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The shop is going to replace the axles without charge. It turns out that the parts that broke were the exact ones that were replaced. My fear is that the parts are no good or the mechanic is not familiar enough to do the work properly. Is there anywhere I can find a diagram of the axle assembly?

Well, thanks for all the advice. Once my temper cooled i asked him to tell me exactly what he heard the car doing and what it was doing prior to becoming immobilized. He said the front right side got stuck in a snowbank (more likely jammed up on a hidden curb) and he was trying to dislodge the car and as he ran it up into second gear, with the car still not moving, he heard a grunching sound. He managed to push the car out then and the car pulled away, then he heard a second grunching grinding sound and that was it. The car won't move at all. I have really really abused cars over the years, but i have never heard of such a thing. I had a 78 ford fiesta that took a heck of a lot more abuse than my son could dish out. Believe me, he is quite mellow compared to how I was at his age. My personal car now is a 70 volvo sedan, but for the past 9 years that little impreza was mine. I managed 149,000 on the original clutch and 90k on brake pads.

My 16 year old took our 96 impreza to to library to study. About an hour later he called to say the car was stuck. I assumed he was screwing around in the heavy snow and hung the car up above the axles. I picked up a army shovel and drove out to discover the car sitting running on completely dry pavement. When i hopped in to move the car the engine revved, but the car didn't move. I opened the hood to see if the clutch cable ahd snapped, but my son said to look under the car. Under the car, the passenger side front half shaft was laying on the ground. the wheel side was jammed up and the engine side was resting on the ground. A large piece of a snap ring, a ripped boot, 4 large ball bearings, and a ring were laying on the ground under the car. I beleive he was sliding out of control and hit something, but he claims not to have done so. Still, i find it hard to believe that the pieces all just fell out because he was slipping on the snow. I have been wrenching on volvos for 30 years, but never have had to touch this subaru. What is is the likely cause? The axles, and clutch were replaced last week by a local mechanic.