Endurance and survival are the primary themes of Murphy's history. Called "The Great White Hurricane," the blizzard is the main character. The snowstorm is personified as being an overwhelming monster that swoops in two fronts from the west and south and menaces the area nonstop for three days. The two storm systems are characterized as menacing because one stalls over New York while the other reverses and returns to hit the city again. Pummeling New England with gales that witnesses compared to a hurricane, the blizzard's winds forced the heavy snow accumulation into deep drifts. With the exception of special newspaper editions, communications are temporarily stopped.

The human characters represent both survivors and victims. These people, both children and adults, are members of different social classes, emphasizing that the blizzard did not discriminate based on age or income. Both urban and rural people are...