Graduation from Childhood

The Seed

In my attempt to grasp the fullness of The Summer Boy I've found this most usefull:

The story begins with Boy's problem with his father.

 Like most boys this one had a 'Father' problem: 

This problem is ubiquitous, as well as the 'Mother' problem of many girls; these two types tend to be called 'mother boy' and 'daddy girl'.

The problem of 'Summer Boy' is central to the myth. In the beginning of the book we get a taste of the 'father-son' relationship.  Dad wants to maintain control of Son, and Son is frantic to get away. (At 16 I rode 900 miles to get to a new school.)

This motif runs through the entire story.

Most cultures have some form of  transit between adolescence and maturity (William Blake expressed it with this image in Gates of Paradise.)