There comes a point in time when every child feels it is their time to be treated as an adult. Every kid has decides when they are ready and use their own means of achieving it. In the story “Through the Tunnel” Jerry, a young English boy, experiences his own journey into manhood. Doris Lessing, the author, uses symbolism to express Jerry’s trip through the tunnel to represents the transition from child to adult. The theme of this short story is it is a long and painful process to grow up. Jerry endures a lot of pain and determination throughout the story which is used to symbolize his own coming of age. An example of symbolism is the two beaches mentioned in the story. The “safe” beach represents his childhood and the comfortness while the