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Buried in the Snow
Author: Franz Hoffman
Written in: 1879
Pages: 128
Buried in the Snow is part of the Fireside Collection
A boy and his grandfather come face to face with their own mortality within a tomb of snow. Reliance upon God is their only option as escape is impossible. But the story does not hinge upon the question of their rescue; what captivates is the response that each has to the circumstances that God has placed them in. When death is a constant companion, how does one view life? The ebb and flow of emotions are captivating as the boy and his grandfather fight off predators and the terror produced by the uncertainties of their snowy grave. I know of no other book that so delicately prepares children to face the death of a loved one than Buried in the Snow.
When a story is as emotional as Buried in the Snow, it is very difficult to read it aloud. On the day we finished the book, I had to pause at least three times to catch my breath.
- Jenny
Buried In the Snow vs. Cast Away
After I read Buried In the Snow, which I greatly enjoyed, I watched the movie Cast Away starring Tom Hanks.
It is a very powerful contrast. Both stories are about individual survival under desperate circumstances but
the world view between them is diametrically opposed. In Buried In the Snow, Jacques becomes completely dependent on Jesus.
He learns from his trials and is made stronger by the experience. Through his grandfather's instruction and through his faith, he has the
ability to deal with his grandfather's death and burial, receiving solace in the fact that his grandfather goes knowingly
and willingly to a better place. Contrast this to the "god-less" movie Cast Away in which Tom Hanks repeatedly demonstrates
the humanist's view that self is all there is - we only have our personal faculties on which to survive. Hanks never even alludes to a
"highter power." When the body of a dead pilot washes up on shore, he buries the body, then steps back and you assume he is about
to give some type of blessing, but no, he simply brushes the sand from his hands and says "Well, that's that." Wow! Life is tough
and then you die - that's that - a worldview absent of God. I had never noticed how intentionally "absent of God" this movie was
until I read Buried In the Snow. Insight is the power of well written Christian literature, always confirming that Jesus Christ is
the difference between light and dark, hope and despair, truth and falsehood, life and death - just as he told us.
Another note about this contrast is that Hanks has to talk to a volleyball to keep his sanity.
Jacque and his grandfather talk to a Saviour.
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