Through The Tunnel

This story is a about a boy named Roger who was intelligent and got A’s on everything unlike his other friends who didn’t, was struggling to make the cut in a tough Atlanta grammar school. He was teased by his friends that he’d never be one of the guys in junior high if he didn't dirty up his act. To prove that he wasn’t just a goody-goody, he accepted the dare by his friends to dive under a moving train. This essay is well structured and provides a clear setting and introduction to the main event. This was the day that changed Roger’s viewpoint on life. Hoffman uses metaphors as stylistic devices when he describes himself accepting the dare. Hoffman was afraid to do the dare but he accepted it anyways, just to prove a point. To soothe his anxiety, he created an image about a “friendly train” and runs next to it. He also uses imagery to describe the small details on what's exactly going on while he’s doing the dare. “Even under pure sky, though, I had to fight to keep my eyes open and my shoulders between the rails.”, meaning that he was very afraid that

Initially, our first thoughts of Jerry at the beginning of the story, is that he acts immature and is burdened within a circle of maternal protection. During the opening of the story, the author conveys Jerry’s relative childishness by labeling him as “the boy”. The author also uses the mother to demonstrate his youth and how he is trapped in a circle of maternal protection which leads us to think that he is lonely due to that reason. In this part, “His mother walks in front of him, carrying a bright white strap in one hand” tells us that because the mother was walking in front of him, it gives us the impression that the mother still thinks of him as a boy that needs to be protected from any potential harm. We see more of Jerry’s immaturity and how the burden of protection leads his actions as we go through the story. During the part where Jerry sees the group of boys acting free-spirited, we see that he is overcome with desire to be with them, probably because he feels that because he is always in the circle of protection making him feel lonely and isolated from everyone. At first, he is added into the group and begins to have fun jumping from the cliff into the water with the other boys. Later on however, he starts to act immature when he realizes he could not do the same thing the other boys were doing. That was, underwater for a long time and going through the dark tunnel and he becomes scared. In this passage,“... In a panic of failure, he yelled up, in English, “Look at me! Look!” and he began splashing and kicking the water like a

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.

The story Through the Tunnel is about a young boy named Jerry and his mother going on vacation to a beach resort that they have previously visited. The villa they are staying at consist of two beaches. The safe, crowded beach is where Jerry’s mother goes and the wild Rocky Bay is where Jerry ends up spending most of his time. While Jerry swims in the water at the wild bay, he sees a group of boys diving into the water. Jerry knew right when he saw them, he wanted to be just like them. In his eyes, “They were big boys—men to Jerry” (Lessing 148). To show that he was brave, he found the courage to dive off the

The characterization of Jerry illustrates the stages of maturing and becoming independent. In the beginning of the story, Jerry is depicted as young and immature. The immaturity of Jerry is shown when he is trying to capture the older boys’ attention. In order to capture their attention, “he began splashing and kicking in the water like a foolish dog.” This action conveys that Jerry is still immature, and wants to join the older kids. After seeing the boys pass through the tunnel, Jerry also wants to pass through in order to be a part of their group. In order

Along with the symbols, Through the Tunnel and The Bridge have related triggers, as well as thier moments of insight. Triggers for these stories are the moments of naturally acting without thinking of the consequences or dangers putting themselfs into. By having similar triggers, both are agnologed by acts bravery along with determination: Jerry being determined to be a Big Boy by going through a tunnel deep underwater, as well as The Boy diving from the bridge into the water to save the girl from drowning. Without noticing the dangers, both of the boys after the acts of heroism began to realise they are changing more as a mature adult. By those, Jerry's moment of insight is when over coming the obsticale along as realizing he is successfully growing up, The Boy's is very simular to Jerry's. After realizing the sudden discovery, The Boy told himself that "What one man can do, another man can." showing that he has also over came an obsticale of being frightened of leaving his childhood home. While as in The Scarlet Ibis, the trigger is more negitive- being embarrassed by his crippled little brother. Because of

Now comparing these stories, Jerry and the narrator of “Sixteen” are very much alike, just as they are apart. Maureen Daly and Doris Lessing really give the reader a good feel for the characters and mood, making the tone easy to comprehend. In “Sixteen”, the narrator is very serious when talking about how she is, in fact, quite smart, and knows what she’s doing when it comes to life. Along with this, Jerry is very serious about practicing his breath golding and swimming because he wants to be able to get to and go through the tunnel. It’s a goal, not a dream. Both of these characters take the reader on a very personal journey; one into the mind and heart, and one into the process of him becoming a “man”. Two very difficult things to normally talk about. The authors create anxiety for the readers when Jerry is actually in the tunnel. He begins counting, higher and higher, the longer he’s in the tunnel, making the reader think, “There’s no way he’s going to make it out.” There is also a sense of anxiety in

The journey stage the ordeal is said to be by Joseph Campbell is where the hero confronts their biggest challenge. Qualities in this stage are confronting biggest fear and/or challenge and facing a life or death situation. Jerry from Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing successfully meets his challenge in this stage of the journey because he conquered his fear and swam through the tunnel. Jerry had watched other kids swim through a tunnel in the ocean and had tried to do it himself. He then failed but did not give up; he then said “As soon as she had bought the goggles, he grabbed them from her hand as if she were going to claim them for herself, and was off, running down the steep path to the bay” (Lessing, 1) which showed he was eager to get out and try again.

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

It tells us to put away our fears and be victorious. When Christopher had to go through the tunnel he was frightened, but he kept developing plans to get him passed the problems. In addition, Christopher shows his desire to be independent by earning an A grade on an A-level math test. He plans to prove he isn’t stupid, by further advancing his academics and use his grades to attend

Reaching the end of the tunnel he is faced with men of his past. He then tells the men about his failed choice to put them into action. His determination to send the men back to where they are from, matches the mountain climbers will to resist sleep. This appears again within the vignette ‘The Village of the Watermills.’ Kurosawa shows choices through the people of the

In the story “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, an important central idea came into play. The point Doris Lessing was trying to make was that while one wants to be independent, and have freedom, they also want protection. One message from this central idea that I came up with, is that of growing up, and maturing. One of the biggest literary devices, used by many authors, is symbolism. This element allows for Doris to prove her central idea and message, throughout her story.

Sometimes risks are worth taking. Whether it is to feel proud, impress someone, or maybe become a better person, or gain something. This is what Jerry does. In “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, Jerry takes a dangerous risk by going through this tunnel underwater near the bay. He sees some boys going through it and decides he wants to try it as well.

In the story Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing, an 11 year old boy named Jerry went on a vacation with his widowed mother. They have a hard time giving each other range and separation causing Jerry to feel guilty at first when he goes to the bay. But Jerry decided to go to the bay and saw older boys undress and dive off a tall cliff into the water. They stayed under for a long time and Jerry got worried he later found out that there is a long tunnel under the water and they were swimming through it. It became Jerry’s goal to get through that tunnel, so everyday he would go to the bay and practice holding his breath.