Through the Tunnel

The setting

The story took place during summer time at rocky Bay beach.

main character

Jerry was eleven years old english speaking boy. he was staying with her mother who was a widow. Jerry was a good simmer because he was swimming through the tunnel with three mens. Jerry made a good friend with those three older boys, even though they were speaking the language he did not understand.

The plot

In Lessing's "Through the Tunnel," Jerry, a young English boy, and his mother are vacationing at a beach they have come to many times in years past. The mother, who is a widow, is "determined to be neither possessive nor lacking in devotion," and Jerry, in turn, acts from an "unfailing impulse of contrition—a sort of chivalry."

Looking back to shore, Jerry sees some boys strip off their clothes and go running down to the rocks, and he swims over toward them but keeps his distance. The boys are "of that coast; all of them were burned smooth dark brown and speaking a language he did not understand. To be with them, of them was a craving that filled his whole body." He watches the boys, who are older and bigger than he is, until finally one waves at him and Jerry swims eagerly over. As soon as they realize he is a foreigner, though, they forget about him, but he is happy just to be among them.