57 pages • 1 hour read
Gary PaulsenA 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.
At the last checkpoint, Paulsen sees the lights of Nome 20 miles away. Cookie sees the lights, too, and picks up the pace. A siren sounds when the team crosses the finish line.
Reporters and the mayor of Nome greet Paulsen. At the end of the 17-day, 14-hour trip, he describes himself as a physical wreck with ripped clothing, “hips and back wrecked from the jolting of the runners […] frostbitten cheekbones, two of my toes black […]” (251). However, he has no regrets and expresses his desire for a rematch: “I’m going to come back and win this son of a bitch” (251).
The final chapter takes place while Paulsen is training for his third Iditarod. Paulsen finds out he has coronary heart disease. The doctor tells him he cannot run any more Iditarods. Paulsen reluctantly decides to give his dogs to a musher friend. He keeps only Cookie.
Paulsen thinks he has made the right decision because it will allow the dogs to continue to run. However, he laments facing the future without the dogs: “My dogs. God. How can it be to live without the dogs?” (256).
The last two chapters of the book make it clear that the end of the race is not the end of dog-sled running for Paulsen. The lack of confidence he exhibited in the early chapters has disappeared, and he emerges with a persistent, no-quit spirit. Paulsen’s story seems to send the message that a cross-species relationship between a person and members of the animal world can be mutually beneficial if the human respects the animals as he or she would revere human companions.
At the end of the book, it is clear the dogs have become part of the family, giving birth to pups, making Paulsen a grandfather of sorts. When he is diagnosed with a heart problem, he cannot bear to part with Cookie, who has evolved into a beloved pet. However, he decides to give the other dogs to a friend. It is a final act of love because he believes the dogs love to run, and if he kept them, they would be missing out on something that brings them joy.
By Gary Paulsen