Jerry has only a mother and not having any masculine influence he feels as if he constantly needs to prove himself. The author along with giving the characters interesting backgrounds, has also used great symbolism in the story. In the story Jerry matures from a child deprived of attention, to a young man in a sense by how he matures mentally.The obstacle by which he uses to overcome this mental barrier, is the tunnel in which the foreign boys had swam through. As Jerry finally managed to make it through the tunnel while nearly dying in the process, he got what he wanted and felt as if there was no more need for this kind of 'fun'.