Through The Tunnel Short Story

The short story Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing is full of symbolism about the transition out of childhood. Doris accomplishes this by writing about a young boy named Jerry and his journey swimming through the tunnel. During this difficult transition the main character gains the tools he will need during adulthood. Lessing uses symbolism abundantly in Through the Tunnel to emphasize on the theme of the transition from childhood to adulthood.

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.

The settings are important in a story because they tell where and when the story takes place. A reader should always focus on the setting, so he will not get lost in the story. In Doris Lessing’s “Through the Tunnel,” the story focuses on a boy named Jerry trying to accomplish something very difficult while his mother wants him to stay safe. He sees some boys swimming through a challenging tunnel and he tries to go through the tunnel to impress them in order to become friends with them. The setting in “Through the Tunnel” has an impact on the characters, the plot, and the symbols.

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.

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.

Growing up, many young boys idolized the war heroes in movies such as Saving Private Ryan and American Sniper. However, in the poem "Tunnels," Yusef Komunyakaa portrays the theme of the true fear and lack of purpose experienced by the American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. This was done by showing the reader that any mistake could easily result in the death of a soldier. Through his use of poetic form and structure, figurative language, and diction Komunyakaa is able to effectively convey his theme.

Some people believe that lies will always be bitter in the end, no matter how sweet you make them in the beginning. In William Gass’ The Tunnel, he expounds the validity of this belief by taking the reader on an emotionally evolving journey, as he recounts the self-realization of a young boy, who’s frightening lie unravels in front of not only his own eyes, but also the readers. Gass successfully enriches this story with striking imagery, symbolism, and comparisons; exposing how no matter how sweet you make a lie in the beginning, it will always turn bitter in the end.

Tone is stated to be something that is “a general tone or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, ect…” Tone helps represent the writer or Narrator’s point or feeling throughout a story. In “Sixteen” by Maureen Daly, the Narrator of the story is a 16 year old girl talking about love and how blind people can be because of it. “Through the Tunnel”, by author Doris Lessing, on the other hand, is about an 11-year-old boy who creates his coming of age story by, literally, swimming through a tunnel. The distinction of plots and settings in these stories couldn’t be more different but similar tones throughout the stories almost bind them in a way. Similar tones in “Sixteen” and “Through the Tunnel” are:

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

People often learn a lot about themselves through their own decisions and struggles. “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing is about an eleven-year-old boy named Jerry. During vacation in France, the boy and his mother enjoy themselves daily by the shore. The boy wants to imitate the French boys who swim through a challenging tunnel, and he overcomes this challenge eventually. Form the safe beach to the tunnel, Jerry’s maturity is tested. The setting in “Through the Tunnel” has an impact on the characters, the plot, and the symbols.

In the story through the tunnel a boy named Jerry overcomes his fears, becomes more mature and proves to himself that he can do anything he puts his mind to. One day on the beach jerry asks his mom if he can go to the other side of the beach where he meets four native boys diving under the water and coming out on the other side. When jerry tries to find the the hole he cannot so the next day he comes back with goggles and dives down looking for the whole, once he finds it he practices holding his breath until he thinks he can hold long enough to get thru the cave. The day before they go jerry decides to go thru the cave and he comes out victorious. Jerry doesn't really rejoice in his accomplishment but he does say to his mom out of nowhere

“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.

Through the black train exhaust smoke pouring out of a large hole at the bottom of the Hoosac Mountain Range, the date of 1877 slowly appears at the top of the East Portal facade of the Hoosac Tunnel. The hard work and determination of engineers and workers resulted in the creation of an American symbol for technological advancement in tunneling. The railroad tunnel passes through the towns of North Adams and Florida, Massachusetts, stretching 4.75 miles. The construction began in 1854 but after suffering many setbacks, the tunnel was finished and finally approved for train service in 1875. Throughout the twenty-five years, technology drastically improved from the very beginning to the end as engineers discovered more efficient ways to dig into the unpredictable mountain rock. This progression greatly

After Jerry and the other boys have dived in a few times they all have