Through the Tunnel

In this essay, I will refer to three short stories.   These stories are: "Through the
Tunnel," "Two Kinds," and "The Censors."   The main characters are: Jerry
of "Through the Tunnel," Jing-Mei of "Two Kinds," and Juan of "The
Censors."   In all three of these stories, the main characters are trying to
achieve something.   Jerry tries to swim through an underwater tunnel.
Jing-Mei wants to rebel against her mother, who wants her to become a child
prodigy.   Juan tries to find a letter he sent to his friend before "the censors"
do.   All of them try to achieve their goals using different methods.   Below you
may read more about each individual character.
Jerry is the main character in "Through the Tunnel."   Jerry and his
mother are on vacation near a beach.   The reader gets the idea that it is
somewhere in France because the "natives" are speaking in French.   While at
the beach, Jerry sees some boys diving into the ocean and coming back up.
At first he's not sure what they are doing, but then learns they are swimming
through an underwater tunnel.   He decides that he, too, would like to swim
through the tunnel.   He starts to practice keeping his breath and swimming.
Eventually, he gets very good at both and decides to try to swim through the
tunnel.   After the second time of trying, he achieves his goal.   he swims
through the tunnel successfully one day before he and his mother go home.
Jerry was very self-disciplined and achieved his goal.   He was the most
successful of the three characters I will mention.   For example, the story says
"...he would do it if it killed him...."   This shows how very dedicated he was
to his goal. He realized the importance of his goal and worked hard to achieve
it.
Jing-Mei is in the story "Two Kinds".   She is a very stubborn girl who
is always trying to rebel against her mother.   Her mother, who formerly lived
in China, has the opinion that a person can do anything they want in America.
Therefore, she tries to... [continues]

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