Faith In Héctor Tobar's Deep Down Dark

In August of 2010 the people of Copiapó, Chile was struck hard by the collapse of the San Jose mine. In the book Deep Down Dark by Héctor Tobar detailed the lives and experience of the thirty-three miners who were trapped down beneath thousands of feet of rocks for a grueling sixty-nine days. With the whole world watching above ground it becomes an very anxious waiting game. As everyone above watching, the men below go through daunting tasks and form a brotherhood that keeps faith alive. In Deep Down Dark by Héctor Tobar, one will see how big of a role faith played for not only the miners but, the people above watching. Once faith is gone all things that surround you will all start crumbling down.

Having absolute no control in situation involving a loved one is a very tough pill to swallow. Tobar writes, "Mario was forced to endure the sight of his baby boy in a box, with his impossibly tiny limbs and closed eyes, being fed by tubes, seemingly fighting for his life with clenched fists”(Tobar 113). In other words Mario was had no choice but to see his newborn son fight through his conditions. The significance this quote has is very

Tobar states, “Let’s all put our trust in the skinny guy,” Hurtado says, meaning, of course, the skinny guy on the cross. As they bow their heads one member of the drilling team says: “Hey, boss, let’s hold hands as we pray“ (222). What Tobar means is that praying and having faith in God is all the 8 drillers can do to get them through the tall task at hand. The quote above not only portrays having faith, but also leadership. At that moment in time all the geologist where saying “This could all give way at any moment,” being the true leader Hurtado was he gave his crew an inspirational speech telling them how important this job is at this crucial moment. Having faith and displaying it can a long way in times of