White Fang by Jack London
"White Fang," written by Jack London, is a novel that explores themes of survival, nature, and the complexities of human-animal relationships. The story is divided into six parts, beginning with two frontiersmen, Bill and Henry, who encounter a pack of wolves while transporting a dead body. The narrative shifts to the perspective of the wolves, particularly focusing on the she-wolf Kiche and her offspring, White Fang. As White Fang grows, he experiences life in the wild and interacts with three distinct human masters, each representing different facets of humanity—from the cruel and sadistic Beauty Smith to the kind-hearted Weedon Scott, who ultimately redeems him.
Set against the backdrop of the Klondike Gold Rush, the novel reflects London's observations on competition and survival, influenced by ideas from naturalists and philosophers of his time. The characters in "White Fang" serve as allegorical representations rather than fully realized individuals, illustrating the struggles between civilization and the primal instincts of nature. Through White Fang's journey from the wild to domesticity, London examines the duality of nature and nurture, ultimately suggesting that compassion can triumph over brutality. This nuanced portrayal invites readers to contemplate the influences of their environment and the capacity for change in both animals and humans.
Subject Terms
White Fang by Jack London
First published: 1906
Type of plot: Allegory
Time of work: Circa 1900
Locale: The Klondike and San Francisco
Principal Characters:
Bill , a frontiersmanHenry , a frontiersmanOne-Eye , an older, experienced wolf, the father of White FangKiche , a wolf-dog hybrid, the mother of White Fang,White Fang , a wolf-dog hybridGray Beaver , a Native American, White Fang’s first masterBeauty Smith , a cook and dishwasher, White Fang’s second masterCherokee , an English bulldog, White Fang’s nemesisWeedon Scott , a mining engineer, White Fang’s third and last master
The Novel
White Fang is told in six parts. In the first, two frontiersmen, Bill and Henry, have a running battle with a wolfpack. In the second, the perspective shifts to the wolves, especially One-Eye and Kiche, whose mating produces White Fang. The perspective shifts for the last time to White Fang himself. The last four parts consist first of White Fang living with his mother in the wild and then his life under three very different human masters.
Jack London uses the omniscient third-person narrator throughout the book. In the first part, Henry and Bill are driving a dogsled containing the corpse of an English lord whose body they are taking back to civilization. They discover that they are being followed by a pack of wolves. A she-wolf lures the sled dogs one at a time outside their camp at night, and the wolves kill and eat them. For some reason, Henry and Bill have only one rifle and three bullets. Bill wastes those bullets in a futile pursuit of the wolves, which kill and eat him. Henry stays alive by keeping a fire going. Finally, another dogsled team traveling in the opposite direction rescues him.
The perspective then changes to the she-wolf. She and the pack search for food while at the same time three males show an interest in her. The first is a large gray wolf who is leader of the pack, the second an old wolf without his right eye, and the third a three-year-old male. The gray wolf and the old wolf, called One-Eye, team up to kill the young one, then the old one attacks the gray wolf from behind and kills him. This gives One-Eye the right to mate with the she-wolf. Eventually, the she-wolf finds a cave and gives birth to a litter of cubs.
The she-wolf tends her young while One-Eye hunts for food. However, she has to hunt herself when a lynx kills One-Eye. Only one male in the litter survives. One day while the she-wolf is hunting, the cub leaves the cave. He blunders into a ptarmigan nest and eats all the young. When the mother ptarmigan returns, the cub has his first battle and retreats. Then he discovers that he cannot walk on water and almost drowns in a nearby stream. After reaching a river bank, the cub encounters a weasel, which would have killed him had not the she-wolf returned. After that first day, the cub regularly ventures outside and gains experience in killing and avoiding being killed.
One day, he and his mother encounter a hunting party of Native Americans. One of the Native Americans, Gray Beaver, recognizes the she-wolf and calls her “Kiche.” A wolf-dog hybrid, she had run away a year previously but now was ready to return to domesticity. The cub, named White Fang by his captors, stays with her. Gray Beaver tames White Fang and becomes his master. Gray Beaver sells Kiche to another Native American who takes Kiche away from the village. White Fang is now alone with the humans and the camp dogs.
The next summer, Gray Beaver travels to Fort Yukon to sell furs. He takes White Fang along with him and trades the dog for whiskey. White Fang’s new master is Beauty Smith, so called because of the ugliness of his face. He enjoys beating White Fang and keeps him in a pen. Smith makes money on White Fang by having him fight other dogs to the death. The wolf defeats all comers until Smith matches him against an English bulldog named Cherokee. White Fang finally meets a dog who can best him. The bulldog is about to kill White Fang when a stranger stops the fight.
The stranger is Weedon Scott, a mining engineer from California who finds the dogfights appalling. He takes White Fang away from Smith and treats the wolf with kindness. This is a new experience for White Fang, and he responds positively. When Scott returns home to California, he takes White Fang with him. The wolf establishes a place for himself in Scott’s home, especially when he kills an escaped convict intent on killing Scott’s father. White Fang mates with a sheepdog, and the story ends with the birth of their offspring.
The Characters
London did not have the benefit of twentieth century studies of wolf behavior in nature and of instances in which a wolf has bonded with a human. Instead, he relied on his own imagination and the highly inaccurate conjectures of nineteenth century naturalists. Therefore, the reader can accept only the characters of White Fang and the other wolves on the allegorical level. The human characters function more as types than individuals, especially the three masters of White Fang. His character is the only one that London allows to grow.
White Fang is born in the wild. The best part of the book occurs when he ventures out of the cave and into the wild. White Fang grows up hating other dogs and wolves and regards all creatures in terms of whether they are his prey or he is their prey. Eventually, his last master redeems White Fang by love and domesticates him.
Kiche was born in captivity and escaped into the wild but ultimately returns to her human masters. The high point of her life occurs when the three male wolves fight to the death to determine who will mate with her. Eventually, Kiche becomes indifferent to White Fang, her son, and raises another litter of cubs.
One-Eye got his name because he lost his right eye in a battle years before the events described in the novel. He is intelligent, brave, and dedicated; most important, One-Eye is a survivor. He dies only because he is trying to feed his family.
Cherokee is a highly developed product of civilization. He is a dog bred for one function only, killing other dogs. Only Weedon Scott’s intervention stops him from killing White Fang. This serves to demonstrate the ultimate superiority of civilization over nature.
Gray Beaver represents humanity that lives in primitive civilization. He demonstrates his superiority over White Fang by training him to obey humans. Unfortunately, when he encounters an allegedly higher civilization, he degenerates into a drunkard. London’s racism, very common among his contemporaries, portrays this as the natural order of things rather than as the corruption of an innocent. The power of the white man, even the worst kind such as Beauty Smith, overwhelms Gray Beaver.
Beauty Smith is a cowardly sadist who takes pleasure in beating White Fang and in watching White Fang kill other dogs. His status in society before acquiring White Fang is the lowly position of cook and dishwasher. He uses White Fang to advance his position in society by appealing to the baser emotions of other men.
Weedon Scott is a civilized person of intelligence and good character. The son of a judge, he is a member of the upper middle class. The dogfight disgusts him, so he takes White Fang away from Smith and treats the wolf with kindness. London clearly implies that when White Fang accepts him as his master, he is moving up in the hierarchy of human beings.
Bill and Henry are almost caricatures. The reader has to question whether they would have survived for long in the wilderness, considering thier poor judgment in taking so few arms and so little ammunition on their trek. Of course, Bill does die as a result of his own stupidity and impulsiveness.
Critical Context
White Fang, London’s fifth novel, and was a best-seller. It is one of his many stories set in the Klondike, where London lived from 1897 to 1898. He went there in search of gold and was part of the last gold rush in North American history.
The years of London’s life, 1876 to 1916, were roughly the period in which America changed from a predominantly agricultural nation to an industrial one. London wrote the novel during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, who rigorously enforced antitrust laws to break up business monopolies such as U.S. Steel and Standard Oil. These monopolies had justified themselves by arguing that competition in business was like competition in nature in which the natural law was, in Herbert Spencer’s words, a matter of “survival of the fittest.” Spencer was a strong influence on London, who based his view of nature on Spencer’s ideas and on his own experience in the Klondike and as a sailor.
At the same time, there was a strong labor and socialist movement in reaction to the poverty of the working people. London wrote essays and gave speeches for the movement. Karl Marx was another strong influence on London, especially in emphasizing the transition of society from capitalism to socialism through violence. However, London’s devotion to the labor movement was always superficial; he was more interested in destroying the old society than in building a new one. His attitude was more nihilistic than humanitarian.
Friedrich Nietzsche also influenced London’s writing of White Fang with the idea of the superman (although in this instance it is a “superdog”) and of the worship of power. White Fang is strong enough to defeat almost all dogs in one-to-one combat. He is also intelligent enough to perceive that humans have more power than animals and that whites have more power than Native Americans. Here again, London’s racism, which was an embarrassment to his socialist colleagues, shows itself.
Bibliography
Day, A. Grove. Jack London in the South Seas. New York: Four Wings Press, 1971. Illustrated account of London’s abortive 1907 voyage around the world on his private yacht, the Snark. The trip permanently damaged his health.
Hedrick, Joan D. Solitary Comrade: Jack London and His Work. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982. Psychological-sociological analysis of London’s writings.
O’Connor, Richard. Jack London: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1964. A good introduction to London’s life and works.
Stasz, Clarice. American Dreamers: Charmian and Jack London. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988. A biography of London and his second wife, with more emphasis on Charmian than other biographies.
Watson, Charles N. The Novels of Jack London: A Reappraisal. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983. An overview of London’s novels and novellas, with an emphasis on Herman Melville’s influence. Watson devotes one chapter exclusively to White Fang.