Many believe that setting a clear goal is the key to success. But the fact is, goals can help you; they don’t even belong to you. Your characteristics and qualities are the genuine forces that can really make you successful. In the story, “Through the Tunnel”, it is Jerry’s own persistence and dignity that help him reach his goal. His persistence made him keep going while his own dignity helped him to make up his mind. If it weren’t for his persistence and dignity, he would not have reached his goal.
First, one of the qualities that helps Jerry achieve his goal is his persistence. Persistence helped Jerry to carry on throughout the story whenever his was weak or couldn’t withstand the stress. When his nose bled badly, and felt weak and dizzy because of his over practice, he just kept going regardless of his physical problems. It’s his act of denying stopping and refusing to be defeated by the setbacks he met that made him continue. Moreover, at the end of his vacation, he indeed thought of giving up and coming back to accomplish his goal next year. But again, his determination made him hold his last chance; he knew he would have to do it even if it killed him. If it weren’t for his persistence, he would not have conquered all the obstacles and challenges he met.
Second, another quality that helps Jerry reach his goal is his own dignity. If it weren’t for his dignity, he would not have forced himself to swim through the tunnel, nor would he have even set his goal. In the story, Jerry was truly motivated by his dignity. When he was ashamed of being scorned by the big boys because his fear of diving through the tunnel, it was his dignity that made him want to prove that he wasn’t a child anymore. Furthermore, he believed that staying with her mother at the beach was too childish for him. His self-respect also made him think that he should not belong to the safe beach. Where he really belonged to was the bay, and this made him feel that swimming