Through The Tunnel Symbolism

Goober’s personality change furthers Jerry’s character development by making Jerry feel sad for Goober and by awakening Jerry’s mind to the evilness of the Vigils and how they destroy people. Jerry thinks that the Vigils and the chocolate sale is just a game, but Goober tells him “It’s more than fun and games, Jerry. Anything that can make you cry and send a teacher away—tip him over the borderline—that’s more than just fun and games” (Pg 160). Jerry feels sad for Goober when he sees just how much Goober is worried about him choosing not to sell the chocolates. “Jerry felt sad suddenly because Goober looked so troubled, like an old man heaped with all the sorrows of the world, his thin face drawn and haggard, his eyes haunted, as if he had awakened from a nightmare he couldn’t forget.” (Pg 129). Overall, Goober’s personality change furthers Jerry character development by helping to develop Jerry’s emotional and mental character. In other words, Goober gets Jerry to think and feel deeply about things happening to him in a way that he never has before.

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

He went to the bay and saw some boys diving and they would stay underwater for a long time. They were swimming through an underwater tunnel. The rest of the story is basically just Jerry pushing himself the swim through the tunnel. Jerry shows pride by not giving up and kept trying

Jerry is haunted by his unimportance. He is unable to regain his composure after he overplays his rebellious actions. Defying the Vigils and Trinity takes its toll. Although

As Jerry makes his way to the wild bay, he meets a group of young boys that he feels he should impress. He tries to obtain their attention through following their own actions, which to his dismay he fails and they just leave him, “They were leaving to get away from him. He cried openly, fists in his eyes. There was no one to see him, and he cried himself out” (Lessing 205). To the boy, validating his own skills to these older children would mean to him that he would be a part of the group, he would become on of them.

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

Perhaps if Jerry had a more forthcoming and open relationship with his father, the ending of the story could have changed.

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 risk Jerry took is worth taking because the benefits of his accomplishment outweigh the risks. When jerry felt he can go through the tunnel, he wanted to become a man like the other older French boys. The motive of his risk is to be fearless and a brave man who could fight the danger and evade the risks. He prepared himself by practicing every day in the bay alone, he was aware of the risks he wanted to take, because every time during his practice, when he was practicing how to hold his breath he had chest pain and nose bleeding (line 202->216). He challenged himself by putting his life in danger to accomplish his goal to become a man, and he became the man he wanted, he fought the danger and evade the risk, he went through the tunnel risking

When he came up, the boys were all on the diving rock, preparing to attempt the feat again. And now, in a panic of failure, he yelled up, in English, ‘Look at me! Look!’...”(Lessing) Jerry felt inferior to the other foreign boys because he couldn't find the hole to swim through. He was so determined to get their approval and attention, that he would make a fool of himself to get it. After the foreign boys are gone, he takes it upon himself to find the hole and swim through it, even if it's the last thing he does. He practiced holding his breath so much that his nose bled multiple times. As soon as he was able to hold his breath for around 200 seconds, he was ready to go through.”His heart quieted, his eyes cleared, and he sat up. He could see the local boys diving and playing half a mile away. He did not want them. He wanted nothing but to get back home and lie down.”(Lessing) In the ending, he realizes that it’s not worth it to be like the boys, who he once thought of as mature “men”, if he had to go through any fearful situation like this one

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

Perseverance was a big theme in this story, and without it I do not believe that Jerry would have made it through the tunnel. Jerry tried many a times to swim through the tunnel but realized that he had to keep training which is where the theme of hard work pays off. Jerry started holding his breathe and timing himself so that he could hold his breath longer while going through the tunnel. All Jerry needed to work on to go through the tunnel was holding his breath for a long duration of time while he swam through the tunnel. Lastly, Jerry was scared when he saw the boys doing these outrages things like jumping off the cliff or rocks and swimming through a tunnel.

Jerry tries to act older so that he can fit in with the boys. When