How does McCammon say the magic gets lost? In A Boy’s Life, Robert McCammon shows readers that the magic is lost through the society’s impact on people as they grow up. In the text McCammon states, ”But then we get it educated right out of our souls, we get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible” (pg 74). In this passage, “it” refers to the magic of being a child. McCammon shows that many different aspects of society play a part in losing this magic. McCammon shows that by restricting children, by forcing them into the mold that society has planned for them, the magic is lost. The society people live in unintentionally causes them to lose the magic that allows them to be who they are.