Short Fiction · Chapter
The Inn explained
The Schwarenbach Inn, high in the Alps, closes for winter as the Hauser family descends to Loëche, leaving the old guide Gaspard Hari and young guide Ulrich Kunsi alone with the dog Sam.
What happens
The Schwarenbach Inn, high in the Alps, closes for winter as the Hauser family descends to Loëche, leaving the old guide Gaspard Hari and young guide Ulrich Kunsi alone with the dog Sam. The two men settle into a monotonous routine of chores and games, isolated by snow. One day, Hari goes hunting and fails to return, leaving Ulrich increasingly anxious and alone.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Loneliness
The two guides are trapped by snow for months, cut off from the world; Ulrich's fear and the silence of the mountains emphasize the crushing solitude.
Obsession and Delusion
Ulrich's fixation on Louise and his repeated trips to the pass edge suggest an obsessive longing that distracts him from the present danger.
Characters to notice
- Gaspard Hari
Old guide left to tend the inn for the winter; experienced in solitude, he goes hunting and disappears.
- Ulrich Kunsi
Young guide staying for his first winter; he is preoccupied with Louise Hauser and grows increasingly anxious after Hari's disappearance.
- Jeanne Cordier
Mother of the Hauser family; she gives detailed instructions before departing for Loëche.
- Louise Hauser
Daughter of the Hauser family; she shares a tender moment with Ulrich before leaving, promising not to forget the men above.
Key passages
“The two men and the beast remain till the spring in this prison of snow, with nothing before their eyes save the immense white slope of the Balmhorn; they are surrounded by pale, gleaming peaks, shut in, blockaded, and buried under the snow that rises round them, enveloping, embracing and crushing the little house, heaping itself high upon the roof, reaching to the windows, and walling up the door.”
The two men and the dog are trapped until spring in a snowy prison, with only the white slope of the Balmhorn in view, surrounded by shining peaks and buried under snow that piles up to the roof and blocks the door.
Describes the overwhelming isolation and physical entrapment of the winter stay.
“He felt as though the silence, the cold, the solitude, the winter death of the mountains were flowing into his own body, would stop and freeze his blood, stiffen his limbs, and turn him into a still, frozen creature.”
He felt the silence, cold, and solitude of the mountains seeping into him, threatening to freeze his blood and turn him into a frozen statue.
Captures Ulrich's growing terror and the personification of the environment as a deadly force.