Through the Tunnel

In the stories "Sixteen" and "Through the Tunnel" both authors use a theme of characters wanting to prove themselves to someone. However, the differences of these two stories becomes apparent when who the characters are trying to prove themselves to. In "Sixteen" the main character seems to be attempting to prove herself to the reader, that she is smart enough and popular enough to be telling this story. But in "Through the Tunnel" Jerry tries to prove himself to the foreign boys he looks up to…

The challenges one faces by going through adolescence may vary vastly because each individual is unique. This lesson is shown in the short story by Doris Lessing, “Through The Tunnel.” A young boy, Jerry, takes a risk while on vacation with his mother to show himself he is no longer a child. He faces some challenges, and trains himself to accomplish going “through the tunnel.” In the short story, the author Doris Lessing, demonstrates the hardships one goes through adolescence by presenting…

In the story “Through the Tunnel,” Jerry, the protagonist, undergoes challenges to test his maturity. During the introduction of the story, he begins as a young, immature boy, who is desperate to fit in and impress the older boys he meets, so he risks his life to gain the acceptance he seeks. After Jerry overcomes his challenges to prove himself to the other boys, he realizes that he no longer wants the older boys’ acceptance. Instead, overcoming the challenges pushes him into his journey to…

Maturing Comes Through Difficult Obstacles Difficult obstacles can help someone become stronger and learn many things. In the short story, “Through the Tunnel”, Doris Lessing established the main character to make him seem super innocent, therefore he seems naïve to life. She also uses lots of symbolism to give the story another layer of meaning. Lessing uses symbolism and characterization for the purpose of showing how kids can mature through difficult obstacles. Lessing uses characterization…

her short story “Through the Tunnel.” Lessing dives into an 11 year old boy’s life and the challenges he faces as he matures from a naive child to an adult like kid. The boy, Jerry, is on a vacation with his widow mother and sees these older brown boys playing in the water, jumping off cliffs, and going through an underwater tunnel. As he sees them playing he realizes he wants to be just like them, more importantly wants to be accepted by them. In her short story “Through the Tunnel”, Doris…

my friends / than we are unalike,” (Angelou “Human Family”). There are so many people out there it is hard to believe not one of us is like the other. This is also reflected in many characters in our literature. Take a look at the two works “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing and The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The main characters Romeo and Jerry both display very similar qualities. When looking at their actions it is obvious that Romeo and Jerry are both incredibly…

life its purpose. This very struggle is captured in the short story, “Through the Tunnel,” by Doris Lessing. Lessing uses irony, imagery, similes, symbolism, and metaphors to illustrate the challenge of a young boy named Jerry. The author uses many different recurring objects to represent the different challenges and conflicts Jerry overcomes, both mental and physical. Doris Lessing uses the recurring object of the underwater tunnel in order to symbolize growing up, determination, and…

traced all the way back to 1899, when the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph company had permission to build tunnels for cables from city hall, but instead built seven-foot-wide railroad tunnels. These tunnels were used to remove coal ash and other trash from Loop buildings, providing a great advantage over the crowded streets, traffic being much worse than even today. Eventually the tunnels lost their advantage to modern technology and were finally abandoned in…

Then one day while he is performing his job, Equality finds an underground tunnel that originates from the Unmentionable Times, the time before collectivism where every human had the right to express themselves in any way they deemed fit. For two years after discovering the tunnel, Equality visits it every day during Social Recreation Time. He spends his time down there conducting experiments and journaling. Equality knows that…

In the beginning, there was only sadness. Everywhere you looked you would see villagers of Athens crying, plants dying, and no sunlight just darkness. Markeus’s mother, Kares was very depressed. She was trying her very best to raise Markeus to be a great hero and take the right path of life. Kares was a poor villager that had to grow her own crops in order to survive. But, the sunlight were blocked by the clouds, and there was no happiness. Her crops were constantly dying. Kares and her son…