“He went out fast over the gleaming sand, over a middle region where rocks lay like discolored monsters under the surface” (2).
When Jerry first separates from his mother to explore the rocky beach, the narrator notes his new surroundings with a simile comparing the rocks to monsters. Here, early on in the story, the narrator hints at the dangers that await Jerry even as he himself does not anticipate his journey through the tunnel.
“There she was, a speck of yellow under an umbrella that looked like a slice of orange peel" (2).
As Jerry explores the rocky beach, his mother becomes both a comfort and an obstacle commingled into a confusing image. In this simile, the narrator captures Jerry's conflicted emotions as his mother is both diminished in size but remains vivid in Jerry's own perception.
"To be with them, of them, was a craving that filled his whole body" (2).
When Jerry sees the local boys diving off the rocks, he is immediately intrigued. In this metaphor, the narrator compares Jerry's desire to join them as a craving, suggesting the insatiable and inevitable compulsion Jerry feels to edge toward adulthood and leave his childhood behind.
" . . . he began splashing and kicking in the water like a foolish dog" (3).
When Jerry fails in front of the boys to swim through the tunnel, he rises to the surface and resorts to childish methods to get their attention. The narrator uses a simile to describe Jerry's behavior as that similar to a dog that blindly seeks attention and praise. In this moment, Jerry is demarcated as still occupying a state of immaturity and childishness.
