White Fang

White Fang is a novel written by Jack London, an American author, and was published in 1906.

The story is set in the Yukon Territory, Canada, at the end of the 19th century. The novel narrates the story of the domestication of a wild wolfhound. Moreover, White Fang is a companion novel to Jack London’s well-known book The Call of the Wild. This is one of London’s most famous works. It tells the story of a domestic dog’s kidnapping and how his new circumstances force him to rely on his wild ancestral instincts to survive.

Recommended for: Intermediate to advanced readers interested in classic adventure fiction. Readers with an appreciation for literary fiction and character-driven stories will likely enjoy this work.

You will:

Explore the themes of morality, redemption, and the struggle for survival in a harsh wilderness environment
Gain an insightful perspective on the inner lives and experiences of wild animals through the novel’s canine protagonist
Appreciate the literary merits and narrative techniques employed by acclaimed author Jack London
Understand the historical and environmental context of the Yukon Territory at the turn of the 20th century
Discover the parallels and contrasts between this novel and London’s earlier work “The Call of the Wild”
Reflect on the complex dynamics between humans, domesticated animals, and their wild counterparts

Plot

The famine and its consequences

The novel opens with a dramatic confrontation between starving wolves and people with sled dogs. Due to a severe famine, the wolf pack is trailing the humans and their dogs in search of food. In the end, only one person named Henry survives the encounter by meeting a large group of people. The size of the group intimidates the wolves, causing the wolf pack to disperse when they sense the people’s proximity.

After the herd successfully hunts a moose, the famine comes to an end. The novel then shifts its focus to the story of Kiche, a pregnant wolfhound. Kiche gives birth to five cubs near the banks of the Mackenzie River, but due to a scarcity of food, only one cub survives. Kiche’s partner, One-Eye, dies while attempting to steal food for Kiche and her cub. Following this event, Kiche must fight alone alongside her cub to ensure their survival.

Life in the Indian Camp

After a while, they meet an Indian camp and a man named Gray Beaver. Beaver recognized Kiche as his brother’s wolfhound and decided to stay with her and her cub. Here White Fang spends the first months of his life. Unfortunately, the other dogs do not accept it and are always in discussions. For the other dogs, White Fang is more a wolf than a dog and attack him. But, the Indians considered White Fang as an excellent sled dog and gave him a particular treatment. This situation helps to increase the hatred of the other dogs towards White Fang.

Weedon Scott in his life

After a few years, a man named Beauty Smith purchased White Fang. Smith is a cruel man and a dogfighter. White Fang manages to defeat all his opponents except one in his last fight against a bulldog. The Bulldog bites him in the neck, and White Fang begins to suffocate. Then a young man named Weedon Scott appears and stops the fight. He took White Fang and rescued him. Since the wolfhound was very hurt, Smith agrees to sell him to Scott for 150 dollars. Scott takes care of and cures White Fang. After a while the White Fang trusts Scott. Thus, Scott becomes a teacher to White Fang and together experiences many adventures.

Licensing

Jack London. White Fang. Publisher: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. (London), 1906. Originally published in 1906. This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago. Text from Wikisource: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/White_Fang
This digital edition is provided by Ebooks-net in 2024 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. The full text of the license is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.