expulsion from childhood

Childhood is the Garden of Eden. Knowledge and age and experience strip the child of innocence and happiness. As the child grows it becomes aware of the limited knowledge of the parents and the fact that the world must be faced alone; for to remain in the psychological nest of the parents results in death of spirit. The hero must leave home and cross the fence/ border of "the known" and step into the unknown. Here the child creature clings to the parents in a final goodbye. They are helpless and the impatient carriage waits just outside. The leaves of change fall signifying a new season as the child departs into the world.