25 pages • 50 minutes read
Doris LessingThrough the Tunnel
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1955A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Rites of Passage from Youth to Maturity
One of the major themes of this text is the rites of passage from youth to maturity. Some common rites of passage in American culture involve getting a driver’s license, graduation, and “sweet-16” parties. In this narrative, the rite of passage is swimming through the tunnel in the rock. This makes an appropriate rite of passage because it is difficult for children to accomplish—a sense of struggle is usually needed to a rite of passage. Jerry struggles physically and mentally with completing this rite of passage.
During one of his first attempts, Jerry must fight against his impulse to avoid the danger. While he’s underwater, “[s]omething soft and clammy touched his mouth; he saw a dark frond moving against the grayish rock, and panic filled him” (Paragraph 26). This is enough to scare him back to the surface even though it ends up being a harmless piece of seaweed.
Jerry’s greatest physical struggle is controlling his breathing, which he quickly realizes after his first attempt. Though he resolves to train himself to hold his breath, the training seems even more challenging than his earlier diving. His nose starts bleeding, and he intermittently feels weak and dizzy.
Another common requirement for rites of passage is the ability to do something entirely independently. Soon after the story opens, Jerry is already creating distance between himself and his mother, heading to the rocky bay alone because he wants to explore. He tries to hide his nosebleeds from his mother and is secretive about his adventures at the the bay. He knows intuitively that he must complete this rite of passage alone, and he does so by the end of the story.
Jerry fixates on this rite of passage. Anytime he is not at the bay, he is dreaming about it: “All night the boy dreamed of the water-filled cave in the rock, and as soon as breakfast was over he went to the bay” (Paragraph 28). Jerry dedicates his entire vacation to completing this rite of passage.
Rites of passage often involve elements of discomfort or fear since they indicate growing up and being responsible for yourself. Near the end, he has doubts that he can do it and considers waiting until next year to try. However, he is determined:
[H]e found himself sitting up on the rock and looking down into the water; and he knew that now, this moment, when his nose had only just stopped bleeding, when his head was still sore and throbbing—this was the moment when he would try. If he did not do it now, he never would (Paragraph 34).
Jerry fights through his fear and completes the rite of passage by the end of the story.
Loneliness as a Part of Independence
Loneliness is a reccurring theme from both Jerry’s perspective and his mother’s. When Jerry first expresses a desire to explore the rocks, he hesitates: “And he almost ran after her again, feeling it unbearable that she should go by herself, but he did not” (Paragraph 4). Jerry feels bad about leaving his mother alone, knowing that she will be lonely, and almost can’t handle that feeling. His struggle demonstrates his empathic temperament. However, Jerry’s own loneliness more often relates to his growing independence.
Even though Jerry is enjoying his solitary swimming, when he checks for his mother’s yellow umbrella, he realizes how alone he is: “He swam back to the shore, relieved at being sure she was there, but all at once lonely” (Paragraph 9). The independence that he craves comes with a price of feeling lonely.
When Jerry first spots the local boys, he has an intense desire to be with them and among them as an equal, “a craving that filled his whole body” (Paragraph 10). The craving is due partly to his loneliness and partly to his desire to be like them—that is, to be as manly as them. He is relieved they allow his presence, and even though they largely ignore him, he’s glad to simply be with them. However, after Jerry has an outburst from not being able to swim through the rock, he scares the boys off and experiences even greater loneliness: “They were leaving to get away from him. He cried openly, fists in his eyes. There was no one to see him, and he cried himself out” (Paragraph 17).
Jerry’s journey to get through the tunnel is a solitary one. He remains alone as he practices his breathing, practices diving down, practices finding the opening in the rock. Once he finally attempts the feat, he seems to realize how alone he really is: “If he died there, he would lie until one day—perhaps not before next year—those big boys would swim into it and find it blocked” (Paragraph 34). He knows that if he fails, he will die alone and remain alone for quite some time. It is now, though, that he confronts that loneliness directly and attempts the rite of passage anyway.
Self-Discipline’s Necessity for Growth
Jerry’s actions increasingly demonstrate self-discipline, which is crucial for him to complete his rite of passage. His first attempt to find the opening fails because he cannot properly see underwater. Afterward, he knows he must get goggles to try again.
As he begs his mother to buy him the goggles, his pestering is comical and might appear immature, but his doggedness reflects the intensity of his commitment to his project. Jerry’s passion is palpable in the scene:
But now, now, now! He must have them this minute, and no other time. He nagged and pestered until she went with him to a shop. As soon as she had bought the goggles, he grabbed them from her hand as if she were going to claim them for herself, and was off, running down the steep path to the bay (Paragraph 21).
Even in this outwardly childish scene, Jerry shows a drive toward maturation. His determination is a kind of self-discipline and persistence that allows him to continue to try even in the face of obstacles.
It also requires his self-discipline to continue diving down to locate the tunnel opening, and he does not once give up. The narration again makes his determination palpable, which also heightens the narrative sense of anticipation: “Again and again he groped over the surface of the rock, feeling it, almost hugging it in the desperate need to find the entrance” (Paragraph 24). Once he locates the opening, he must use self-discipline to prepare mentally and physically. He spends days practicing holding his breath and counting it out carefully. He persists even when it harms him physically, causing weakness and nosebleeds. Before his last and successful attempt, Jerry considers giving up. However, his self-discipline pushes him to try one last time. One scene in particular, involving a stone and the goggles, reflect Jerry’s lengthy strategizing:
He put on his goggles, fitted them tight, tested the vacuum. His hands were shaking. Then he chose the biggest stone he could carry and slipped over the edge of the rock until half of him was in the cool, enclosing water and half in the hot sun. He looked up once at the empty sky, filled his lungs once, twice, and then sank fast to the bottom with the stone (Paragraph 35).
Without Jerry’s self-discipline, there would be no success. There wouldn’t even be a story; the protagonist’s determination is what matures him, and it’s what propels the plot.
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