Book Review on White Fang

Theme: Nature, Fiction

The story “White Fang” is written by Jack London, an American writer.

This story revolves around the relationship between men and nature. The introduction of the story tells of a few adventurers venturing in the snowfields of North America along with their sled dogs who all eventually became preys of the wolves lurking in the vicinity. The men struggled and eventually came to an Indian village whereby they managed to seek refuge.

The reason behind the wolves’ voracious appetite is that a severe famine had ravaged in the pack of wolves and so they were compelled to forage around viciously for their survival. In this period, a pup had been given birth to by a she-wolf called K’iche and a half-blind male wolf called One Eye. Later on, One Eye died from an attack from a lynx while foraging for his family. The pup along with his siblings lives in a cave with their mother. Meanwhile, the pup begins to develop curiosity toward the outer world as he was intrigued by the features of the cave, his home and the sunlight streaming into the cave. He was also puzzled as to why he was restricted within the cave. He also developed his instincts when it dawned on him that the light was a barrier and that everything beyond it was dangerous.

Soon, he grows up and finally is able to hunt with his mother. He was enlightened by what he witnessed and this piqued his curiosity even more. He went around killing everything he saw.  He had a few successes at first, but later had close shaves with death.

He and his mother were then later found by the Indians and it was discovered that K’iche once belonged to the Indians and he was named White Fang because of his snow white body.  White Fang’s violent nature was moulded when he had to fight off the Indian’s dog that disliked him.

The Indians then brought them along to join in the Gold Rush in North America at that time. In the process, K’iche was given off to a bunch of crooks to whom Gray Beaver, the leader of the Indian tribe owed money to.  White Fang felt heartbroken for the first time and went off alone to find her mother, but was futile. He returned back to Gray Beaver and followed him to mine gold. The site had a fortress which is used as a kitchen to cater to gold miners there. One of its cooks was called Beauty Smith, who is discriminated due to his monstrous ugliness.  These made him self-centred and also mean as he averse the society. He set his sights on White Fang when he sees him due to his ferocity when shunning off the other dogs. He became bent on owning White Fang. He introduced Gray Beaver whiskey, which got him addicted. Using his crave for his addiction, Smith decided to exchange whiskey with him for White Fang, which Gray Beaver readily agreed.

Beauty Smith tormented White Fang to raise his wildness and nurtured him into a fighting machine. He made him pit against other dogs in dog fights to earn money. White Fang’s brutality reached its peak then. Luckily, a judge named Weedon Scott kind-heartedly bought White Fang when he witnessed how White Fang was exploited, which has caused him to nearly lose his life while he was tussling and grappling with death in one of the fights.

Weedon Scott cherished White Fang and loved him. His strokes and patting tamed White Fang and White Fang began to develop deep affection for his master. Weedon Scott brought White Fang home. One night, Jim Hill, a fugitive in town, broke into the house and attempted to murder Weedon Scott’s father, who was the judge that sentenced Jim in the past and was thwarted by White Fang who was on the alert. So, ultimately, White Fang became a tamed wolf and he lived happily ever after.

After reading this story, I find that Jack London is an ardent naturalist and also an animal lover. One unique point about this story is that Jack London uses an animal as the protagonist and humans as antagonist. This is to give us an insight into animal life, their tender nature and discover their loveliness. He also aims to convey to us that we humans are abusing our might and power on the animals and the nature and that this should be stopped by relating to us the strong influence of man which can determine the destiny of animals.

The author instils sympathy and empathy in me at certain parts of the story, like when White Fang is tortured by Beauty Smith., which mirrors the mercilessness of mankind and also the vulnerability of animals.  However, I am quite pleased with the ending that White Fang finally felt the kindness of man, despite going through so much hardship because of them.