Through The Tunnel Short Story

Adolescents are very unlikely to reach their full potential without the guidance of an adult figure, such as a mother, father, sibling, or guardian. Adult figures are essential to a growing child because they exemplify decision making, wisdom, and overall life lessons on how to grow up. Although some children do have an adult figure in their life, they aren’t always the best influences for their children, adults also face their own battles which can reflect upon their exterior, ultimately having a critical effect on a child’s development. For example, in “Running with Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs, the main character Augusten lives with his mother who suffers from a mental disorder who guides him into a pathway of chaos and disorder. Augusten learns to cope with no guidance, but still faces many issues that could have been resolved with a reassuring adult figure.

As a child daydreaming and imagining was essential to survive the extensive abominable days of summer, or the weekends. Likewise, in the texts “Red Cranes” by Jacey Choy and “The Firefly Hunt” by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki two children who still express their imagination and creativity, have to realize the harsh realities that everyone must incorporate. In the texts “Red Cranes” and “The Firefly Hunt” they express the ambition and creativity of a child’s mind. However, the development of the two characters dealing with the realities in their adolescent years, varies tremendously between the two stories.

Abraham Lincoln said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Often times in our society young people push off responsibilities, it's easy to do. Technology and other innovations have made it convenient for us to become distracted and to push things off. However when growing up, sometimes taking responsibility cannot be avoided. In coming of age stories, the author uses symbolism to exemplify how the protagonists experience new independence and responsibility while they transition from childhood to adulthood.

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.

p. 82). Therefore, the adult narrator’s ability to comment and reflect on his child-self effectively emphasizes the naïve and vulnerable nature of youth, and contributes to the mood of foreboding and suspense throughout the novel, ‘now I was over confident. I expected things to go my way’ (Chapter 1. p. 28).

The theme the author is stating is how children are oblivious and ignorant to the world around them. They are usually self-centred and only focus on their own goals of survival,

That feeling of releasing all stress and anger that is caused by the daily world is what one longs for at the end of the day. Living in a dull lifestyle of repetition, the mind will consistently stay in that routine in which all creativity and imagination evaporates. The journey one takes as a young child up the tree to reach its peak to then ride down those birches gives an incomparable experience. As one grows older, there is a consistent thought of wanting to already be at one’s goal in life and being what one always wished to be, but in this process one gets stuck in a job, or in a routine that they dislike, but it is something that they have to do to get to where they want to be. If one looks at the life of the girl in the movie The Devil Wears Prada, the girl wanted to be a big writer someday, but found herself stuck in a job working for someone who treated her as a pet and had a devious personality in a way that it blocked many from their dreams. The girl lost herself in her job and in return she lost her friends, her boyfriend, her old life, and her real self worth. In many ways, people go through this everyday and we lose sight of our true goals in life. With the image of the boy, the man uses the wisdom of the young boy conquering the birches as a sign for him to go back and conquer his fears and hurdles that are preventing him from riding down his own personal

African American activist Frederick Douglass once said , “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” This quote is exhibited in the short story “Through the Tunnel” when Jerry, an 11 year old boy, who decides to transition into adulthood by going through a tunnel that the older boys can cross during vacation. On the first day, he remains close to his mother who represents childhood and safety. After discovering the tunnel, he strays from her and faces the challenges of adulthood as represented by the rocks and bay. In the short story "Through the Tunnel," the author, Doris Lessing portrays the theme the difficulty of the transition from childhood to adolescence using symbolism and imagery.

“Through the Tunnel” In her short story, “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, Jerry learns to be independent and responsible that often allows him to be mature. In the beginning of the story, Jerry’s mother has a very pale arm which symbolizes that she is overprotective of her son since they are always together. For example, “Her other arm, swinging loose, was very white in the sun... that white, naked arm.” (Lessing 1) which leads to Jerry figuring out he needs to be a “man” by letting go to be self-reliant.

The point of view in each story is completely different. While "Sixteen" is told in first person, limited point of view, "Through the Tunnel" is told in third person omnicient. The significance of point of view is your view during the story. You have a very limited view of the overall story during "Sixteen", as you only get the unnamed girl's thoughts. You can see the physical actions of the boy, but you never know what he is actually thinking.

“Through The Tunnel” : believable character When risks are worth while a person’s actions become believable. The story “Through The Tunnel” by Doris Lessing. It’s about a boy named Jerry and he takes a risk. The reason he took a risk is because he wanted to have acceptance, maturity, Independence. He finds kids that swim through an underwater tunnel that takes 3 “minutes to get through.

One fateful evening, Kadan's village is attacked by a neighboring tribe. In an attempt to save his brother from the marauders, he is knocked unconscious in the attack while biding time to let his brother flee.

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

As a statue, the prince can see that life is not perfect because there are many people who suffer. In a way, the prince can see the reality being a statue, which is exactly what happens to the male protagonist of the Tunnel: being a statue, the male character realizes how important his sister is for him, so the lesson is taught at this point: he does not have to frighten his sister. In addition to the literary connection, figures 18 and 19 are related to one of Magritte’s most important paintings, The song of the Violet (figure 20) (Hateley,2009,

Ahead of him was nothing but eerie darkness. Encountering a knife like rock jab into him in the neck was coming up in his timeline...or was that just an extremely realistic shadow, he wondered. Jerry’s vision got fuzzy. At eighty-two seconds he could no longer see, his legs and arms were numb, and his heart brutally pounded in panic. Was he in a trance? Or was he just not thinking? All he could do was recognize shapes and an approximate darkness. According to his approximate darkness calculator, there was a slight illumination blur crossing his sight. Was that the light of heaven or the end of the tunnel? Jerry knew he could not be dead because he heard,