Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
falling action
Resolution
"Through the Tunnel" Plot Diagram
Climax
- On the verge of blacking out and having been without breath for quite a while (far past the two minutes he had trained himself to go without), Jerry finally makes it out of the tunnel, exhausted and with blood filling up his goggles.
Rising Action
- Jerry says he will try to pass through the tunnel before he leaves the beach. He continues to fear whether or not he will do it until he finally decides to try.
- Jerry begins his journey into the tunnel, counting in his head and persevering though dizziness and the pain of the sharp rocks.
Falling Action
- As Jerry is cleaning his face off with ocean water, he sees the local boys but decides he wants to do nothing with them; he just wants to sleep.
- Jerry goes back to villa to sleep and wakes up to the sound of his mother. He quickly cleans himself up in the bathroom.
Rising Action
- Jerry is determined to pass through the tunnel, so he demands that his mother get him swimming goggles.
- Immediately, he explores the bay underwater and finds the hole.
- Jerry realizes that he will need to learn to control his breath, so for days, he practices until his nose bleeds.
- Eventually, he can hold his breath for 2 minutes.
Rising Action
Resolution
- While swimming in his beach, Jerry notices a bunch of teenage boys by the bay
- They smile and wave a him which prompts him to swim over there and leave his peaceful beach.
- They all start diving into the ocean and Jerry feels accepted and proud until they start to swim through an underwater tunnel.
- Jerry is unable to successfully get through, so the other boys leave him behind which causes him to cry.
- Jerry's mother asks him about his morning and notices his paled state, but he brushes it off.
- Jerry tells her that he can hold his breath for over two minutes, and she tells him not to overdo it.
- He agrees and no longer finds the wild bay important.
Exposition:
- An 11 year old English boy named Jerry is on vacation with his mother.
- They are in a foreign country at a peaceful beach that sits beside a wild bay; it is one that they go to often, but Jerry has never been to the chaotic bay.
- Jerry is an only child and his mother is a widow who worries about the amount of freedom she should allow him.