Many people face difficult struggles, often gaining valuable life lessons in the end. In Doris Lessing’s “Through the Tunnel,” Jerry, an eleven year old boy, overcomes many conflicts and challenges that lead him to the results of growing up and establishing himself as an individual. Through the use of symbolism and characterization, Lessing suggests that it requires conflict to achieve maturity. Lessing uses symbolism of the tunnel and skin color to illustrate the value of crossing obstacles in life. In the beginning of the story, Jerry goes swimming, and he sees older brown boys playing around. Lessing adds the details of how Jerry was feeling by writing, “They were off that coast; all of them burned smooth dark brown and speaking a language …show more content…
As the story begins, Jerry had wanted to go into the ocean, so he youthfully asked for goggles. Lessing wrote, “‘I want some swimming goggles,’ he panted, defiant and beseeching.” The use of words “defiant” and “panted” expresses Jerry’s childish behavior. Throughout the story, Jerry had worked toward his goal of adventuring through the tunnel. While he was in the tunnel, he had hurt himself leaving bruises and blood stains. In the end of the short story, Lessing wrote, “He rushed to the bathroom, thinking she must not see his face with bloodstains, or tearstains, on it.” This scenario portrays that Jerry was brave. He did not want his mother to see the injuries and become worried. He toughened up and did not tell his mom. Instead, Jerry was attempting to handle the situation on his own. Lessing’s depiction of Jerry from beginning to end indicates how much Jerry has evolved. He went from behaving like a child who was dependent on his mother to a brave boy who independently handled his problems. His transition represents the way people can change immensely through what they have experienced and learned. The way the author developed Jerry’s personality was able to establish the concept of …show more content…
One can learn and achieve their goals from the struggles they overcome. The tunnel was no ordinary tunnel, but rather it represents the challenges that come across in the process of maturing. The color of skin was not only a color but moreover the change in Jerry. His transition from a child to an individual was a way of emphasizing the maturity he had gained by his journey through the tunnel. Everyone has their own tunnel they face, and they have all the power to cross the tunnel with
The two stories "Brothers are the Same" by Beryl Markham and "Through the Tunnel" by Doris Lessing are both about growing up and entering adulthood. "Brothers are the Same" about a boy named Temas trying to prove he was tough and could be called an adult. In a similar situation in "Through the Tunnel" a young boy named Jerry is determined to go through an underwater tunnel that he saw some older French boys go through. He wants to accomplish this goal to prove to himself that he could do it . The two stories share a similar theme, but the authors perspective on the topic differ.
Conflict between the main characters in fictional stories can be so thick, you need a razor-sharp knife to cut it; that is definitely the case in the two literary texts I recently analyzed titled “Confetti Girl” by Diana Lopez and “Tortilla Sun” by Jennifer Cervantes. In the first text, tensions mount when a social butterfly of a teenage girl and her oblivious father lock horns over the subject of homework. In the second passage, drama runs high when a lonely child and her career-driven mother battle over the concept of spending the summer apart. Unfortunately, by the end of both excerpts, the relationships of these characters seem damaged beyond repair due to their differing points of view - the children end up locked behind their barrier-like
He has endured and overcame many fears and struggles, but during this section, we truly acquire an insight of what the little boy is actually like – his thoughts, his opinions, his personality. Contrary to his surroundings, the little boy is vibrant and almost the only lively thing around. I love him! He is awfully appalled by the “bad guys” and shockingly sympathetic toward dead people. For example, when the father raided a house and found food, the little boy suggested that they should thank them because even though they’re dead or gone, without them, the little boy and father would starve. My heart goes out to him because he is enduring things little boys should never go through, even if this novel is just a fictional
All of the characters are "fenced in," by various barriers. Troy is working in a job where African Americans can get the lowest and most difficult tasks. On the home front, he has responsibilities to his family. Rose has chosen life with Troy as an alternative to "a succession of abusive men and their babies, a life of partying, or the Church." Troy’s son, Lyons, is supposedly a musician but is going nowhere. Cory has potential but has his dream of playing college football extinguished by both protective and jealous Troy. The characters must deal with hardships of daily life, racial discrimination, straining relationships with each other, and the feeling that this is all their lives are: somewhat of a confined space with no escape; fenced in.
...the future to see that his life is not ruined by acts of immaturity. And, in “Araby”, we encounter another young man facing a crisis of the spirit who attempts to find a very limiting connection between his religious and his physical and emotional passions. In all of these stories, we encounter boys in the cusp of burgeoning manhood. What we are left with, in each, is the understanding that even if they can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, we can. These stories bind all of us together in their universal messages…youth is something we get over, eventually, and in our own ways, but we cannot help get over it.
The point of view was effective throughout the course of Tunnel giving us a better understanding of the elements happening. Tunnel is written in first person point of view, meaning that the pronoun “I” was used throughout the story. On page 44 this is seen. It states “I didn't know by the time I was sixteen it would be the global economy and there would be no summer jobs, even though you did your life-skills analysis as recommended by the guidance councilor.”
Dave Pelzer has shown admirable character for surviving a horrendous childhood and also for becoming a man that strives to please his family and works for the betterment of society. His clear and concise writing style in this novel provides us with a child’s viewpoint, which makes the book more emotional then it possibly could be. With the use of metaphors Dave Pelzer establishes the claim that the human spirit has the capability to fight back regardless of the condition that it is in. This story should be a source of inspiration and motivation for those who believe that all hope is lost.
The characters in this story were very important to get Flannery O’ Conner’s point a cross that there are many different people in this world that have different views on the world but in the end it doesn’t matter what color your skin because some things are out of your control like her stroke.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, written by Gaiman, juxtaposes a child’s point view of the world against that of an
Maturity can be seen through one’s personality traits. This is contrary to the belief that maturity comes with age. Experiences throughout life teach new attributes that one needs to be successfully mature. In Through the Tunnel, by Doris Lessing, Jerry has his life experience as he makes it through the
For example, in the beginning of the story, Young Goodman Brown is leaving his wife Faith at sunset to go on a journey that cannot wait. The images of a sunset and of the approaching nighttime illustrate the fear of the unknown. Goodman Brown must travel through the darkness before he reaches the light of knowledge just as the prisoners in Allegory of the Cave must travel from the dark cave in order to reach the light. As the story continues, Hawthorne uses the image of a “dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest” to heighten the fear of the unknown. Goodman Brown has left the comfort of the cave of confusion and is beginning to discover the imperfections of the world and of its people.
In John Connolly’s novel, The Book of Lost Things, he writes, “for in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be”. Does one’s childhood truly have an effect on the person one someday becomes? In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle and Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, this question is tackled through the recounting of Jeannette and Amir’s childhoods from the perspectives of their older, more developed selves. In the novels, an emphasis is placed on the dynamics of the relationships Jeannette and Amir have with their fathers while growing up, and the effects that these relations have on the people they each become. The environment to which they are both exposed as children is also described, and proves to have an influence on the characteristics of Jeannette and Amir’s adult personalities. Finally, through the journeys of other people in Jeannette and Amir’s lives, it is demonstrated that the sustainment of traumatic experiences as a child also has a large influence on the development of one’s character while become an adult. Therefore, through the analysis of the effects of these factors on various characters’ development, it is proven that the experiences and realities that one endures as a child ultimately shape one’s identity in the future.
As the book opens, the reader learns about Charley’s disability. The author mentions about Charley’s peg leg, and then goes on to talk about how he came about to losing his leg. The lost leg can be interpreted in a very symbolic way. The loss of his leg signifies imbalance in his life. The fact that he lost it because of a gun beneath a “Rose” can also be interpreted as: the reason for his instability is his dead love, Rose. The character seems alienated, and Green uses Charley’s misfortunes to draw sympathy from the reader. Also, the author’s intention of mentioning that the bus and the passengers were departing could be to reemphasize Charley’s isolation. The author tends to list out Charley’s struggles and the events from the war to increase the effect left on the reader, emphasizing the grief in Charley’s life. As the passage progresses, the reader learns about the child who Charley ignores initially. However, the spatial description of Charley and the boy come to be very metaphoric. A key scene in the passage is that o...
He describes the Allegory of the Cave as, “Imagine human beings living in an underground, cavelike dwelling, with an entrance a long way up, which is both open to the light and as wide as the cave itself” (514a). From his brief description of the cave we can see that this sets the foundation to explaining the Divided Line through the tale. The human beings living in an underground cave like dwelling suggest the ignorance one experiences as explained in the Divided Line, the long entrance hints at the Divided Lines Hierarchy steps, and the light at the end of the cave would be knowledge as explained in the Divided Line.
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.