried speech of the youths reflected their energy, excitement and haste, “GuyGodthis is perfect, thisisthis is perfect…” The misspelling of teacher-erz made the speaker real and close, I could almost hear him. I noticed and liked the abrupt short sentences after long ones: “Like that” and “So we did”. It made me stop and think. Alberto Alvaro Rios did an excellent job