Doris Lessing Essays

"Through the Tunnel" by Doris Lessing illustrates the journey of a young boy named Jerry trying to swim through a tunnel in an ocean rock. In the beginning, Jerry is starting an oceanside vacation with his mother, when he sees the rocky bay, he's immediately intrigued, and the next day he asks his mother if he could go by the rocks. When he gets there, he sees foreign boys swimming around by the rocks. As he dives with them, he notices that they were swimming through an underwater tunnel, and he's

In the short story “Through the Tunnel”, by Doris Lessing, a young boy named Jerry and his mother visit a beach. Jerry sees a few of the local boys diving from rocks into the ocean, and after watching them, he realizes they are all swimming through a tunnel of rocks on the ocean floor. Jerry is determined to prove himself, and after days of training and analyzing the tunnel, he is prepared to swim through the tunnel. Jerry is successful with his attempt, but it took all the energy he had. The author

In the story “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing a boy named Jerry (the protagonist) and his mother (one of the antagonists) went on a summer vacation to a beach in France, ever since Jerry's father passed away him and his mom had a feeling that they have to please each other and stay by each others sides. The one time Jerrys mother lets lets him go out on the beach by himself he finds older boys jumping off the rocks by the bay, and staying under water going through a tunnel (another antagonist)

the warm, salty air swirls around him, Jerry prepares to make his transition into manhood. While he is unsure of what the outcome will be, he knows this is something he must do. Doris Lessing develops the theme of coming of age using symbolism and internal conflict in “Through the Tunnel”. The first way in which Lessing develops the theme is through the extensive use of symbolism. Nancy Rosenberger, an advisor at Conestoga High School, writes, “Jerry’s ability to hold his breath may also be understood

"Sixteen" by Maureen Daly is a romance based story and "Through the Tunnel" by Doris Lessing is more about this kid learning how to hold is breath for a long time of period so he can go throught the tunnel. The story is taking place at a bechy enviornment, and the main character is this boy that goes to the beach to swim. But than he sees these group of teens jumping off the rocks, the boy swims over to the ricl that the teens are jumping off. Than he sees the teens not coming up agter they jump

create societal rules for our communities which members must follow if the community is to prosper, leading to the formation of the hive mind, where all members, whether aware of the fact or not, fall into the group thought regardless of reality. In Doris Lessing’s article “Group Minds”, the author realistically discusses how even in western cultures where freedom of choice and democracy is implemented, group thinking manages to overpower

take on the challenge of traveling through the tunnel by learning how to hold his breath underwater for a long period of time. In this short story, the author, Doris Lessing, uses two literary elements, symbolism and imagery in order to represent adolescence and the challenge that it presents to the main character to overcome. Doris Lessing uses symbolism in order to show the challenging time of a person’s lifetime which is adolescence. The tunnel presents itself as a way out of childhood since

To begin, many societies contribute to rite of passage. On the other hand there are self rite of passage. “Through the Tunnel” written by Doris Lessing and “Brothers Are the Same” written by Beryl Markham are examples of self rite of passage and how society contribute to rite of passage. Although there is much difference in self rite of passage and how the society contribute to rite of passage there are similarities. To clarify, “Through the Tunnel” exemplifies as the self rite of passage and “Brothers

with an opportunity to acknowledge the steps to manhood that every boy feels is necessary. As the boy, Jerry is without his father, the only taste of manliness that he has discovered yet is swimming within the bay and out of his mother’s sight. Doris Lessing shows throughout the text, the miniature accomplishments that Jerry overcomes, such as the increased time Jerry can hold his breathe, and how far he is willing to go into the ocean. This can be seen as a metaphor for how far Jerry is willing to

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

A Journey of Self Reliance: The Usage of Symbolism in “Through the Tunnel” Dori Lessing’s realistic fiction short story, “Through the Tunnel,” examines a young boy’s complex relationship of his discovery of adulthood. Like a bird preparing to leave its nest in order establish its own place in the world, Jerry aims to accomplish something to prove to himself that he is no longer that cowardly child he once was. Lessing utilizes several objects in the story in order to portray a journey from familiarity

Through the archetypes in the short story “Through the Tunnel”, Doris Lessing depicts to the audience that to grow and become mature means leaving safety and entering the dangerous outside world. To begin with, Lessing shows Jerry’s transformation as a person when Jerry did not want to stay with his mother at the beach all the time and wanted to go to the bay which “was a wild looking place and there was no one”(1). Instead of staying with his mother at the beach, Jerry wants to explore the wild

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

“We only regret the chances we didn’t take,” (Lewis Carroll). In Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing, Jerry shows us that some risks are worth taking. Jerry shows us that even if the risk in life threatening that we must try. Some risks are worth taking while others are not, however, we take both kinds of risks. Sometimes we mistake what we want to do what others want us to do and take risks that are unnecessary. Jerry and his mother are on vacation near a beach. Every day they travel to the

Doris Lessing uses the protagonist, Jerry, to convey the importance of maturity in today’s self-reliant world in which each individual controls whether they perform well. In the short story, “Through the Tunnel,” Jerry, a slowly-maturing eleven year-old boy who was very dependent on his widow mother, embarks on a journey to find his way through an underwater tunnel near the shore. He perseveres his entire vacation, attempting to eventually reach the other side of the tunnel. During this time, Jerry

Literary Criticism: “Through the Tunnel” Is an ambition ever worth the most important expense? The story “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, shows a situation where a goal is not worth a life. Jerry, the main character, an 11 year old boy is testing the idea of independance. His need for independence from his mom leads him to a dangerous and mysterious bay. In the bay, Jerry meets a couple of local boys and they swim through an underwater tunnel, and they inspire Jerry also to swim through the

control everything such as the death of the buck he feels worthless and blameworthy cause he just stood there and watched it suffer. The boy says, “Said over and over under his breath: I can’t stop it. I can’t stop it. There is nothing I can do” (Lessing

Every child must transition from childhood to adulthood. Growing up has no specific age, it occurs when you’re mentally ready. There are many stages to growing up and few actually complete these steps. In “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing we are experiencing Jerry’s Journey from childhood, we see him mature and become his own person. Growth and repair requires risk and struggle. Every single person has different personality traits. These traits can develop and change. At first, Jerry is very

he was old enough to hang with them, he faced the challenge on learning how to hold his breath long enough to through the tunnel without making it out alive. Did Jerry make it back in time? In this short story “Through the Tunnel”, the author Doris Lessing uses characterization, point of view, and symbolism to illustrate how life-changing impacts form

First of all, Imagery plays a considerable role in the book, “Through the Tunnel,” as it shows the world through Jerry’s perspective. Children are usually detail-oriented, and pay special attention to unimportant things. This can be shown towards the beginning of the book, where emphasis is put on the “swinging, naked arm” of Jerry’s mother. Only towards the end of the book is the arm not mentioned. Jerry also pays a lot of attention to detail after he gets his swimming goggles, describing the underwater