The Lion
The “lion” of the title is clearly a symbol—invested with enough meaning to rise to the level of metaphor, really—but it defies being defined as a metaphor precisely because what is it intended to symbolize is murky. Fortunately, the murkiness of meaning is intended. The lion is described by the narrator as “roaring, roaring that way the biggest things do.” Prior to that, however, the narrator fumbles through a lack of precise control of language with vague explanation that the lion represents something that happens for which there is no name. It is symbolism of the most flexible type which in most stories would be a cheat, but which gains strength in this story which is more than partially about the loss perfection in the world and its substitution with a quality of considerable less.
The Grinding Ball
The grinding ball is symbolic of the forbidden fruit eaten in the Garden of Eden. The fruit—usually depicted as an apple—is itself represented of perfect knowledge. The grinding ball is perfectly smooth and as such is unnatural; it should not exist outside a mill and its mystery is both a temptation to the boys to explore the forbidden area across the arroyo and warning to keep it from crossing over into its own forbidden territory. Recognizing that perfection is out of place in their world, the boys bury it and lose it forever, content only in the knowledge it exists and they once held it in their hands.
Golf
The symbolism of the golf course is partially asserted outright when the narrative describes it as heaven. On a larger scale, the golf course is a metaphor for the Garden of Eden where the boys enjoy a brief moment of utter perfection before being banished with the appearance of the golfers slithering from the high grass like serpents. Thus cast out of paradise, the narrator sardonically “We got golf in exchange.” Just as Adam and Eve exchanged perfection for mortality, the boys are forced to give up paradise in exchange for learning about the existence of golf. Golf is thus a symbol of the fall from grace.
Junior High School
Junior High is another symbol of the loss paradise. Elementary school was paradise for the boys; a place where questions were answered and boys and girls could talk to each other without discomfort. With junior high school the process of education seems to transform from providing knowledge to stifling knowledge and the increasing knowledge about the difference between boys and girls only serves to increase the difficulty of their being with each other.
The Sewage Treatment Plant
The sewage treatment plant which irregularly releases effluence into the perfection (for the boys) of the arroyo water is the story’s most obvious symbolism. What else can sewage symbolize other than corruption of something pure and innocent. On the those days when the plant’s release of sewage destroys the enjoyment of the arroyo, it joins golf and Junior High as symbols in opposition to the golf course and the grinding ball’s status as perfection in an imperfect world.
