Theme Of Winterdance By Gary Paulsen

Have you ever wanted to do something adventurous or very rash? Gary Paulsen did, when he ran the Iditarod, then wrote about it in the thrilling personal narrative, Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod. The story begins when Paulsen decides to run the Iditarod, and forms a sled dog team. After many challenges and obstacles before and during the race, Paulsen finishes his first Iditarod. Throughout the narrative, Paulsen uses symbolism, motif and theme to enhance the reader's comprehension and entertainment while reading Winterdance.
Paulsen uses symbols to illustrate this thought process leading up to, and during his first Iditarod. A symbol is when something, usually an object stands for something else that has a deeper meaning. For example, while Paulsen is running his dogs, he encounters a beaver on a frozen

lake in the winter. “The beaver was there sitting up on his hind legs his 2 inch teeth barred,” (p. 30). In this quote, Paulsen uses the beaver to symbolize the unknown, danger and wrong first impressions. In other words, the author, is afraid that some of his dogs will get killed if the beaver attacks. The beaver is a symbol of the unknown, because Paulsen did not know what the beaver would to when the dogs reached it.

Motif is used by Paulsen is Winterdance to add to the complexity of the story.

Motif is an image, object, action or feeling that has a significance in the story and contributes to the theme. Unlike the theme a motif is not a sentence, but a word or short phrase. For example, in Winterdance, one of the main motifs is losing hope it is shown using his dogs. ¨I had lost my dog team.¨ (p. 68) He starts to loose hope when he gets Devil, Orville, and Murphy, again when he loses control of the bike and the dogs, and finally when he cannot get out of Anchorage.
Another way Paulsen adds depth to the story, is with theme. Theme is the message of the story. There are two types of themes, indirect and direct. A direct theme is when the theme is stated directly in the story. An indirect theme cannot be discerned until the end of the text. The theme of Winterdance is, “Never give up.” “She-- They would run. It was their race as much as mine, more so,” (p. 187). There are many times before and throughout the Iditarod that Gary Paulsen could have given up and “been scratched” from the race, but he persevered for the dogs and finished the

Iditarod.
Sometimes being rash benefits you, sometimes it does not. The key is to live life in the middle grounds. Not to rash, not to safe. Paulsen demonstrates this in Winterdance through theme, motif and with symbols. After reading this book I now have a greater interest in the Iditarod, both in following it, and maybe someday running it.