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. With the destruction of his childhood bike, Cory is left to face the harshness of the world around him, without any relic of his youth. The author creates a tone of disillusionment, when the reader sees Cory's innocence lost to a cruel world. The new bike Cory receives from The Lady opens Cory's world to the realities he must face while he pieces together a new outlook on life. With the new bike, Cory encounters evil when the Branlin brothers taunt him and his friends at the baseball park. Evil chases Cory, and he stands up to it with his new perception on life--that not all is as good as it first appears, effectively showing that "life itself does its best to take that memory of magic away."

Cory's loss of innocence is also portrayed through the belief that "his monsters" will protect him from the evil he encounters in life. While most children Cory's age would be scared of the monsters displayed in his room, Cory ironically finds comfort in these images of evil. Just as Cory is let down because he realizes "the truth of life is that every