Symbolism In Through The Tunnel

Reading coming of age stories are always interesting and at times nastolgic. Coming of age stories typically include a young protagonist forced to make a grown decision which is a transition to their first move into adulthood. In a sense, these stories show the protagonist shifting from innocence to gaining experiences. The two coming of age stories that we read in class were “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett and “The Man Who Was Almost A Man” by Richard Wright. Both being coming of age stories, they have similar features but were different in the sense that one protagonist seemed to have made a shift into adulthood whereas one did not.

In the short story "Through the Tunnel", Doris Lessing describes the adventure of Jerry, a young English boy trying to swim through an underwater tunnel.  Throughout the story, the author uses the third person omniscient point of view to describe the boy's surroundings and to show us both what he and the other characters are thinking and what is happening around them.  By using this point of view, the author is able to describe the setting of the story, give a detailed description of the characters, and make the theme visible.

In life, one must overcome their fears in order to achieve or successfully attain a certain goal in their mind. The short story “Through the Tunnel”, by Doris Lessing tells us about how Jerry builds confidence and maturity throughout the story, by overcoming his fear of going through the dark and scary tunnel underneath the water. The author portrays the idea of overcoming one’s fear to achieve a goal through Jerry, who was once a childish and isolated character, had begun his risky adventure of going through the tunnel to prove his worth to a group of boys and along the way discovers what he truly wants. Over time he becomes more mature and in the end, gain self-acceptance.

Coming of age is an influential part of many people’s lives. They begin to leave behind their innocent childhood views and develop a more realistic view on the world around them as they step forward into adulthood. (Need to add transition) Many authors have a coming of age theme in their books; specifically, Harper Lee portrays a coming of age theme in his book To Kill A Mockingbird. Through the journeys of their childhoods, Jem and Scout lose their innocence while experiencing their coming of age moment, making them realize how unfair Maycomb really is.

With his mother’s permission, he goes and explores the cove, meeting some older native boys. When he sees the boys swim through an underwater tunnel, and subsequently embarrasses himself, he decides to train himself in order to get through it. After days of grueling work, he finally enters the tunnel and conquers it.

Coming of age is a recurring theme that is universally known throughout many different pieces of literature. Whether it’s influenced on true experiences, childhood memories, or even based on one’s current juvenile reality, many of theses works have a correlation between them that include many similar ordeals and struggles that the character goes through in order to metamorphosize into taking their first step out of childhood. One prominent theme that often appears is how one experiences and faces a time of tribulation and other walls that stand in one’s path. In effect, hardships mature and enlighten one, causing the loss of something such as childhood innocence. Lastly, these three combined points finally lead to one’s metamorphosis out of childhood. All in all, these three factors take one out of childhood, and slowly allows one step out into the reality of this world.

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.

In coming of age stories, the protagonists often experience a pensive and dramatic moment where either they break through to adulthood or retreat to childhood - it is this moment that unveils the magnitude of growing up for the reader.

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

A part of maturing is finally doing things independently without the supervision from parents. In her short story, “Through the Tunnel”, Doris Lessing conveys the concept of maturing through becoming self-sufficient. Lessing uses characterization and symbolism to show that being self-reliant is a part of growing up.

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.

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 internal conflict of the protagonist of this short story, Jerry, expresses the author’s message for the reason that it is his fear that convince him to accomplish his objective. When the “big boys” left the bay to get away from him, “[Jerry [knows] he must find his way through that [...] tunnel, and out the other side. […] Jerry exercise[s] his lungs as if everything, the whole of his life, all that he could become, depended upon it]” (4). After his bad experience with the group of adolescents, Jerry feels childish and weak, so he needs to prove to himself he is strong enough to swim through the tunnel and come out of it alive. It is so important for the English boy that he doesn’t hesitate to risk everything, including his life. One day,

In Doris Lessing’s short story,“Through the Tunnel,” examines a boy named Jerry and his “rite of passage” to prove to himself and to the older boys that he too could swim down to the underwater tunnel. Jerry’s controlling characteristic comes from his determination to swim down to the tunnel just like the older boys. This characteristic motivates this character because he has a desire to become like the older boys and he will do anything to accomplish his goal. Jerry, an eleven year old boy who feels isolated from a clique of boys who do not welcome the idea of a newcomer. Knowing that the boys are judging him, he wants nothing more than to join the group and he dived in the water with them, and “He felt he was accepted, and he dived again, carefully, proud of himself.”

It is often thought that growing up is something children do with the assistance of adults; however, for many young children this is far from the case. Some children will learn important lessons and mature from taking risks. This is the case for Jerry from the short story, “Through the Tunnel,” written by Doris Lessing. In this story Jerry and his mother took daily trips down to the beach. Over time, Jerry becomes curious of the lagoon away from his safe beach and decides to explore.