Through The Tunnel

Joss Whedon, a famous director, once said, “Everyone who made it through adolescence is a hero.” Adolescence is a difficult part of life where we learn to become independent and we discover who we are. Many books explore the theme of adolescence, and it is expressed in many different ways. In this story, Jerry, a eleven year-old boy, goes to the beach with his mother and he sees some boys swimming through a tunnel. Inspired by them, Jerry trains hard until he can also swim through the tunnel. In the short story “Through the Tunnel” the author, Doris Lessing, uses symbolism of setting and comparison to express the difficulty of the transition from childhood to adulthood.

The different groups of people within the poem represent the different stages of life. At the beginning of the poem it talks about a young boy and his dog and swimmers. Several lines down it talks about “young lovers” and then families.

The short story Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing is full of symbolism about the transition out of childhood. Doris accomplishes this by writing about a young boy named Jerry and his journey swimming through the tunnel. During this difficult transition the main character gains the tools he will need during adulthood. Lessing uses symbolism abundantly in Through the Tunnel to emphasize on the theme of the transition from childhood to adulthood.

The passage that was significant and that moved the plot along efficiently was paragraphs 35-39. At this point in the story, Jerry has already began his journey through the tunnel. In the story “Through the Tunnel” Lessing describes how even through the pain and struggling, perseverance is important. Like when Lessing illustrates the struggle by saying, “Seventy-one, seventy- two… there was no strain

Richard’s thoughts outside the beach are immediately hindered by an illusion of paradise from the beach, which Richard does not fully recognize until the true reality begins to emerge near the end of his stay. When Richard finds the beach, he is fascinated by how nobody in the community ever talks about their past lives before the beach. The people from the beach remain at the beach because they do not want to confront the reality that they have left behind, so there is no surprise to readers that the community does not like to talk about the outside world. Richard realizes that nobody in the community cares about what he has to say about the outside word and the problems he encountered there, because that is not their world anymore – their world is the beach, which Richard fully recognizes when he comes back from the rice run: “No one was even slightly interested [about the rice run]. A few asked, ‘How was it?’ … but as soon as I began to answer … their attention became diverted by something” (190). At

This quote marks the turning point when Equality turns away from collectivism by claiming the tunnel as his own and vowing to fight for it until death. Deciding to enter the tunnel alone displays his curiosity and fearlessness, as well. It

In the story “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing the main character Jerry is young and sees a group boys do something that he finds interesting, Going through the tunnel. The problem is he is too young and too weak to do it. The boys were Judging and excluding him and it made him sad. Jerry used the negative actions of the french boys as motivation to set a goal of swimming through the tunnel before he leaves. Although Jerry is not physically strong or mature he has a large amount of mental strength and uses what should be his weakness be his strength.

Another theme showed through the man is fatherly love, when a beach is encountered, because he and the boy stay in the beach for a prolonged period, which can prove fatal. When the Man and the Boy find the beach, “He looked at the boy. He could see the disappointment in his face. I’m sorry it’s not blue, he said. That’s okay, said the boy,” (McCarthy 215). The Man had told the boy once they reached the coast, the climate would be much better, and the ocean would be blue. However, the reality of the situation is shown, for “Out there was a gray beach with the slow combers of rolling dull…” (McCarthy 215). and the man asks for forgiveness. He intends to make up for it by staying in the beach for a longer period of time than they would usually stay at any other place. He knows staying could be dangerous, as the “bad guys,” who are cannibals and murderers, could find them. Furthermore, the Man and the boy are running out of food, and could starve. Even though

In the following stories the authors dramatize the transition to adulthood through different symbolic objects and experiences. The authors use different types of literary elements to portray different experiences and feelings to the reader. I think the authors chose to use symbolism in their stories so that they could help the reader understand the different elements that are happening within the story.

But as the poem continues, it is interrupted by events that are unnaturalistic which shifts the view of the beach. In the poem, a point occurs where the beach is drastically changed both physically and mentally: “You hear the grating roar… But now I only hear / Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar / Retreating, to the breath” (Arnold 9, 24-26) The differences between the “grating roar” and the “withdrawing roar” of the beach is that when water crashes closer towards land, the beach grates against rocks on purpose. But “withdrawing” roars of the beach shows that the beach wants to escape from land, and venture “down the cast edges… and naked shingles of the world”(Arnold 27-28) where no men can interfere. This excerpt further justifies that men have become too overwhelming and warlike to a point where everyone wants to flee from the danger. The “melancholy [and] long[ing]” of the beach shows that this war won’t end in the near future and will gradually continue. Arnold further justifies taking a stand for oneself when stating how the beach moves towards the “naked shingles of the world.” The beach could be viewed as citizens because in the beginning, we are mostly innocent and calm but whenever an event takes place, we just go along with the circumstance, similar to how water flows with each other and never goes off by itself. We follow what society tells us to do and what is safe to do but in the end, people, running from a problem isn’t the best solution and should stand up for what is

Even though, jerry wants to be accepted and in control of his life, the harsh reality is Jerry’s identity wants to be with his mother. Further throughout the story the tunnel is shown as the symbol of the story; letting the reader know that Jerry senses that it is the door to his identity. Additionally, the chronological structure is effective throughout the story in showing the process of growing up and an insight into Jerry’s transformation. Moreover, the 3rd person omniscient narrator and formal register presents the character of Jerry and his mother in a distanced way and without a biased perspective. This suggests the sense of detachment and alienation that Jerry is starting to feel from his mother as he is growing up and wanting to make his own choices. The story is firstly introduced with a description of the mother carrying a bright striped purse. It was this and other uses of describing Jerry’s surroundings with the use of bright colours symbolising jerry’s childish world and thoughts. In addition, the thought of jerry’s childish thoughts shows his struggle to establish his own identity. The author writes that Jerry goes swimming “over a region where rocks lay like discoloured monsters under the surface”. The simile shows that even though Jerry wants to be independent and swim alone in the bay, he’s terrified of being alone in the water and not seeing his mother again. Briefly, Jerry learns that you cannot

Since a young age, Jerry has always gone to the safe beach with his mother. As told in the story, he is starting to get more mature and is experiencing his coming of age. The safe beach represents him as not being as independent as when he travels to the wild bay alone. “Next morning, when it was time for the routine of swimming and sunbathing, his mother said, ‘Are you tired of the usual beach, Jerry? Would you like to go somewhere else’” (Lessing 1). Jerry’s mother is willing to allow Jerry to break away, but he is still quite nervous. The safe beach represents Jerry as a young boy, a time in which he wants to separate from his mother, yet is apprehensive. “It seemed to him that a long time has passed, and he swam to where he could see his mother…. There she was, a speck of yellow under an umbrella that looked like a slice of orange peel” (Lessing 2). Jerry was nervous about being on the wild bay alone, so he checked to make sure he could see

The beach represents nature and the skate park, society. In nature, entropy reigns over the ocean currents overcasting disorder and destruction. In contrast, the skate parks railing and pipes give it a sense of structure and guidelines. Despite these differences, both are the cause of Alex’s disorientation. In one shot, a billboard flaunts the phrase “It’s better at the beach”.

Jerry, who is on a vacation with his widowed mother, at a bay, comes into contact with a few local boys who go swimming caves. This setting is showing the readers her central idea. Using the cave, and how badly Jerry wants to go, and explore, shows his independence.

The point of view in each story is completely different. While "Sixteen" is told in first person, limited point of view, "Through the Tunnel" is told in third person omnicient. The significance of point of view is your view during the story. You have a very limited view of the overall story during "Sixteen", as you only get the unnamed girl's thoughts. You can see the physical actions of the boy, but you never know what he is actually thinking.