Adult Library Card

The adult library card in the story “Low Men in Yellow Coats” is a symbol of Bobby’s loss of innocence and his introduction to adulthood. Because Bobby enjoys reading, the adult library card that his mother gives him on his eleventh birthday turns out to be a better gift than he could have imagined. After Ted and Bobby’s encounter with the low men on their way back from Bridgeport, the narrator notes that Bobby looked around his childhood bedroom differently: “He realized he was growing into his orange library card” (181). Later, when Bobby begins to learn the real impact of being an adult, he admits to himself that the library card is not as neat as he once thought it was. This indicates that Bobby has matured enough to realize there are bad things as well as good things about being an...