The “phenomenon” of growing up doesn’t have to happen when you’re 13. You don’t have to be eighteen and be fully-grown up. It occurs when a person is ready to mature mentally. What does growing up mean? It’s not your bones growing, it’s your mind changing. There are so many stages that everyone must go through to become an “adult”. Few people never complete those steps, “I may be an adult, …showed first 75 words of 921 total…

…showed last 75 words of 921 total…It (is) no longer of the least importance to go to the bay.” Let it be finding the tunnel, which connects to discovering the presence of adulthood, adjusting your perception, or living through the three components of growing up. Jerry faced all of these three parts of growing up in the story and this makes it crystal clear that Dorris Lessing uses the tunnel to symbolize the passage to adulthood, better known as growing up.