Blue Winds Dancing

In any story, the repetition of a word, theme, or symbol typically marks that thing as important to the author and reader. It reflects the message of the piece as a whole. In Tom Whitecloud’s Blue Winds Dancing, the word in particular is “home.” It represents more than where he grew up; more than just a birthplace. “Home” means family. It means friends, love, comfort, and protection. “Home is where the heart is” so the saying goes, and for Whitecloud, this couldn’t be any truer. Home is the most beautiful place in the world, and it’s so important to him, he uses the word fifteen times in all.
Home means more than simply being nostalgic when being away; it’s more than getting excited when it’s time to return; it’s host to your closest friends, kindest neighbors, and fondest memories. Whitecloud attempts to capture the true essence of “home” in this piece. Not only “beautiful” and “calm”, home is a place for freedom.
Home is all these things, and being away in the world of bankers, have politicians, and lawyers have taught Whitecloud that. At one point in time, he may hated his home; hated his family, and all the familiarity and lack of change, but he learned that you truly don’t know what you have until it’s gone. All his life, his keys to happiness and comfort were right in front of his eyes: Home. A place to escape the drudging monotony of “the thing they call Society”, where you work, buy, consume, and die.
While Blue Winds Dancing is truly a reflection on “home”, Whitecloud also shines a critical light upon society, calling into question the legitimacy of life and humanity as we journey through it daily. It’s not just a place to work, settle down, and have kids until the day you retire, implies Whitecloud. It’s where you belong.
For the majority of others, however, life is about living in squalor and lavishness, working the same jobs that were worked generations before simply because they were worked by generations before. And despite the state of