Through The Tunnel Moral

His mom and him went to the beach for vacation and Jerry went to this rocky wild looking beach to be away from his mom to act independent where his mom is at the regular sand beach. When he got there he was kind of scared so he went back by his mom at the regular beach. But one day he went to the rocky area to find a few foreign boys and he wanted to make friends with them by impressing them. The foreign boys liked him because he was good at diving so they thought he would be fun to hang out since he was a good swimmer like them. But there was this tunnel which was one of the main conflicts. He did not know to swim the tunnel because he had to hold his breathe for about two minutes. He swam through some of it and thought if he should go back but he said I am too far into it to turn back, but he made it alive. Jerry learned that taking a risk like that was a bad idea especially since his mom wasn’t by

The next day Jerry goes to the wild bay, where he meets some natives. “To be with them, of them, was a craving that filled his whole body.” (Pg. 30) When Jerry sees those in adulthood, he becomes filled with a desire to join them, but when he does they unconsciously exclude him. “. . . and they proceeded to forget him. But he was happy. He was with them.” (Pg.31) Jerry appears not to mind. Slowly, Jerry begins to realize he is very different from the adults. “ They were big boys-men, to Jerry.” (Pg.31) After some time the adult portion of the group easily does something that

After Jerry had watched the older boys go through the tunnel and leave the bay, he was left alone again. He then dived back in among the “fanged and angry boulders,” (3). This personification emphasizes a negative connotation that shows how frustrated Jerry is at this point in his adventure. He felt like he boys were “leaving to get away from him,” (3), which only further supports the notion that he feels alone and has no clue what to do. However, after he decides to get goggles, he ran right back and dived into the bay once more.

            In this story, the narrator gives us the important clues that lead us to the theme by letting us know what the characters think.  For example, when the Jerry's mother says "Of course he's old

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

Jerry is a young boy who has not yet fully matured yet. His mother finally lets him go off on his own when he see the french boys. They are much stronger and older than him but he still hangs out with them and they don’t seem to mind at first. The french boys all swim under the big pile of rocks in long periods of time without air. Jerry is amazed and wants to find out how they did it. The boys laugh and judge him as he sits on the rock, alone without the ability to swim with the boys. This is when Jerry sees the tunnel for himself and sets the goal to swim through it before the end of vacation

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

There was many different themes in these stories, from friendship or independence, to perseverance or redemption. One theme that stuck with me, and could be found in a few of the stories we read, was the theme of shame. Shame can be found in a character’s actions and thoughts. There are many ways in which shame can be depicted, but I saw the overall theme in three of the stories we read in class.

The theme of a story is whatever general idea or insight the entire story reveals (Kennedy and Goia). In “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin, the theme is repression and freedom. In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the theme of the story is being proud of your heritage or your background. In “The Storm”, by Kate Chopin, the theme is finding happiness or comfort in other things.

When Jerry swam to the bottom he found a hole to the other side, he was easily scared when a piece of seaweed touched his lips, it seems Jerry is eager to see the other side but at the same time he's not. He had practiced holding his breath for long strands of time, the local boys were doing it so Jerry thought he would do, but consequences came with it for he got terrible bloody noses that made him dizzy. He had swam back to the hole and in the process of doing so he had ran out of oxygen and lost conscience and floated back up to where he had started in the first place, his mom had said “Well, I shouldn’t overdo it. I don’t think you ought to swim anymore

In order for Jerry to achieve his goal, he had to prepare, practice, and sacrifice. To practice controlling his breath, Jerry exercised his lungs every day. Jerry exercised so much that his life depended on it. The stress he put in his body made his nose bleed every night after exercising. This event reveals that Jerry is maturing and is working really hard to control his breathing because of the goal he set for himself. As stated in the theme, Jerry is done preparing to control is breathing and is now practicing. Jerry wanted to see what was under the rock, so he decided to learn to control his breathing. After the first day of practicing, the longest he stayed underwater until his chest started hurting was fifty-two seconds. At night he dreamt of the cave in the rock, which motivated him to practice more. He became so concentrated at exercising his lungs every day that, “The day and the next, Jerry exercised his lungs as if everything, the whole of his life, all that he would become, depended upon it. Again his nose bled at night, and his mother insisted on his coming with her the next day” (17). Jerry is determined to control his breath as the quote stated “Jerry exercised his lungs as if everything, the whole of his life, all that he would become, depended on it” (17). He doesn’t care what gets in his way, even if his nose bled every night after exercising. Characterization

This statement shows us he faced his own fears and was brave enough to complete the

Jerry is able to grow up by exploring through the tunnel because for him it’s a rite of passage. His mother’s leniency will giving him independence, which allows him to go and achieve his goal of travelling into the tunnel. Before, he can even journey through the tunnel he prompt himself, since he is not used to the salt water and staying under for a period of time, so he holds on the a heavy rock that sinks him and he times himself. What makes this more difficult is that he is under a certain time frame, for summer is almost over and he just discovered the bay. Jerry constantly gets nosebleeds, and very unsteady that he has to stop, but he is very persistent. After veering through the tunnel he has gained his independence, he no longer has

“Yet, walking down the path with her, he blurted out, ‘I’d like to go and have a look at those rocks down there,’’ (Lessing 1). During the short story, “Through the Tunnel,” Lessing shows that Jerry has an interest in breaking away from his mother early on in the story. He shows a passion for wanting to go to the wild bay, instead of staying with his mother at the safe beach for their vacation. Jerry’s transformation from boy to a young man is revealed in the settings of the safe beach, wild bay, and the journey through the tunnel.

There are themes in every piece of fictional literature ever written. A theme is the central idea of a story that is fictional. A theme can be everything from good verse evil to as simple as light and darkness. In any story there may be more than one theme in it. Some stories have numerous central ideas that can be seen in the one. Most people only focus on one while there may be five that are important to understand to understand the story. The Tell-Tale Heart like some has numerous themes that are all important to understanding the story.