Through the Tunnel

“Through the Tunnel” is a coming-of-age story that follows the 11-year-old Jerry and his mother as they vacation on a beach in an unspecified foreign country. While it could be interpreted as a man-versus-nature story (Jerry struggles against the natural world), the real heart of the plot is Jerry’s struggle with both his childlike impulses and his desires to become a man. A man-versus-self lens is therefore more apt. The story’s themes of growing up and gaining independence can be seen through at least three critical aspects of the text: the inner thoughts of Jerry and his mother, the contrast between the two beaches, and the mother’s changing arm.

The narrative point of view shows readers the inner thoughts of both Jerry and his mother, revealing one of the story’s key tensions. Early in the narrative, Jerry’s mother senses that he longs for adventure away from her: “She frowned, conscientiously worrying over what amusements he might secretly be longing for, which she had been too busy or too careless to imagine” (Paragraph 1). Sure enough, while Jerry does not stray from his mother on the first day, he longs to visit the rocky bay: “And yet, as he ran, he looked over his shoulder at the wild bay; and all morning, as he played on the safe beach, he was thinking of it” (Paragraph 1). The narrative’s view into the characters’ inner lives sets the stage for the central conflict in the story: Jerry wants to be more independent, but he is also cautious and hesitant to completely abandon his childhood and his mother. When Jerry finally does go to the other beach, he almost turns around and runs after his mother, who worries about him but reassures herself that he’ll be safe. She recognizes that Jerry is ready for a challenge and allows him to go explore and grow without her.

Jerry’s own thoughts reveal his struggle to feel like an adult. He repeatedly visits the tunnel and attempts to get through it, but he is frightened all the same. At one point he thinks, “On the day before they left, he would do it. He would do it if it killed him, he said defiantly to himself” (Paragraph 33). Though this thought conveys boldness, within moments he also “was frightened. Supposing he turned dizzy in the tunnel? Supposing he died there, trapped? Supposing—his head went around, in the hot sun, and he almost gave up” (Paragraph 33). More than any other conflict he faces, Jerry’s conflict with himself characterizes his journey.

The setting, too, reveals the story’s central conflict. There are two primary settings: the sandy beach the mother visits and the rocky bay that Jerry explores. These two beaches symbolize two aspects of Jerry. First, he is still a child, which is represented by the safe, sandy beach where he can find his mother. When his mother forces him to stay with her one day after she witnesses his nosebleeds, “he stayed with her on that other beach, which now seemed a place for small children, a place where his mother might lie safe in the sun. It was not his beach” (Paragraph 30). Jerry sees this beach as one for a boy—not a man, which is how he longs to see himself. This desire for maturity, and the risk involved in attaining it, are represented by the rocky, dangerous beach. There, alone and away from the safety of his mother, the rocks seem like “monsters” with “fangs.” The rocky beach is where the local boys hang out. To Jerry, these boys are men. Jerry dreams about belonging on this beach: “All night the boy dreamed of the water­filled cave in the rock, and as soon as breakfast was over he went to the bay” (Paragraph 29). He spends as much time as possible exploring this dangerous new environment, and this beach is where Jerry experiences nosebleeds, pounding heartbeats, and fear.

A subtle but important symbol is the mother’s arm, which represents both her maternal protection and Jerry’s desire for protection—as well as his eventual independence. The arm is also one of the narrative’s only physical descriptions of the mother. When she is first introduced, her arm is “swinging loose [… and] very white in the sun. The boy watched that white, naked arm” (Paragraph 1). Here, the mother’s arm is pale and offers protection and comfort. Her arm can keep him safe from the dangers of the world. Later, the mother’s arm begins changing right as Jerry begins to change. The day he ventures to the rocky beach alone, her arm is “now slightly reddened from yesterday’s sun, swinging” (Paragraph 4), transforming from the vacation in the same way that Jerry is. After his first day alone on the beach, he reunites with his mother and sees her arm again: “Soon she walked slowly up the path, swinging her striped bag, the flushed, naked arm dangling beside her” (Paragraph 19). The repetition of this physical detail indicates its importance. As Jerry was struggling and growing at the rocky beach, his mother’s arm was turning darker from the sun. Jerry gains independence from his mother’s protective grasp, and his mother changes from that as well.

While the natural world plays an important role in this story, the conflict between Jerry’s boyish side and his manly side dominates the text. Through the inner dialogue of Jerry and his mother, the differences between the beaches, and the mother’s changing arm, the narrative shows the overarching theme of growing up and coming-of-age.