Hans Brinker and the Prodigal Son Similarities

          I have just finished a book called “Hans Brinker” or “The Silver Skates”. In the book, there is a son (Laurens) who ran away from home thinking that his father would abandon him because he accidentally poisoned someone. I think this scenario is like the parable in the Bible, the prodigal son. There are many parts in both stories that are similar, so I will give a quick summary of both stories comparing each other.

          They both leave for two different reasons. The prodigal son leaves to squander all the money his father gave to him. Laurens left because he found out that he accidentally poisoned and murdered someone, so he ran away, for he thought that his father, Dr. Boekman, wouldn’t accept him.

           Like I just said, the prodigal son left and squandered all his money. Then a famine came over the land, and he almost starved to death because no one would give him any food. Laurens changed his name to Thomas Higgs and started a company selling leather cases. The parodical son of course wasn’t happy, for he got a job taking care of pigs. He longed to just eat the pig’s food, but they wouldn’t let him. Thomas Higgs (Laurens) missed his father, so he was probably unhappy.

            The prodigal son returned home in hope that he could become a servant of his father, so that he could eat. He said that he was no longer to be able to be called a son, and that he had sinned against his father. Laurens came home because one, he wanted to, and two, Hans Brinker, the main character of the book came and told him that his father missed him too and he wanted him to come back.

           When the prodigal son returned home, his father saw him coming in the distance and ran to him and hugged. He told the servants to bring the finest robe in the house, and to put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Kill the calf we have been fattening; we must have a feast, for my son was dead and is alive again. While this was happening, the son tried to tell the father to make him a servant, but his father would not. In the book, it doesn’t really explain how the father greeted Laurens when he arrived, but it did show how happy Dr. Boekman was after he had come back. The father had not been happy for at least ten years after his son left.

           Both stories are exciting, and they teach a good lesson. The lesson is that God will always welcome you with a happy heart no matter what you have done. I can not wait to see what book I will be reading next, and, if any way, it relates to the Bible.