Through The Tunnel Essay

The process a child goes through to become an adult is universally filled with difficulties and hardships. Sooner or later, every child must learn to harness their emotions and become an individual in society. In the short story, “Through the Tunnel”, Jerry is an eleven year old boy who idolizes the “big boys” who spend their time in the “wild and rocky bay” rather than the “overcrowded and safe beach”. Wanting to fit in with them, Jerry tries his hardest to become like the boys and learns to become

Dalai Lama once said that, “Without the human community one single human being cannot survive”. The Street by Octavio Paz and an excerpt from Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing emphasizes a human’s need for the community by explaining a person doesn’t want to be alone in the world. Instead, they want to be seen and accepted. Lessing states in the text that the main character, Jerry, wanted “to be with them, of them, [with] a craving that filled his whole body”. This piece of textual evidence demonstrates

conflict that impacts plot development . Many different types of conflict are seen in short stories, like Man vs Man, Man vs Self, Man vs Nature, and Man vs Society. First, in “Through The Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, the main conflict is man vs nature. In this story the conflict is between Jerry, the main character, and the ocean/tunnel. This is seen when “He counted. One, two, three. He counted steadily. He could hear the movement of blood in his chest. Fifty-one, fifty-two... His chest was hurting.” ( Lessing

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. 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

Through the Tunnel to Adulthood From the time one is born, they continue to grow each day both in the mind and body. British novelist, Doris Lessing, takes readers along the journey called life in her 1989 short story, “Through the Tunnel”. Before one finds themself, they must first lose himself, and to become stronger, one must know hardship. Jerry, a blossoming, young boy finds himself at a threshold, when he pushes himself in the hopes that he can find a part of his identity through pain and

The short story, Through the Tunnel is about an eleven-year-old, English boy named Jerry. Jerry goes on vacation in a foreign country with his mother, a worrisome widow. During the first day of his stay, Jerry and his mother go to the beach. When Jerrys mother catches him staring elsewhere, she asks if he wants to go somewhere else. Though he longs to go the bay, he feels guilt for leaving his mother and goes with her instead. The next day, when his mother asks the same question again, he decides

There is hardly anyone that hasn’t had to grow up. Growth is central to every character in a story, but “Through the Tunnel” and To Kill a Mockingbird amplify this; the loss of innocence and coming of age is central to the entire story. Both “Through the Tunnel” and To Kill a Mockingbird’s main conflict test the characters (Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird and Jerry in “Through the Tunnel”) as they grow up in the face of adversity. One of the first aspects of growth and maturity is responsibility. To

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. One way the setting has an

it's what drives us to consummate tasks. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the short story, “Through The Tunnel”, there are two characters that have undoubted amounts of determination. Atticus, from “To Kill a Mockingbird”, is set on making sure his client Tom Robinson doesn't get sent to jail. In the short story “Through The Tunnel” Jerry had the fortitude to go through the underwater tunnel like the other boys did. Determinations can lead to great things but unfair circumstances can get in

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: Serious, Personal,