In the novel, the lion carries several meanings. For Bertie, the animal he rescues and lives with is the embodiment of loyalty and friendship—but also of the loss of the wild that comes with domestication. For Monsieur Merlot, the white lion is the exotic product of South Africa that he can exhibit for money—one of the many ways colonialism extracts resources from vassal states. For the military brass whom Bertie convinces to allow the lion to come with him to England, the lion is a living symbol of Britain’s might—a creature that is associated with courage and bravery and a symbol of the British monarchy that has been on crown heraldry since the 12th-century reign of Richard the Lionheart—whose nickname also comes from this animal’s reputation. During WWI, the lion was used in British military recruitment posters depicting the lion standing up to the tyranny of Germany.

The lion’s white color is significant as well. Traditionally, white is associated in Western culture with innocence and purity. The white lion is innocent when he is with his mother in the South African veldt. Once the lioness is killed, the cub loses its innocence in attempting to survive in the wild—Bertie and his mother find it so muddy that it takes five washes to get its coat back to its original white color.