Tension In Jerry's Through The Tunnel

For this essay, I am going to be discussing the short story “Swimming” found on the New Yorker, and written by T. Cooper. I have chosen this story for many reasons, and among those reasons is the personal sadness I felt when I first read the story, almost as if the universe was placing a certain theme in my life, that only the main character could possibly understand. I am talking about running, the god given instinct felt by all men, inherent in the nature of fear, and brought out in all who feel sadness in its full intensity. Though in my short life I can not compare the sadness I have felt with that of losing a child at my own hand, but if I had been placed in that situation, if fate had tempted my soul with such a sequence of events, I would like to think I could find the strength to endure and the courage to not abandon all I had previously known. Yet I am able to reconcile the themes of grief, the mode of recovery, and the longing to escape such a terrible tale. I think in this piece, as I will discuss in later parts, the author was able to put into words a transformation we rarely get to observe in closeness, the kind of transformation that turns a kind man into a “just man” the kind of death that turns this world from a beautiful and happy place into a world that is closing in on our main character, that is forcing him to surface temporarily and gasp for air, much like he does when he finds peace in the water, wading breath after air, after sea. I firmly believe that

In the Allegory of the Cave there are chained prisoners in cave who can only stare at the cave wall in front of them. At the back there is a long entrance with a staircase the width of the cave and a fire burning in the distance. They see only shadows projected in front of them from a raised platform and hear an echo that they attribute to what they observe. They talk about and name the shadows of objects they see before them. To them the truth are the shadows. Then one day one of the prisoners is released. He is told that what he saw before was an illusion. Once he is outside it takes a while for his eyes to adjust to the sun. First he observed the shadows of thing then their reflection and finally the actual object. Remembering his previous state he goes back to the cave and tries to explain that everything is an illusion but they laugh at him and think he’s crazy. They believe it best not to ascend and they choose to remain as they are. The cave represented opinion. The shadows that are cast on to the wall represented physical objects. The prisoners represented the common people (Welles).

Jerry set up a goal to go through itbefore summer vacation ends. He admitted he was afraid of the tunnel, which it a steptowards being mature.

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.

After discovering the tunnel, meeting the Golden One, light bulb his own individuality sparks of desires to knowledge. He takes the courage to steps out of the line to explore the freedom of the mind. He thinks as speaks for the afraid mass as a superior.

I have use images to explain the cave, as well as the relationship of the realm of true forms. This writing is construct a bridge between the worlds of darkness and of enlightenment. I have entered back into the cave.

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

Once submerged into the swamp, her human body and “pale bones” contradict the obscure, “peerless” and “pathless” environment. The contrast between light and dark imagery such as “pale bones” and “black earth soup” emphasize her sense of loss and displacement within natural world. Through words relating to the human anatomy, she attempts to surface the swamp’s pulling control over her. The initial incompatibility between her and the swamp continue as she fights for “foothold, fingerhold” out of her immediate situation and back to the shore, before she entered. In the midst of wrestling for mental control over her situation, repeating “s” sounds reveal her sinking position and how she succumbs to her environment. Sibilants such as “slick,” “silent,” “sink,” and “slack,” force her into the mud. Once absorbed, he previously “burred” perspective clashes with the soft feeling in the mud. The speaker's description of the swamp when in it, contradicts the earlier assumptions made at a physical distance. The previously “wet, thick” mud is actually “not so wet as much as painted.” Rather than submissive to her environment, she is passive by entirely accepting her surprised reaction. The switch to “I feel” is another pause, as she contemplates her surrounding as she experiences a raw moment rather than standing on the edge of it.

The symbolism of the color brown and the struggle of Jerry going through the tunnel represents the signs of maturity. Jerry describes the boys as having “burned smooth dark brown” skin. In Jerry’s point of view, they are described as “big boys, men, to Jerry”. The two quotes associate the brown skin with being older and mature. In the time span between Jerry seeing the boys and Jerry and his mother leaving the beach, he trains himself to swim through the tunnel in order to be like the big boys. Jerry suffers through many hardships in order to pass through the tunnel and he does it all by himself without his mom or anyone to help him. Swimming through the tunnel is like the transition from an immature child to a sophisticated, young adult. After Jerry swims through the tunnel all by himself, it is said that his mother puts her hand on “his warm brown shoulder”. Describing Jerry’s shoulder as brown shows that Jerry is now like the older boys. The symbolism of the brown skin emphasizes the maturity of Jerry, and the symbolism of the tunnel emphasizes that becoming a young adult is a journey one has to go through on his or her own and with a lot of struggling on the way. The effect of the symbolism illustrates that growing up will include some hard times, but it is worth it in the end because people know that they can do things on their own now.

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

6. “Even while he was speaking to O’Brien, when the meaning of the words had sunk in, a chilly shuddering feeling had taken possession of his body. He had the sensation of stepping into the dampness of a grave.”

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

Imagine, he says, the urgency, the panic that causes a dying man to be ‘flung’ into a wagon, the ‘writing’ that denotes an especially virulent kind of pain. Hell seems close at hand with the curious smile ‘like a devils sick of sin’. Sick in what sense? Satiated? Physically? Then that ‘jolt’. No gentle stretcher-bearing here but agony intensified. Owens imaginary is enough to sear the heart and mind.

These shadows in the cave are mere images, the lowest of the epistemological form of knowledge in the divided line. The objects which produce these shadows are the sense particulars. The sense particulars can then be counted e.g. three tree “puppets” this ability to count corresponds to the mathematical objects level of the divided line. Then once the person leaves the cave, he is able to see the actual forms, not just shadows or puppets, he is able to see the real object, and this conforms to the forms. Lastly, the sun is the thing that makes all life possible which is analogous to the ultimate Good which make all of the forms of knowledge even possible.

Finally, the prisoners eyes have fully adjust to the surroundings around him and looks up to the sky and sees how the sun is the real cause for the existences of everything that is life. In this story of the Cave the sun represents the Form of the Good, the top of the line, full knowledge and truth. The prisoner has reached the stage of understanding.