Through The Tunnel Short Story

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

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

Jerry was afraid to go through the tunnel, afraid to leave his childhood, because he did not know what would happen if he did. As scared as Jerry is, he knows that he has to go through this process now, he believes that he has matured enough and is prepared for the obstacles ahead. “...this was the moment when he would try. If he didn’t do it now, he never would” (Lessing 363). At last, Jerry puts his childhood behind him and he becomes independent. He changed his mind because he believed that he was both mentally and physically strong enough to overcome life’s obstacles in his adolescent years. Jerry’s feeling represent his maturity level and whether he is ready for such a change or not. The imagery used helped depict the idea of hardships when growing up and the obstacles that are not easy to overcome, but very possible.

In the story “Through the tunnel,” the author displays the tunnel as a symbol that represents a child's constant need to feel mature and to fit in with the older kids. Jerry, the young boy wanted so desperately to be treated older than he was, so he persuaded his mother to allow him to swim by the older boys. He exclaimed “To be with them, of them, was a craving that filled his whole body” (Lessing 2). This shows a glance of Jerry’s desire to be one of the others that he looked up to. He so desperately wanted to be like the other boys that he looked past all worries and knew he had to conquer the tunnel: “He knew he must find his way through the cave, or hole, or

Jerry’s bond with his mother is actually complicated. His mother does not want to obsess over him. On the other hand, she also does not want him to feel unappreciated, so she lets him get-up-and-go to the bay by himself. She suddenly feels that he will grow up in a jiffy. And not have the hankering to spend time with her.

Jerry’s mother is very protective of his son and seems to care about him a lot. She worries that she is being too protective and that he is old enough to look after himself.

Jerry’s relationship with his mother is complicated. She does her best to raise him how she wants, but then finds herself worrying over what amusements he might secretly be longing for (Lines 10-12). His mother was the one to open up the door to Jerry’s tunnel encounter. She asked him if he was tired of the usual beach, and gave him permission to go somewhere else (Lines 16-18).

I must be careful” (Lessing 1). From this point on Jerry sets goals for himself that help him mature and stay away from the way he acted in the first few paragraphs.

Jerry first met some older boys at a wild beach and it made Jerry want to go meet them and be friends with them. Jerry watches the boys as they jump off a rock and dives into the water. They all come up gasping for air. Jerry was amazed and wanted to try to go through the tunnel too. This proves that Jerry is maturing because he finally leaves his comfort zone and looks up to the older boys which makes Jerry realize what he has to do to be a man. “He felt he was dying. He was no longer conscious. He struggled on in the darkness cracked with an explosion of green light. His hands, groping forward, met nothing; and his feet, kicking him back, propelled him out into the open sea. (Lessing 5). This shows that Jerry has matured because he went through all of the challenges of going through the tunnel and made it out back alive. He was unconscious and felt like he was dying. Yet, he still made it back alive and proved that he doesn’t need his mother to help him, because he faced this challenge by himself.

Secondly, Jerry may have not felt happy because he was forced to spend the money unselfishly. Think about it, he never felt like giving the money to Armand for the cause of “love” but it felt he forced himself to give him the money, or like someone gave him a command to do it. This is implied when Armand thought Jerry a lesson. “ ‘It’s all right,’ he (Armand) said gently. ‘Maybe you learned something.’ The words were gentle but they held a curious dignity, the dignity remaining even when his voice cracked on the last syllable.” (Cormain pg 27) This was probably foreshadowing the part in the story Jerry felt like he was commanded or forced to

Some assume Jerry is just telling a simple fib or lie, but really he is only feeling what he has

Jerry’s training is causing him to start distancing himself from his mother and being independent, and by doing this, it increases his chance of overcoming his dangerous challenge.

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

As the conversation begins between Jerry and Peter you can see that Peter is uninterested in anything that Jerry has to say. After awhile of Jerry just trying to talk and get a reaction from Peter, we finally get a response with peter correcting a word that Jerry mispronounced. This tells us and gives Jerry the knowledge that Peter is an educated man, and opened the gate of communication between the characters. Jerry is extremely judgmental and telling Peter that he will get cancer from smoking and trying to get a response anyway that he could. He also questions Peter manhood when Peter explains his family consisting of a wife and two

Jerry Renault does not survive at Trinity, because he refuses to sell chocolates and is harassed for his decision. Jerry’s refusal to sell chocolates began as a Vigil assignment, a secret society at Trinity that assigns tasks to students as part of a tradition, but, he continued to refuse to sell chocolates after his assignment ended because of a poster in his locker that has the quote, “Do I dare disturb the universe?” - T.S Eliot. Jerry’s actions are first applauded but then he gets harrassed for them when the Vigils turn the school against him. Jerry’s harassment starts with him being tackled from behind during football practice. “Suddenly, he was struck from behind, a vicious blow to his kidneys, sickening in its impact” (Cormier 189). After being brutally tackled, that night at home, the phone rings at Jerry’s house. First, the phone rings when Jerry gets home and then later on at eleven o’clock. Both times, all that can be heard through the telephone is a chuckle Cormier describes as “almost evil” on page 192. These first two phone calls are the first of many that Jerry receives. When Jerry returns to school the next day, he finds his