Winterdance is clearly a man-against-nature story, but Paulsen approaches the classic theme from a different perspective. Nature inspires and comforts Paulsen as much as it challenges and threatens him. In fact, in the first chapter, he explains how his love of nature changes his motivation for running the dogs from practical purposes, such as gathering firewood, to the sheer joy of it: “But the beauty of the woods, the incredible joy of it is too alluring to be ignored, and I could not stand to be away from it—indeed, still can’t—and so I ran dogs simply to run dogs; to be in and part of the forest, the woods” (25).

Paulsen frequently refers to the beauty of sunrises, such as in this passage when the team is crossing the harsh interior of Alaska: “The sun rose to our right rear and splashed a new gold light across the barren ground and made it glow. The dogs seemed to like the light and picked up the speed a bit” (204). In fact, Paulsen contrasts light and dark images throughout the story, with light representing calm and a reprieve from nature’s dangers and dark signaling the renewed perils of the trail.