White Fang

Description

White Fang is Jack London’s novel that takes a wild wolf-dog toward domestication in the Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush. He is a tale of White Fang, born to a wild parent and one who is domesticated, fighting against the wild’s hardness, as well as against human society.

The novel is divided into sections, and white fang starts life in the wilderness where he learns to survive. As he encounters different human characters who take over the care of him, he undergoes cruelty and abuse and also the brutality and good nature from mankind. His moving journey from the wild has taken him through a string of owners who have treated him differently, showing the themes of nature versus nurture.

In the novel, White Fang learns to trust men again, but now especially in the gentle and compassionate man, Weedon Scott. This relationship would change White Fang from the wild, vicious-fanged animal filled with wrath to becoming an ardent companion.

White Fang explores themes in survival, instinct, and so many other complications found in the relationship between humans and animals. London’s evocative descriptions and deep understanding of animal behavior have made the novel a strong nature-based struggle for identity and acceptance. As such, it almost functions as a companion piece with London’s earlier work, The Call of the Wild, where a domesticated dog is forced back into the wild.