57 pages • 1 hour read
Gary PaulsenWinterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod
Nonfiction | Book | YA | Published in 1994A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Becoming Dog”
Paulsen discovers that sleeping with the dogs is a bonding experience. He even manages to bond with the wild and aggressive Devil, who wags his tail for the first time when Paulsen beds down next to him. However, Devil shows his tolerance of humans has limits when Paulsen tries to pet him and he growls. Still, it’s a breakthrough with the cantankerous canine. Paulsen realizes that this more intimate arrangement will allow him to learn much from the dogs that will help him in the race.
The dogs start to treat Paulsen as part of the team. For example, when he urinates in the woods, the dogs come over and “cover” it with their own urine. Paulsen starts covering the dogs’ drizzles as well. Paulsen says, “I had to in some way become a dog” (91).
Chapter 5 Summary: “First Snow”
The first snow arrives in northern Minnesota in early fall and lures Paulsen to try out his newly trained team with a sled. The dogs are raring to run, going “absolutely insane” when they see Paulsen carrying their harnesses. He decides to run the whole team, not realizing how much more powerful they have become as a result of the summer training.
The dogs dash wildly through the snow as Paulsen bounces off trees, unable to control the team. On a hill, Devil goes down, and Paulsen fears he will be crushed under the sled, but then something happens that stuns Paulsen: Murphy, one of the other dogs, saves Devil’s life by grabbing Devil’s harness and pulling him to his feet.
During the perilous ride, Paulsen suffers bruised ribs and abrasions on his face. He is saved from further injury when a deer crosses their path, distracting the dogs, and eventually causing the sled to stop.
This chapter also includes several color photos of Paulsen and the team.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Alaska”
Paulsen and Ruth embark on the long road trip to Alaska in a donated 1960 Chevy truck with an old dog trailer connected to it. The arduous journey takes eight days and requires traversing the Yukon in the winter when the temperature is 60 degrees below zero. They endure flat tires and treacherous terrain—“driving in low gear at two miles an hour to the top of an ice mountain, then stopping to remove the chains for the long run down, then stopping to put the chains on again” (109).
Paulsen learns more about the race from talking to locals involved in it, and he fears he lacks the knowledge and skills for the 1,180-mile trek. An aggressive dog from another Iditarod team starts a fight with Paulsen’s dogs. Paulsen asks the owner why he keeps such a mean dog. The owner responds that she’s his best dog because she maintains a “tight tug” throughout a run. From this incident, Paulsen learns that a top dog is one that never slacks off during a run, even if it is nasty and violent toward other dogs.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Pre-Race”
Paulsen brings his team to downtown Anchorage, where 1,200 to 1,400 dogs are waiting for the start of the race. He attends the pre-race musher meetings and learns the rules as well as some of the harrowing challenges that the rugged terrain poses. For instance, a veteran musher describes the Burn, a 100-mile stretch of burned-out brush where there is no snow because the wind blows constantly, as “maybe the third hardest” part of the race (130). He warns Paulsen not to cross it at night. Then there are the suckholes, “frozen whirlpools” that can swallow an entire team and send it to the bottom of a river.
Paulsen and Ruth attend the mandatory pre-race banquet. Mushers thank their sponsors and party until the wee hours of the morning.
Chapters 4-7 Analysis
In the last four chapters before the race, Paulsen gets a clear picture of the perseverance and dedication that the race requires. He learns more about the dogs and the Iditarod trail. He realizes that to be successful, he must start regarding the dogs as the most important participants in the venture. He discovers the key to the race is nurturing the dogs, and he thinks he has fallen short in that area, despite bonding with them by living in their kennel: “Every aspect of every dog needs to be considered. Feet, teeth, conditioning, toenails, coat, wounds” (111).
Paulsen also has a full reckoning regarding the personal sacrifice that the race requires. In the long, grueling drive to Alaska, he is sleep deprived and “shredding money.” He notes, “Before getting to Alaska, in the town of Fort Nelson, British Columbia, it was evident I was going to be broke when we got there and that we would not be able to run the race” (109). However, he persists, reluctantly accepting another donation from the man who donated the truck to him.
What he learns about the Iditarod trail from the local Alaskans makes him realize that more sacrifices and rugged perseverance are in store. After hearing stories about the race and the terrain, he concludes that “to say generally what the race is like, there are no exact words. Outrageous, perhaps. Staggering. Insane. Altering” (113).
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