Boy’s Life Analysis

As children, most people see the world as a place where no evil exists. In Robert McCammon’s Boy’s Life, Cory Mackenson realizes that one can find evil in the most unlikely places and says “The truth of life is that every year we get further from the essence that is born within us…life itself does its best to take that memory of magic away from us. You [do not] know [it is] happening until one day you feel [you have] lost something but [you are] not sure what it is.” By using symbolism and irony, the author conveys that the experiences one goes through ruin one’s way of viewing a seemingly ideal world.

The reader sees Cory’s loss of innocence when he symbolically loses the bicycle he has grown up with. Living in a society where evil is not prevalent, Cory has no previous notion that the world is not as flawless as it first seems.