The older boys that Jerry see at the wild beach play an
important role in terms of firstly making Jerry aware that he is still a child and
secondly showing him what he needs to do in order to grow up and become a
man.
If we look at the story, when Jerry first goes to the
wild beach, he greets the boys with "desperate, nervous supplication," wanting to fit
in. Jerry views them as being "men," which furhter underscores the difference between
himself and them. When, however, they dive through the tunnel and Jerry is unable to
follow them, and Jerry responds by being silly and trying to make them laugh, note how
they respond:
They looked down gravely, frowning. He knew the
frown. At moments of failure, when he clowned to claim his mother's attention, it was
with just this grave, embarrassed inspection that she rewarded
him.
The boys thus highlight
to Jerry how young he still is and reinforce his childlike state. They also, through the
tunnel that they dive through, present him with the way of becoming "men" like they are
and the means of how he can achieve his rite of passage and grow
up.
No comments:
Post a Comment