Tom Whitecloud, the author of the short story Blue Winds Dancing, utilizes a fairly common type of structure to portray the journey of a young Indian man. Whitecloud set the events up in chronological order, although the action is stopped quite frequently to allow the thoughts of the main character to be heard. The entire narrative takes place in the time span of just a couple of days. During these few days, the story is …showed first 75 words of 810 total…

…showed last 75 words of 810 total…from the beginning where he is part of the white man’s world. Next, he is in a state of limbo on the journey home. Finally he arrives at the reservation and remembers why he is an Indian. Whitecloud used a pretty standard template to write his story, not deviating from the most used form. All of the events and false leads in Blue Winds Dancing are put together to create a very effective structure.