Through the Tunnel Literary Elements

Short story

The story is set on an unspecified beach where Jerry and his mother are vacationing.

The story is told from a third-person perspective that provides insight primarily into Jerry's thoughts and feelings. Occasionally, the narrator also presents the thoughts of Jerry's mother.

The mood of the story is often ominous and tense, as Jerry prepares to swim through an unfamiliar and dangerous rock-tunnel. The tone of the story is one of determination and triumph as Jerry feels compelled to accomplish the feat, even if he does not understand why.

Jerry is the protagonist of the story. The rock-tunnel can be considered a figurative antagonist, as it is the obstacle that symbolizes Jerry's difficult transition from childhood to adulthood.

The central conflict in the story is Jerry's ongoing labor to make it safely through the rock-tunnel. The narrator underscores the danger of such a feat throughout a story, so much so that readers might be uncertain if Jerry will survive the journey unscathed.

The climax of the story occurs when Jerry realizes that, despite only seeing blackness ahead of him, he has nowhere to go but forward. This acceptance serves as his final movement out of the tunnel and into the open sea, where he can float to the surface and regain his breath.

Jerry's initial failure to locate the hole to the rock-tunnel paradoxically foreshadows his ultimate triumph, as it suggests that he has work to do before being able to leave his childhood behind.

Jerry and his mother communicate largely through understated exchanges, as neither wants to upset or disappoint the other. Jerry's mother suggests throughout the story that he not push himself so hard, without explicitly stating that she is worried about him. Likewise, Jerry is polite and withholding with his mother so as not to worry her further and to continue to pursue his independence.

The story does not feature many allusions and is instead tightly focused on Jerry's journey through the tunnel. The brown boys could serve as an allusion to Lessing's childhood in Rhodesia, where she witnessed the injustices of apartheid and the consequences of racism among a community.

The story is rife with imagery and places emphasis on the landscape that surrounds Jerry. The narrator provides detailed portraits of the beach, the rocks, and especially the tunnel through which Jerry must swim. This use of imagery helps underscore the story's extended metaphor, turning the transition into adulthood into a tangible and formidable place.

The major paradox operative in the story is that, after Jerry finally makes it through the tunnel, his compulsion to test himself fades. Instead, he becomes content to stay with his mother once more, suggesting he has developed a mature sense of self by accomplishing his feat.

The story makes use of parallelism while Jerry is attempting to swim through the tunnel. Many of the sentences describing his journey begin the same way, suggesting the repetitive and interminable nature of the challenge Jerry faces.

N/A

The narrator describes the rocks at the bottom of the sea as "fanged and angry boulders," using personification to emphasize the daunting circumstances of Jerry's challenge (4).