Literary Devices in Alberto Ríos's "The Secret Lion"

Introduction

"The Secret Lion" is a short story by Alberto Álvaro Ríos, published in 1984. The story is told from a schoolboy's point of view and recounts how the life of a young boy changes after entering junior high school. It captures the expectations of young boys alongside the ways in which parents and teachers perceive and treat them. The intellectual limitations of the boys and the social expectations placed upon them are vividly expressed. The author employs a number of literary devices to narrate the story, which revolves around two boys — the narrator and his friend Sergio. The reader is made to view the world through their eyes, sharing their fears, experiences, and perceptions of life. This paper explores "The Secret Lion" and the tools the author uses to present it.

Insights into 'The Secret Lion'

The story starts off calmly and slowly but soon employs suspense. "I was twelve and in junior high school and something happened that we didn't have a name for, but it was there nonetheless like a lion…" This is a well-calculated use of suspense to open a literary piece. It compels readers to fix their attention on the story in order to discover what that "something" could have been. The narrator adds another similarly charged statement: "Everything changed. Just like that…"

The story presents both a suggestive and a hidden title. "The Secret Lion" carries symbolic significance rooted in the many experiences the boys endure while trying to conceal those experiences from their parents. For example, the boys first visit the arroyo, a place they cherish because it gives them the freedom to pursue their desired activities without interruption. The narrator recounts that the arroyo gave them the chance to do what they wanted without anyone dictating to them (Rios 1). It is unfortunate, then, that they eventually stop visiting their favorite location simply because they grow bored with it.

A similar change is observed in the episode of the grinding ball. After safely hiding it from their mother — hiding it because their mother would ask them to "get rid of it" (Rios 1) — the ball disappears. The significance of these acts is that children make decisions consciously and look to their elders for acceptance and approval, which unfortunately does not always come. Children are therefore forced to find alternatives. The boys tried as hard as they could to keep their ball safe, but it vanished all the same. The incident is symbolic, signifying the innocence that children try to treasure and preserve but ultimately lose.

The reader also observes behavioral changes in the boys in relation to girls. Society is driving a wedge into the friendships these youngsters had previously enjoyed and treasured. The boys now view girls as the opposite sex — a perception distinctly different from their earlier one — and even feel a form of attraction toward them. Not yet knowing authentic ways to express their feelings, the boys devise other outlets. In the arroyo, they shout loudly about girls, free from any fear of retribution. The narrator reports: "…we would yell about girls and all the things we wanted to do with them — we didn't know what we wanted to do — just things…" (Rios 1). These changes mirror real-life adolescent development; the boys are entering their teenage years and their bodies are beginning to change.

Moreover, the boys are developing the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. This growth can be inferred from their use of obscenities in the arroyo. They cannot ask the meaning of certain words in class because they want to avoid trouble — they are wiser now. Aware of the consequences of being unruly at school or at home, they find a channel to vent their pent-up energy in the arroyo, where they can overindulge without fear of punishment. The narrator describes it as having been their personal Mississippi and their friend from way back (Rios 1). Their growing understanding leads them to keep certain things from their teachers, preferring to experience life on their own terms.

The short story also portrays the boys as hopeful. Although they are dissatisfied with the state of the world around them, they still seek a perfect place — a kind of heaven — which they seem to have found somewhere in the hills. Yet even while treasuring their secret heaven, they anticipate that it will eventually be taken from them. Soon enough, the narrator and his friend come to terms with the fact that this heaven is not real and does not truly exist.

The narrator symbolically charts the growth process from innocence to its loss — a loss that occurs unknowingly. The boys grow into adults who are fully aware, in retrospect, that their innocence is gone. The lion is chosen to reappear repeatedly, posing a threat to their lives and their perfect world. Eventually, they learn the important lesson that change is inevitable. They make their way back to the arroyo and try to have fun once more.

Conclusion

"The Secret Lion" is a well-crafted piece that uses an effective approach to capture the reader's attention. The plot and setting are central to the delivery of the story. The author ends the story on a note of satire. He observes that something was taken from the boys — that was heaven. He says they grew up a little and could not go back. They kept learning, although no one told them anything — not even about golf. They had been told about heaven, but that went away; they got golf instead. They returned to the arroyo for the rest of that summer and tried to have fun in the best way they could. They set out to find the grinding ball, and when they did, they loved it and hid it as carefully as they could in the ground, knowing what could happen to it. The narrator confesses that they did not try too hard to look for it afterward. He observes that they were twelve summers old and not stupid — they knew that things are often taken away (Rios 1). They were undergoing a transformation, a change they were not yet fully conscious of. Although they hid their grinding ball, they could not hide it well enough. They were only twelve.

The narrative ends powerfully by restating that they buried the ball because they knew it was perfect. They talked about it until they forgot about it. The narrator says simply: it was the lion. All the curiosity and suspense generated by "The Secret Lion" is resolved in this quiet, resonant summary.

Works Cited

"Coursework Writing Help: Secret Lion Symbol Analysis." Coursework Writing Help, coursework-writing-help.blogspot.co.ke/2013/04/secret-lion-symbol-analasis.html.

"Secret Lion — Symbolism Essay." Free Essays, Free Term Papers, Research Papers, Database of Cliff Notes, Book Reports for Free, College Papers, English Essays, Research Papers.

Ríos, Alberto Álvaro. "The Secret Lion." 1984.

"Understanding 'The Secret Lion.'" YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oollBQ-GrI4.