Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing

Through the Tunnel Reviews

• 
  Ahmad Sharabiani

  Through the Tunnel (Creative Short Stories), Doris Lessing
  
  Through the Tunnel is a short story written by British author Doris Lessing, originally published in the American weekly magazine The New Yorker in 1955.
  
  Jerry, a young English boy, and his widowed mother are vacationing at a beach they have come to many times in years past. Though the beach’s exact location is not given, it is obviously in a foreign country. Each tries to please the other and not to impose too many demands. The mother 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.” On the second morning, Jerry mentions that he would like to explore a “wild and rocky bay” which he glimpsed from the path. He wanted to act grown-up and not constantly travel with his mother.
  
  His conscientious mother sends him on his way with what she hopes is a casual air, and Jerry leaves behind the crowded “safe beach” where he has always played. A strong swimmer, Jerry plunges in and goes so far out that he can see his mother only as a small yellow speck on the other beach. Looking back to shore, Jerry sees some boys strip off their clothes and go running down to the rocks, and he swims 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.
  
  Jerry joins them in diving off a high point into the water for a while, and then the biggest boy dives in and does not come up. “One moment, the morning seemed full of chattering boys; the next, the air and the surface of the water were empty. But through the heavy blue, dark shapes could be seen moving and groping.” Jerry dives down, too, and sees a “black wall of rock looming at him.” When the boys come up one by one on the other side of the rock, he “understood that they had swum through some gap or hole in it. . . . [However] he could see nothing through the stinging salt water but the blank rock.”
  
  Jerry feels failure and shame, yelling at them first in English and then in nonsensical French, the “pleading grin on his face like a scar that he could never remove.” The boys dive into the water all around him, and he panics when they do not come back to the surface. Only when he has mentally counted to 160 does he admit that they are gone for sure. Believing they are leaving to get away from him, he “cries himself out.”
  
  He spends the next several days contemplating swimming through the rock tunnel himself, and he practices holding his breath underwater. After one round of practice, his nose bleeds so badly that he becomes dizzy and nauseated, and he worries that the same might happen in the tunnel, that he really might die there, trapped. He resolves to wait until the day before he leaves when his mother says they will be gone in four days, but an impulse overtakes him two days beforehand, and he feels that he must make his attempt immediately — now or never. “He was trembling with fear that he would not go; and he was trembling with horror at the long, long tunnel under the rock, under the sea.”
  
  Once inside the tunnel he begins counting, swimming cautiously, feeling both victory and panic. “He must go on into the blackness ahead, or he would drown. His head was swelling, his lungs cracking. . . . He was no longer quite conscious.” Even when he surfaces, he fears “he would sink now and drown; he could not swim the few feet back to the rock.” In "Through the Tunnel", the literal passage through the rock tunnel becomes a coming-of-age passage for Jerry. Having accomplished his challenge, he returns to his mother's company, satisfied and confident of the future. He does not feel it necessary to tell his mother of the monumental obstacle that he has overcome. ...
  
  تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز ششم ماه دسامبر سال2009میلادی
  
  عنوان: از میان تونل؛ نویسنده: دوریس لسینگ ؛ مترجم: مهسا خلیلی؛ ‏‫تهران‬: چشمه، سال‏‫1387؛ در24ص؛ شابک9789643625665؛ موضوع داستانهای کوتاه از نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده20م‬‬
  
  لسینگ «از میان تونل» را، در سال1990میلادی نوشته و سپس منتشر کرده اند؛ نسخه زبان اصلی چند داستان کوتاه است؛ اما در نسخه ی برگردان شده به فارسی، تنها یک داستان از آنها (از میان تونل) گنجانده شده است؛ «لسینگ» در این داستان، ماجرای پسر جوانی را بازگو می‌کند، که در تعطیلات خود در کنار دریا، تلاش می‌کند تا پایداری خود را هنگام شنا، از میان تونلی در زیر آب، به محک و سنجش بگذارد؛ قهرمان داستان، «جری»، پسر یازده ساله ‮ای که در آستانه گذر از کودکی به جوانی است، به همراه مادرش، در کشوری بیگانه، تعطیلات تابستانی خویش را سپری میکند.؛ یک روز به هنگام شنا، با چند پسر بزرگتر از خودش، برخورد میکند.؛ پسر بزرگها از راهی زیر زمینی، که‮ از اینسوی صخره به سوی دیگرش راه دارد، با شنا عبور میکنند.؛ پسر که نخست توانایی از گذر را ندارد، حس شکست و سرخوردگی پیدا میکند، و سپس با تمرین بیشتر، و با وجود خطر غرق شدن، از معبر میگذرد.؛ این پیروزی حس استقلال از مادر، و اعتماد به نفس را، برای وی به‮ ارمغان میآورد.؛
  
  میتوانید این داستان کوتاه را با برگردان جناب: «شهریار گلوانی» در نشانی زیر بخوانید
  
  https://parvazbaparwane.blogsky.com/1...
  
  تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 02/03/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 25/01/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
• 
  Katya

  Doris Lessing tem para mim uma qualidade notável (inerente a todas as narrativas que dela conheço): é uma exímia narradora dos ritos sociais e familiares.
  
  Sejam provações que partem de assunções erradas e preconceitos dirigidos aos seus personagens, estigmas que envolvem papéis e funções atribuídos a um determinado género ou, neste caso, a conquista da maturidade, Lessing é sempre uma minuciosa defensora da emancipação pessoal - masculina como feminina.
  
  O seu talento reside em pegar, neste conto, num evento aleatório e banal e transformá-lo num ritual de passagem quase místico (da infância para a idade adulta) através de um pequeno grande desafio autoimposto pelo seu herói.
  
  O pequeno Jerry tem por objetivo uma proeza que vê intentar (e suceder) alguns rapazes mais velhos.
  O desafio é imemorial: a superação dos elementos e da natureza, e o domínio sobre si mesmo.
  Após a vitória sobre o desafio, o neófito já se encontra num nível superior do culto - conquistou a sua independência: é agora um adulto.
  
  Sob camadas, Lessing é pródiga a trabalhar a narrativa. Alguns dos seus constituintes, por exemplo, remetem para o secretismo e a paciência como elementos de maturidade; outros para a alienação, o alheamento ou a solidão como elementos de caráter eufemístico.
  
  Não gostando de me apelidar de fã dos chamados coming-of-age novels, faço particular menção a casos como este, na obra de Lessing, de Harper Lee, Dickens ou Sylvia Plath.
• 
  Cudeyo

  Un relato corto que muestra el primer paso fuera de la infancia, lejos de la protección maternal, de un niño de doce años. La excusa: pasar buceando un túnel submarino.
  
  El joven Jerry de vacaciones en la playa de un país extranjero desea más que nada alejarse de su madre, descubrir mundo, probar a hacer cosas de mayores. Cuando ve cómo unos chicos mayores pasan buceando un túnel subterráneo, su mayor afán se convierte en conseguirlo él también, como en la prueba de fuego que marca la salida de la infancia, el dejar de ser un niño.
  
  Con esta prueba Jerry descubre lo que es capaz de hacer, pero también la soledad que implica el crecer, el dejar de estar bajo el paraguas protector de su madre.
• 
  Emily Logue

  Rite of Passage
  Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing. The New Yorker, New York, 1995.
  
  Doris Lessing perfectly captures the awkward age of adolescence the time period where one is caught between childhood and adulthood. Lessing wonderfully portrays the fears involved with branching out into the unfamiliar adult world, along with the accompanying fear of parents to let their children leave the nest. As a young reader, new to being on my own, I found this story really hit home for me.
  The author flawlessly captures the feeling of younger child longing for the acceptance of the older children. The of Jerry is reminiscent to the younger brother trying to catch up to his older siblings, tagging along and trying to prove his worth, and almost always getting hurt because of his stubbornness. On the flip side she captures the abject feelings of rejection when Jerry is welcomed by the older boys only to be ignored when they figure out he is foreign. He cries uncontrollably after being left behind as the boys swim through the secret tunnel. But the rejection just makes Jerry determined to prove his worth.
  I truly admired the abundant metaphors contained within this short story. By far the most intriguing, was the portrayal as the older boys as foreigners whose speech was not understood by Jerry. This can be interpreted as a representation of how foreign and alien the adult world is to a child. While on the cusp of manhood, the adult world is still a mystery to him. Another interesting allusion was that of the two beaches. The safe beach frequented by Jerry’s mother is an obvious representation for childhood safety; it is warm and sunny with safe waves. The rocky beach inhabited by the older boys is a symbol for adulthood; it is rough and intimidating but intriguing to the almost man Jerry.
  Coinciding with Jerry’s struggle to swim through the underwater tunnel and be recognized by the older boys, there is the mother’s struggle to let her child grow up. It is obvious that in the beginning of the story the relationship between mother and son is tense, Jerry is on the brink of adulthood and his mother is not prepared for this. She does let her son leave the safety of her side for the rocky beach, but at the first sign of trouble, in the form of a bloody nose, she recalls him to her side in the nursery like beach. In an act of rebellion the boy strikes out on his own to the rocky beach without his mother’s knowledge. He succeeds in proving himself, but in a twist fears he will be unable to swim back the way he came, perhaps a metaphor for innocence lost.
  All in all “Through the Tunnel” is a charming story that perfectly captures the determination of a young boy trying to prove himself a man and a mother’s fear of letting go. It’s a quick read but it particularly resonated from me as someone who recently “left the nest”. I would defiantly recommend this rite of passage story to any avid reader.
  
  
• 
  Matea

  Written by the British author and 2007 Nobel Prize winner, Doris Lessing, this rather intriguing and thought-provoking short story, originally published by The New Yorker in 1955, revolves around the English pair, mother and her son, vacationing. The exact location of the beach where the main action takes place is not in any way specified but it could be gathered from the text that it is surely set in a foreign country.
  
  Jerry is at the beach with his mother, a widow. One day he goes swimming to the new beach, far away from their usual spot. There he meets a group of older boys, obviously foreigners. Jerry tries to communicate with them but they speak different language. Boys show him the tunnel under water and after they leave him it becomes Jerry’s fixation to go through the tunnel. Will he succeed?
  
  Focusing mostly on Jerry, plot is fairly simple. Characters are somewhat one dimensional. It could be said that Jerry’s key character determiner is his devotion. Once he decided he wants to go through the tunnel he made all the preparation to make that happen. He is stubborn but at the same time determined, a typical attribute of a boy coming of age.
  Despite the ostensibly simple plot, this short story contains several fairly big metaphors within itself. Allegory of older boys whom Jerry is not able to understand, illustrates how foreign and peculiar adult world is to a youngster. Another great image is one of two beaches. One beach is familiar, where his mother is and the other is dangerous and unknown. Jerry is fascinated with the second beach, a symbol of adult world and of the inevitable – growing up.
  
  On the whole, this is well worth reading since it opens up theme very close to the young public. As someone who recently left the “safety” of home’s nest, I felt really closely attached to the story. I would most definitely recommend this story to everybody of age between 9 and 19. An interesting, fast paced, captivating and easy to understand piece. Give it a try.
  
• 
  murmur

  “Through the Tunnel”, by Doris Lessing is a story about a boy named Jerry, and how he matures over time. Jerry wanted to be included in a group of older boys. He thought they would accept him if he could swim through a tunnel underwater. For Jerry, movement through the tunnel is a passage from the immaturity of boyhood to the maturity of adulthood.
• 
  javier fernández

  No estoy exagerando si digo que me pareció emocionante. Es tan, tan cotidiano, pero en esa simpleza alcanza algo muy sublime.
• 
  ella

  dumb jerry
• 
  Lucy Hutchinson

  This story was just perfect. I felt completely immersed (pun intended) in this young boys adventure. I think it really sums up our struggle as children to push for the goals in out sights, and not to give up regardless of the obstacles we face.
  I felt so linked to the character that I actually held my breath whilst reading.
  There was just the right amount of excitement and danger, and such beautiful prose. I really deserves an extra star from me.
• 
  Mateo (pokemon time!) Rivera ;)

  this book is a good book. although it has a very gory ending, it is good and easy to understand.
  This book is about a boy named Jerry who discovers a tunnel underwater. He tries over and over and over again attempting to get in the tunnel and through it. will he succeed? (SPOILER:yes)
• 
  Sarah

  Out of the series of short stories I have been reading recently this one was one of the more promising, however I still felt that it lacked excitement but instead ended in a rather generic and predictable way
• 
  Mike Narvaez

  It is nothing extraordinary. It does have some elements of surprise that make it just interesting enough for the reader to keep reading till the end but it's not much. I was a little disappointed and was expecting more from this Nobel laureate.
• 
  Anatoly

  The short story "Through the Tunnel" by Doris Lessing told about the young English boy, Jerry, who came with his mother for a summer vacation to the sea abroad. The author described in the first paragraph these two people: the mother walked on in front of the boy, carrying a bright-striped bag and the boy who stopped at turning off the path and looked down at a wild and rocky bay.
  
  Next morning Jerry asked his mother to permit him to go and have a look at the rocks there. She agreed. He was an only child, eleven years old, she was a widow. She thought that he mustn't feel he ought to be with her.
  
  Jerry went down to the rock, he jumped into the sea, he was a good swimmer. He dived and when he appeared on the surface, he noticed a group of boys. They spoke a language which he didn't understand. He very much wanted to be with them. He was so glad to see that one boy noticed him and smiled. They shouted cheerfully at him and when they understood that he was a foreigner they proceeded to ignore him. Jerry was happy to be with them.
  
  Next time Jerry saw one boy dived into the water and didn't come up. Jerry yelled in warning, the other boys looked at him idly and turned their eyes back toward the water. After a long time, the boy came up on the other side of a rock and shouted triumphantly. The other boys followed the example of the fellow, and Jerry understood that they swam through the tunnel in the rock.
  
  The idea of going through the tunnel intrigued Jerry. He had passed several classes at a diving school. He thought he must learn to control his breathing. He counted the time being underwater, Jerry exercised his lungs as if it was the goal of his whole life. At night, the boy dreamed of the water-filled cave in the rock. His nose was bleeding.
  
  He continued training. The boys made a pause while he counted a hundred and sixty. He thought that now if he tried, he could get through that long tunnel, but he was not going to try yet. The author wrote, "A curious, most unchildlike persistence, a controlled impatience, made him wait."
  
  He understood how dangerous swimming through the tunnel could be. He was frightened but he said to himself that if he did not do it now, he never would. Eventually, he did it. It happened in the morning, he went to the beach and swam through the tunnel. When he came to the surface, he saw "the local boys diving and playing half a mile away. He did not want them. He wanted nothing but to get back home and lie down."
  
  He told his mother that he can stay underwater for three minutes. The mother looked at him closely. She noticed that his face was pale, he was strained. His eyes were glazed-looking. She was worried. She was ready to argue against his underwater swimming, "but he gave in at once. It was no longer of the least importance to go to the bay."
  
  A reader can assume that when the boy becomes an adult he would be recognized for the great achievements. The idea that if you set your mind to something, then you can accomplish it - was expressed in Jerry’s desire to getting through the tunnel and as a result, he did that. After Jerry reached his goal, he no longer felt the desire to demonstrate it or to be congratulated by the other boys. In the case of Jerry, the tunnel symbolizes the passage from childhood to adulthood. In the story of the boy who went through the tunnel, the author represented people who are able to overcome difficulties.
  
  Here is the link to the text of the story:
  
  http://bclearningnetwork.com/LOR/medi...
• 
  büşra

  even though i couldnt find “england versus england” here in goodreads, after that short story, this is my second one from the author. though i liked the first one better, this is also one that i will not forget in a long time, with the feeling of epiphany at the end, it had me sob from the very first lines. i’m willing to check out the other works of the author after my 3rd term in university finishes, in other words; when reading them is no longer my academic responsibility. not that i don’t enjoy academic readings, i do, but reading for your own enjoyment is something else and the author made me want to read them for my own enjoyment ~~
• 
  Himali Kothari

  Some of the best stories are about ordinary events in the life of ordinary people. A blip in the commonplace which could have gone unnoticed bit doesn't.
  A young boy attempts a swimming feat on his summer holiday. Tension surfaces between a couple as they share a bottle of wine. Three contractors ogle at a woman sunbathing on the roof...Doris Lessing brings out the vagaries of human behaviour in her short stories.
• 
  Oziel Bispo

  Atravessar um túnel debaixo d'agua que só garotos maiores que ele ou adultos conseguem, torna se uma obsessão para um garoto de 11 anos. .mas para ele essa travessia vai significar muita coisa; a independência em relação à sua mãe e a sua entrada no mundo dos adultos.
• 
  Victoria Osborne

  Easy, engaging read that leaves you thinking.
  
  A great short story, vivid description and sympathetic characterisation enhance the simple but powerful plot. Themes of loneliness, the power of love, adolescence and adventure underpin this great little story!
• 
  Billy B

  Coming of age symbolism at its absolute finest. A must read for teens.
• 
  Mare

  This short story provides in a descriptive manner the story of a boy who wants to accomplish a feat that he has seen older boys do.
• 
  Jose

  very good book
  
• 
  Jennifer Churchill

  Very good to demonstrate the use of descriptive language for students.
• 
  Dana Qasas

  It's a battle of willings.
• 
  Anette

  --> 3.5 stars <--
• 
  bre

  lots of symbolism
• 
  Kole

  Morale of the story: struggle and risk your life, you might achieve something dumb and trivial (or you might die).