Analysis of Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing Essay

The first of Jerry’s obstacles is his isolation from others when the group of boys he meets casts him out of their group. During Jerry’s failure to recognize what the other boys were doing when they all dove off the rock, he came to realize that the older boys did not speak his language or care to help him when he was struggling to swim, “and now, in a panic of failure, he yelled up, in English… and he began splashing and kicking… they (the boys) looked down gravely, frowning… Through his hot shame, feeling the pleading grin on his face like a scar that (Jerry) could never remove” (Lessing 2-3). Jerry now knew after this event that

From the time one is born, they continue to grow each day both in the mind and body. British novelist, Doris Lessing, takes readers along the journey called life in her 1989 short story, “Through the Tunnel”. Before one finds themself, they must first lose himself, and to become stronger, one must know hardship. Jerry, a blossoming, young boy finds himself at a threshold, when he pushes himself in the hopes that he can find a part of his identity through pain and the curiosity of his pubescent mind. His weary, widowed mother shows readers first-hand the pain of letting go and witnessing the journey of her own son.

In Doris Lessing’s “Through the Tunnel”, Lessing uses imagery in order to show the audience that the transition from childhood to adulthood is a quest in itself. Lessing reveals that Jerry’s quest isn’t just to swim at the bay, but is to become a man by suggesting that swimming through the tunnel represents manhood and to become like the boys at the bay who Jerry idolizes as being men. It is evident that Lessing incorporates explicit overtones into her writing because in the text “It’s All About Sex…” Foster explains, “imagery is just a part of the much older tradition identified by Freud/Westen/Frazer/Jung about lances and swords and guns (and keys) as phallic symbols, chalices and grails (and bowls, of course, also) as symbols of female sexual organs.” (3). Therefore, Foster concludes that other objects can symbolize sexual organs, and that objects that can be filled tend to represent female sexuality. And Lessing incorporates this philosophy into her short story by writing, “All night the boy dreamed of the water-filled cave in the rock, and as soon as breakfast was over, he went to the bay.” (6). Therefore, Lessing uses the imagery of the water-filled cave that going through the tunnel is symbolic for having sexual intercourse because the tunnel represents female sexuality, because it can be filled. Furthermore, Jerry quite literally has a wet dream, further suggesting the explicit nature of the real quest. However, Lessing shows the audience the difficulty of this goal

He works on his goal none stop doing everything he can to improve his chances of going through the tunnel. He asks his mother to buy him goggles to see the tunnel. He holds his breath under the water for long periods of time strengthening his lungs to get ready for the real thing. Jerry also starts working out so he can be stronger and faster in the water increasing his odds of making it through because it will be shorter time and it will be less time on his lungs. Jerry is now ready not only mentally but physically to swim through the

After swimming in the real ocean, Jerry sees a group of boys who speak a different language than he does, immediately he feels a craving to be around them. Seeing that they were diving down into the depths of the ocean, he had to have a look and saw that they were swimming through a hole in a black wall of rock. Jerry then set a goal of completing the task the other boys could do as he set back towards his mother to ask her for goggles. Lessing portrays Jerry’s deep desire to accomplish his goal as he immediately grabs the goggles from his mother's hand when she bought them. In an instant, Jerry was back at the black wall diving down many times until he found the hole. After a day of trying to get through he gave up for a moment, but he knew he must find a way to accomplish this task. The many attempts to succeed show the struggle he faces to progress from a child to an independent adult. Jerry’s nature changed and now he focuses on the task at hand, he even dreams about the cave all night. Four days until they leave and Jerry thinks to himself, that on the last day he will do it even if it kills him. Jerry definitely wants to achieve his goal as his nose starts to bleed and he almost passes out while swimming through the tunnel for over 115 seconds. Jerry felt like this was the end, “he felt he was

He goes to his friend Charley for a

This summer, Nags Head, North Carolina Outer Banks Beach was visited by Emma and her family. At the sandy beach Emma's family played. In the salty waves, with the sea creatures, they pushed each other and wrestled. Afterwards, everyone went to dairy queen and bought soft served ice cream. They stayed at a family-friendly beach house. It had a hot tub, a nicely taken care of pool table, and just the right temperature pool. At the pool, they splashed, played, and pushed each other in. There was a deck that hung right over the pool, and Emma's aunt Pam knew to tell them not to jump off the deck. However, Ryan didn't want to listen. He climbed up onto the deck and jumped off into the warm water, making a giant splash that even made its way onto

Then, only minutes later, Coach Alex lines us all up right in the middle of all the trampolines. My eyes glance down the line at all my teammates. Taylor giggles as she trips over the sidebar of the drinking fountain.

First, a long time ago when the narrator was young she got pregnant. She told Jerry. “ I named my son jerry”. He was about 3 years old. We went to the fair. My son Jerry wanted to go to the playground so we went. A person called me and I told Jerry to wait a little so I can answer the call.

He dives into the incredible pool. Seconds later, he comes up to the surface, looking nice and fresh.

As Jerry struggles to

“Swimmers step up onto the block” the announcer yells into the megaphone. Now I am almost three feet above the water legs shaking and knees feeling weak like I will fall at any given moment. From the top of the block the black tile looks so far away. In just a few moments I will be following that line to make sure I stay in the center of my lane. At this moment the water so calm and smooth begging for me to dive in and disrupt the calmness. I can see the water a few seconds from now a huge white mass going everywhere as the swimmers move through it. For now it is still calling me to enter as my toes are curled over the edge of the block and my body like a coiled spring ready to explode. The calmness of the water and silence of the pool area adds to my nervousness. There is absolutely no noise coming from anywhere. All of a sudden the announcer breaks the silence and I almost fall from my position. “This is the girls fifty yard freestyle swimmers take your

After the meeting, military planes engage in battle above the island. The boys that were asleep did not notice the “fireworks” happening above them. A parachutist lands upon the signal fire, dead, and the twins that were supposed to be watching the fire didn’t notice. When the twins wake up they think that the dead parachutist is the beast that is on the island. The boys make a hunting mission to fin the beast that “attacked” the twins. When the twins come upon the dead parachutist they think it is some deformed ape, thus they have a meeting and tell the others of their

The gun fires and the swimmers dive in almost simultaneously. Johnny takes the lead but begins to trail behind. I feel like my insides are burning as if someone lit a match inside of me. I look down for about two seconds and stare at my feet. I look up and Johnny begins to pass everyone like someone turned on a switch inside of him when I wasn’t watching. The fire inside of me is burning still, but in a different way. It is a very good feeling this time. “Lets go, Johnny.You can do this!” I yell as I clap

“Archie just dug his own grave.” As Obie and Carter start talking at the bus stop. He has been in his little castle for long enough and it is time to get rid of him. After his little stunt with Jerry and Emile he is lucky to even be going to school anymore. As Carter and Obie hopped on the bus they saw that Jerry was riding so they sat next to him. “Hey Jerry, how you feeling.” Jerry was hesitant to respond. His body couldn’t take another beating. Carter said in a softer tone of voice “ Jerry we need you help to ruin archie’s life.” Jerry slowly raised his head and looked destroyed. His light for life was low if not even existent at this time. Obie say a flicker in Jerry's eye which told him that he wanted revenge. Obie exchanged locations