The main symbol of the story is river, an arroyo. It illustrates their childhood, the place that never changes. It is the place where they can do whatever they want to do. It is a place to hang around. "It was our river, though, our personal Mississippi, our friend from long back, and it was full of stories"(43). But as they become more grown up they realize that their thoughts of the river change. As time goes by, the arroyo dissatisfies the boys, and they decide to stop going there. "Nature seemed to keep pushing us around one way or another, teaching us the same thing every place we ended up"(45).

At the beginning of the story,

It was so perfect so they did not want to lose it. "We went back to the arroyo for the rest of that summer, and tried to have fun the best we could. We learned to be ready for finding the grinding ball. We loved it, and when we buried it we knew what would happen. We were two boys and twelve summers then, and not stupid. Things get taken away"(47). They knew they were not going stay children forever. Boys knew that thing like childhood goes away; they are growing up.

The secret lion is a very puzzling and complicated symbol. It is a good example for the purity of heart. This lion symbolizes a hidden place inside us that holds our innocence, our virtue. It symbolizes moving from childhood to adulthood. It symbolizes growing up. This secret lion is associated with a change. And secret lion is the thing that changes the boys.

Another symbol is golf course. It is like "heaven" (46) for the boys when they first notice it. This is how narrator describes it: " Perfect. Heaven was green, like nothi

Some common words found in the essay are:
Alberto Rios, Wizard Oz46, Perfect Heaven, secret lion, Secret Lion, children forever, golf course, stay children forever, growing secret lion, grinding ball, growing secret, heaven golf, river arroyo, stay children,
Approximate Word count = 687
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)