Doris Lessing’s short story “Through The Tunnel” was first published in 1955 in The New Yorker. Widely considered a seminal postwar writer, the British Zimbabwean author explored a wide range of topics but is best known for her interest in the political issues of the 20th century, from race to gender to political systems. However, “Through the Tunnel” concerns individual psychology, and the coming-of-age story follows an English boy and his mother as they vacation on a beach.

This study guide refers to The New Yorker edition of the story, which is also freely available online via The Short Story Project on behalf of the Estate of Doris Lessing.

The story begins with 11-year-old Jerry and his widowed mother on vacation, making their way to the beach in an unnamed, foreign country. On their walk, Jerry looks down a fork in their path and glimpses a “wild,” rocky shore quite unlike the tame beach to which they’re headed. Though intrigued by the exotic sight, he follows his mother toward their destination of the safe, familiar beach: “His mother walked on in front of him, carrying a brought striped bag in one hand. Her other arm, swinging loose, was very white in the sun” (Paragraph 1). Each of them is trying to get along with the other; the mother is concerned that Jerry doesn’t want to go to the beach with her, but Jerry doesn’t want to disappoint his mother. He stays with his mother the first day but does not let the memory of the rocky bay leave him.

On the second day of their trip, they again head toward the shore, and Jerry’s mother asks him if he’s bored of their usual beach: “‘Oh, no!’ [Jerry] said quickly, smiling at her out of that unfailing impulse of contrition—a sort of chivalry” (Paragraph 3). He doesn’t want his mother to be lonely. Still, Jerry can’t help but mention he is interested in looking at the rocks on the unfamiliar bay. The mother, who does not want Jerry to feel smothered or babied, encourages him to go explore while she sits at their usual spot. As Jerry reaches the bay, he plunges into the water, swimming out farther and farther. From his vantage point so far out in the ocean, he can see both the small rocky bay and the large beach where his mother sits with her yellow umbrella. He is quietly relieved that he can see her but has a sudden sense of loneliness as he spots her all alone.

As he swims back toward the bay shore, he notices a group of local boys running naked on the rocks and swims towards them. The boys speak a language Jerry doesn’t understand, but he has an intense desire to be one with them and to be welcomed. When one of the boys acknowledges him, Jerry swims closer. Once the locals realize he is a foreigner, they mostly ignore him, but Jerry is happy to spend time with them anyway.

The boys begin cliff diving, and Jerry joins them. Jerry thinks of these boys as men. The biggest one dives, disappearing under the water for what feels to Jerry like a long time, only to reappear on the other side of a big rock separating their diving spot from the rest of the bay. The other boys also dive into the water, disappearing for at least two minutes before resurfacing on the other side of the rock to join the first boy. Jerry, now separated from the other boys, cannot figure out how they found a way through the rock barrier and gets frustrated. He realizes they must have swum through some passageway, but he can’t see it; the saltwater stings his eyes as he searches. In his frustration, he feels embarrassed and ashamed that local boys seamlessly dove into the water and appeared on the other side, leaving him behind and incapable of following. He climbs back onto the diving rock. The boys leave, and Jerry cries alone on the rocks.

He returns to the villa where he and his mother have been staying, and he waits for her. Soon enough, “she walked slowly up the path, swinging her striped bag, the flushed, naked arm dangling beside her” (Paragraph 19). Immediately, he insists that she buy swimming goggles for him. Once she buys them for him, he takes off to the rocky bay again. He swims down by the rock barrier over and over, trying to find the hidden underwater passage. At first, he sees only fish and the blank surface of the rock. Finally, when he uses a heavy stone to weigh himself down to the ocean floor to get a better look, he sees a small gap in the rock and attempts to push his way through it. However, he is startled by something touching him that he imagines being an octopus but is only a piece of seaweed, and returns to the surface. Then he sets off on a mission to train himself to swim to the other side.

He begins by practicing his breathing. He holds himself under the water and counts how long he can hold his breath. He pushes himself until the sun sets, then heads home for the day. That night, he dreams about the rock and heading back to the bay. As a result of his breathing exercises, his nose bleeds that night, and he feels dizzy and weak. His mother doesn’t know what he’s been up to, but she cautions him not to overdo it.

He continues to train his breathing, but when his nose keeps bleeding, his mother insists on him following her to the safe beach the next day. Jerry feels the day is wasted as he spends it playing somewhere he considers suitable for babies. The next day, he heads to the rocky beach himself without asking permission. His breathing is improving, but he knows he is not ready for the journey quite yet, so he practices and studies the rock until he can hold his breath for two straight minutes. His mother reminds him that they don’t have much time left in their vacation. He vows to do it the day before they leave the town.

His plans are complicated by his recent bout of dizziness and nose bleeding. Terrified that he could die underwater, he considers waiting until next summer to attempt the journey. However, he has a feeling that he must do it now or he never will. He dives one last time and finds the opening. His head pulses as he is pressed against the sharp rock. He finally kicks himself through the tunnel, but the journey is exhausting; he’s only partly conscious after holding his breath for so long, and the surface of the water feels far away. Pushing through his physical discomfort, he finally drifts to the surface. His goggles are filled with blood from his nose, and his heart is pounding, but he has done it.

He finishes the vacation content to just relax with his mother as he has finally conquered this task.