“Through the Tunnel,” and “Brothers are the Same.
“The Journey,” a poem by Mary Oliver, shows many similarities to the themes and situations in the short stories “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, and Beryl Markham’s “Brothers are the Same.” In “The Journey”, Oliver states that “you finally knew what you had to do and began, though the voices kept shouting their bad advice” (1-5). This quote demonstrates that in order to reach a goal, one must push past negative voices in life. This is the same tug that Jerry feels in “Through the Tunnel”. When he asks his mom if he can leave the safe beach to swim in the “wild rocky bay”, she gives him permission. However, as she walked away, he