Through the Tunnel In Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing, an eleven-year-old English boy is on vacation at an exotic beach. Getting bored with the little kid's beach, he goes to swim at a deserted, more rocky shore. He spots some older, more mature, and more developed native boys diving into the ocean and he joins them in an effort to fit in. However, the older boys ignore him and eventually abandon him. He discovers after diving into the sea, they swim through a tunnel in the rocks and eventually emerge on the other side. As the determined boy practices the skills needed to swim through the tunnel, he makes the journey from childhood to manhood. This story uses the tunnel to