It seems to me that "Through the Tunnel" is a story about
an adolescent's struggle with his own identity (or, we could say, his quest to
establish his own identity) and his desire to be wanted and
accepted by others.
As the story opens, readers learn that
Jerry, who is on vacation with his mother, is eleven years old--a time during which many
boys begin to distance themselves from their parents. On this vacation, Jerry desires
some time away from his mother, and ventures away from the family beach to the "wild
bay." Once there, he encounters a group of older boys, who seem to be natives, and who
don't speak English. Jerry watches them go underwater for an extended period of time
and resurface beyond a large rock wall.
The rest of the
story focuses on Jerry's attempts to swim through the tunnel, and while readers might
think at first that he's doing it to impress the boys, the sense of accomplishment Jerry
feels when he finally performs the task lets us know that Jerry wanted to swim through
the tunnel for himself. At the end of the story, he has
successfully strayed from his mother and has done something both dangerous and
daring--and he has survived.
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