In this simile, Doris Lessing compares the desperate smile on Jerry's face to a scar, something that has an extremely negative connotation. He had been swimming with a group of older boys with whom he very much wanted to fit in, and when they begin to swim through a tunnel in the rock -- something he is physically unable to do -- he panics and clowns around, trying to refocus their attention on him. When the boys frown at Jerry, judging him for acting like such a child, he smiles this pleading smile that isn't indicative of his joy or happiness as smiles often are; this smile is a nervous smile that implies his painful and burning desire to be accepted when he knows that he is not. It's a remnant of pain, just like a scar would be. Thus, the comparison shows us just how badly Jerry feels in this moment.
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