Maturity

“The search after the great man is the dream of the youth, and the most serious occupation of man”

     Steps towards maturity are always the hardest; moreover, in the short story Through The Tunnel, by Doris Lessing, a young boy named Jerry prepares himself to make a physical journey through an underwater tunnel, and in doing this, he unknowingly begins to prepare his own journey into young adulthood. After seeing older boys “they were big boys- men, to Jerry” pass through an under water tunnel in the “wild and rocky bay,” Jerry begins to want to impress the older local boys. Jerry becomes determined to improve his own endurance and accomplish this grueling task, which he feels will enable to become acceptable among the older boys. Towards the end of the story when Jerry ultimately makes the journey through the tunnel, his nose is gushing after being  “drifted to the surface,” and his vision is clouded. Unbeknownst to him, each of theses minor physical marks is a sign of his formidable journey from innocence into young adulthood.

“He could see nothing but a red-veined, clotted dark. His eyes must have burst, he thought; they were full of blood. He tore off his goggles and a gout of blood went into the sea. His nose was bleeding, and the blood had filled the goggles.”

Jerry emerges from the tunnel a newly self-actualized person with a newfound assurance in his capabilities and sense of self.  Jerry’s swim through the narrow tunnel tested and proved to him that he was no longer a child, that he had grown with confidence into a young man.  On his path home, Jerry “could see the local boys diving and playing half a mile away. Jerry did not want them.” After accomplishing the journey through the tunnel all on his own, he was no longer compelled to impress the older boys. Jerry’s struggle to swim through the tunnel set him on the path of gaining more strength and confidence in himself in his journey to become a young man. His steps toward maturity, shown through these inner and outer journeys, were strenuous but rewarding. He gained what he was searching for and needed, and took the first mature steps as the young man he will become