Jerry
Jerry is the central character of the story. He is an eleven-year-old English boy on vacation in an unspecified country with his mother. Jerry does not want to disappoint or worry his mother, but still feels compelled to separate from her and gain more independence. He accomplishes this feat by exploring a rocky beach on his own, where he finds a group of older boys making dangerous dives into the water and swimming through a tunnel within a giant rock. Jerry's intrigue over the feat signals his desire for independence and his first steps into adulthood. When he finally makes it through the tunnel, he is rewarded with the mature satisfaction of no longer feeling like he needs to prove himself to others.
Jerry's Mom
Jerry’s mom is a widow struggling to raise her young son to manhood without the benefit of a father figure. Keenly aware of both her own overprotectiveness and her son’s need to become independent, Jerry's mother is anxious about whether she makes the right choices about letting her son explore the rocky beach without her. At the end of the story, she must remind herself that her son is a good swimmer, in order to put her mind at ease.
The Older Boys
The older boys that motivate Jerry to swim through the tunnel are older, more physically developed, and speak a language Jerry does not understand. The story implies that they are native to the beach where Jerry and his mother have come for vacation. For Jerry, the older boys represent young adulthood and independence, as they are able to perform the impressive feat of swimming through the tunnel in the absence of any parental supervision.
