Young Lions

Young Lions, by Edward Jones, is a short story that is told in the third person, yet the point of view is told through the main character Caesar. He is struggling to become an adult and is feeling lost. He is robbing people and even killing them as a way to earn money, being persuaded by older thugs. It is told in the third person, so that the reader can see everything that is driving him to do what he does and how he is feeling at the time. Even though he is clearly a villain, there are times when Caesar has thoughts that would drive the reader to try to have some compassion for him. The story begins with Caesar telling about how he was dreaming of the retarded woman he was planning to rob because she was a easy target and he would not have to pull out his gun. "The night before, for the fourth time in a week, he had dreamed about the retarded woman. Sherman would have told him such dreams were a good sign." It is here that the reader can feel that Caesar obviously now feels and even at the time knew what he was doing and planning was really wrong. Dreaming of the woman he planned to rob was more like his subconscious haunting him. At the time, he continued on with his plan, but had his girlfriend help him carry out robbing the retarded woman. It is as though he couldn't do it himself. Even though he was clearly a criminal, it was times like this when he began to realize the severity of his action, taking his first step into becoming a man and yet still trapped.