It takes time to learn how to swim, yet one must learn how to tread the waters first. In the short story ‘Through the Tunnel’ by Doris Lessing, Jerry and his mother go through significant changes throughout their vacation in France. Childhood is similar to a shore on a beach; the sand is comfortable and safe from the rough waves beyond the sand. Adulthood, on the other hand, is where one would be jostled constantly by the waves until they learn to stay afloat. Life, which from afar would look black
The Willpower of the Tunnel: A Thematic Analysis of “Through the Tunnel” Doris Lessing, uses the theme “set yourself a goal and work for it” as she wrote “Through the Tunnel.” She did so by using two characters, Jerry, his mom, and the setting. The story tells about how Jerry wants to swim through the tunnel, but has to do work to accomplish his goal. Jerry, the young english boys helps build the theme as he shows determination, hard work and a positive mind set. Jerry obeyed his mother, as he thought
courage to grow up and become who you really are.” (E. E. Cummings) The story Through the Tunnel is about a boy named Jerry, who is trying to decide if he wants to stay a little boy under his mother’s watch or branch out and be adventurous with the things he likes to do. The author, Doris Lessing, uses Setting, Symbolism, Point of View, and Characterization to form a theme in Through the Tunnel. The Setting in Through the Tunnel is crucial to the plot. Based on the description in the story, the setting
Often, younger generations rush to mature to prove that they fit in. Through the use of characterization and symbolism, Doris Lessing emphasizes that the road to manhood has many obstacles. The choices made upon the arrival at these obstacles determines where a person lands on the maturation scale. Through “Through the Tunnel,” Lessing uses symbolism to emphasize how past experiences can affect maturity. Jerry, an 11 year old boy, finds older kids that he looks up to. The older boys, as Jerry describes
In the short story “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing a young boy named Jerry takes on the risky challenge of swimming through a narrow and long underwater tunnel on his holiday at the beach. It is an interesting story with a variety of remarkable characters. In the story, Jerry is on holiday at the beach with his mother, when he sees a group of older men diving through an underwater tunnel. This fascinates him so he starts practicing to hold his breath and dive until he can be like them. When
” Growing up can be scary and is a difficult transition. “Through the Tunnel” is a children's short story written by Doris Lessing. The short story is about a young boy who challenges himself to go through a tunnel at the beach on his own. In “Through the Tunnel” the author conveys the difficulties of adolescence through personification and symbolism. Personification is used to convey the difficulties of adolescence in “Through the Tunnel”. In the short story, the rocks are personified as angry or
Just like in this short story called “Through the tunnel”, and it is written by Dorris Lossing. This short story is about a growing little boy named Jerry. He is determined to go through a tunnel on his own to prove to his mother that he is growing and mature. In this quest to get through the tunnel, Jerry faces a lot of obstacles that involves the setting. The setting of this story impacts the story in many ways, such as the characters, the plot and through symbolism. One of the first ways that
Maturity is never easy, it takes a lot of bumps and bruises to get the hang of it. “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing expresses the difficulty of growing up. This story is about a boy, Jerry, who grows up and matures on his journey at the beach. In the story, the author portrays the maturity of the boy by using symbolism and imagery. The color yellow and orange on his mother shows safety. As Jerry comes up from the water he saw his mom and thought “There she was, a speck of yellow under an umbrella
Maturation Through Ordeal As one grows up they undergo incredible change in personality, morality and worldview. These changes can occur completely organically, or they can be triggered by an outside catalyst. It is through these alterations that greater understanding of the world is acquired. “Through the Tunnel” examines a child’s development into adolescence through the use of a central metaphor. Jerry, the protagonist and aforementioned child, longs to be accepted by older boys whom he sees
In the short story, “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, the author uses vivid language to show the significance of a passage for the work as a whole. Lessing conveys themes, includes imagery, and uses figurative language to bring out the meaning of the themes of the story. First, Lessing conveys two important themes in the story. These themes involve determination and curiosity. “Then one, and then another of the boys came up on the far side of the barrier of rock, and he understood that they
this in the short story “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing when an 11-year-old boy named Jerry goes on a beach vacation with his mother. On this trip, he met these native boys and he would try to do anything to impress them. To do so, he set himself a goal to go through a dark tunnel that the native boys were able to go through. In this challenge of going through the tunnel Jerry went through, the author demonstrated the challenges one goes through in adolescence through characterization and symbolism
In both the short story Through the Tunnel, by Doris Lessing, and the article The Right to Fail, by William Zinsser, the theme of failure and success is explored through the character of Jerry, and Zinsser’s viewpoint on the flaws of America’s social system on failure and success. The short coming-of-age story follows a young boy named Jerry who is driven by a group of teenagers to be able to go through an underwater tunnel. American critic and writer, Zinsser, provides his readers with his own definition
The stories “Brothers are the Same” by Beryl Markham and “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing share common themes throughout the stories, yet are based on two vastly different cultures. Both stories have their main characters going through a rite of passage, both in their own ways, so how do they compare? Well first it is important to know the background of these two stories. The stories take place in two vastly different areas, both with their own cultures, traditions, and people. “Brothers are
story, “Through the Tunnel,” the author, Doris Lessing, writes about a boy who experiences the transition to adulthood. A young boy named Jerry goes to a beach with his mother while they’re on vacation. He soon meets some native boys and yearns to be like them. The native boys are jumping off large, dangerous rocks and swimming through a long, dark tunnel. Jerry challenges himself to swim through the tunnel so he could fit in with the native boys. In the short story, “Through the Tunnel,” the author
diving and playing half a mile away. He did not want them. He wanted nothing but to get back home and lie down”, this is taking place after Jerry has gone through the tunnel like he did when he first found out about it which furthermore explains that after Jerry had discovered what the tunnel consisted of, he changed from wanting to swim through it to not wanting anything to do with
Symbolism and Meaning of Through the Tunnel Symbolism can really make a story meaningful. Through the Tunnel is a story full of symbolism. There is symbolism in anything from the setting to the tunnel itself. The three major symbols in the story are the beach, the bay, and the tunnel. They all represent a progression from dependent and irresponsible to independent, responsible and mature. Doris Lessing does an excellent job at showing how symbolism can tell an entirely different story. The first
Analysis of Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing “ Through The Tunnel” is written by a lady called Doris Lessing. Through the tunnel is a short story about a boy called Jerry and his mother who are on holiday in Spain. There are three themes to the story, the first is the safe beach . The second is the dangerous beach. The third is when jerry goes through the tunnel. The characters are introduced on their first day on holiday where they are going to the safe beach. It begins when they are
their way. In the short story “Through the Tunnel,” Doris Lessing symbolizes change and blossoming into adolescence by having a young boy, Jerry, step out of his comfort zone, which is represented by the safe beach and gaining independence, which is characterized through the wild bay. Also, throughout this piece of literature, the use of symbolism is often demonstrated through these two locations, as well as creating a story behind a simple act of going through a tunnel, which represents a test for
In the two short stories “Brothers are the Same” by Beryl Markham and “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing two main characters go head to head on quests or “rites of passage”. In “Brothers are the Same,” a young man named Temas in a tribe in Africa must hunt and kill a lion in order to become a man; along with Jerry, from “Through the Tunnel”, puts himself in a position of life or death in a tunnel under water. With that, both characters put themselves in difficult situations that include many
I walked through the tunnel at dusk. The same route I had been down for months. I saw the familiar warm light coming through the end, and stopped to view the shadow of my hand on the tunnel wall. It was like a ritual to me, and acted as a method to remind myself I exist, and that the hand and body I see is my own. I still wait for the moment I will become part of the world again. I used to drift in and out of people’s lives, lacking an identity. I often felt like just a disconnected entity