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Through The Tunnel Symbolism

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“We don't grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges,” anonymous. The story “Through the Tunnel” is about an 11 year old boy named Jerry who faces the challenge of going through an underwater tunnel to prove to a group of boys on the beach that he is mature. The author uses imagery and symbolism to portray the difficulty of overcoming challenges. In the story, imagery is used to show how ominous the tunnel that Jerry must traverse is. This is found on the second paragraph of page 364 where the author Doris Lessing writes “The roof was sharp and pained his back,” in this sentence, the words sharp and pained help the reader picture a dangerous place. Also, in the same paragraph, Lessing describes “He was without light, and the water seemed to press upon him with the weight of rock.” This sentence provides tactile and visual imagery to give a cramped and dark mood. This connects back to the theme of overcoming challenges …show more content…

For example, the tunnel in the story symbolizes an obstacle in life that is found at a transition from childhood to adolescence that Jerry must overcome. In the second sentence of the second paragraph on page 360, Lessing writes “Again and again he rose, took a chestful of air, and went down. Again and again he groped over the surface of the rock, feeling it, almost hugging it in the desperate need to find the entrance,”in order to show his struggle and perseverance to overcome his obstacle. Also, to demonstrate how the tunnel was a turning point in the development of the character Jerry, the author contrasts Jerry’s behavior from before crossing the tunnel to after. Before the tunnel, it is stated on page 360, “He cried openly, fists in his eyes,” while on the other hand, after the tunnel, Lessing writes “She [Jerry’s mother] was ready for a battle of wills, but he gave in at once. It was no longer of the least importance to go to the bay,” (Lessing 366). this provides a more mature

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