Understanding the story

1. What is the conflict which Jerry faces at the beginning of the story? What does it tell you about his character and development?

2. Why is Jerry attracted to the group of local boys?

3. Describe the difference between Jerry and the local swimmers.

4. What effect does the acceptance of the older boys have on Jerry and why is it important to him?

5. Why do the boys reject Jerry later? What effect does this rejection have on him and what is his first reaction? Why doesn't this reaction succeed?

6. Why does Jerry need a pair of goggles? What do we team about his character by the way he asks his mother to buy him a pair?

7. What problems must Jerry overcome before he can find the entrance to the tunnel and explore it? How does he overcome them?

8. What problems face him when he tries to enter the tunnel?

9. What must Jerry do before he can attempt to swim through the tunnel? How does he do it?

10. Is there a contrast between the way he does his training for the attempt and his character as revealed so far? If so, what is it?

11. In the middle of the story Jerry's attitude towards his mother's beach and possibly towards his mother – changes. Pick out the sentences that show this change. In what way do they reflect the change in Jerry's character?

12. What are Jerry's feelings just before he tries to swim through the tunnel? Why is his decision to make the attempt such a sudden one?

13. Why does the author deliberately bring in the false hope of sunlight shining through a crack in the rock?

14. Does Jerry panic at this stage? What would have happened if he had?

15. Why doesn't Jerry seem interested in the local boys at the end of the story? What would he have done a few days before?

16. How would you describe the change that has taken place in his character?

17. Why doesn't Jerry tell his mother about his swim through the tunnel?

18. What do the words "battle of wills" tell you about the relationship between Jerry and his mother.

Style and language

1. Why do you think the author makes so little use of dialogue in this story? Study the dialogues (there are only seven short sections) and say how the author uses them to reflect the relationship between Jerry and his mother.

2. What do you understand by the term "internal monologue"? Find examples for it in the story. What is the usual purpose of this stylistic element?

3. Pick out a short descriptive passage from the story that you feel has been Particularly well written. Say what you like about the style or vocabulary used.

Further discussion

1. To which social class are Jerry and his mother likely to belong? Is this important for our understanding of the story?

2. Discuss the relationship between Jerry and his mother at the beginning of the story? Would you say it is close? What external circumstances may have led to it?

3. How has their relationship changed by the end of the story? What changes do you notice in the attitude of the mother towards her son?

4. This story was written in 1957. Would a present-day mother treat her son in the same way – or a present-day 11-year-old his mother?

5. Have you ever done anything similar to Jerry's feat? What was it, and what were your reasons?

6. Can you imagine this story happening with the roles reversed: a widow taking his 11-year-old daughter to the South of France? Discuss.

7. Give a full analysis of the text.