White Fang: The Whole Story

I expected to like this more than Call of the Wild because it was supposed to be London's book where he got all nitty-gritty about writing from the wolf's perspective in a real as opposed to a kind of anthropomorphic epical way, and there was some good stuff in that vein early on, with the baby

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wolf figuring out how the world works, and I think the "nature faker" label is somewhat unreasonable to apply to him unless you were expecting actual nature writing and not tall tale sh*t. (But only somewhat, since the fact that White Fang's narrative arc is basically that he is wild and magnif and then bad humans make him ornery and vicious and then good humans bring him into the light of civ gives the ecocritic-type, let-the-animals-be-animals-irretrievably-Other criticisms levelled against London by Teddy Roosevelt (!) at least three legs to stand on.)

No, the problem with this book has nothing to do with nature--it's London's atittudes toward humanity that are the problem. We see how nails-tough Grey Beaver and the other native people who first semi-domesticate White Fang are, but then when he wanders into the white man's town he sees--apocalyptic revelation!--that those "gods" (humans are gods) are as nothing before the pale gods, and you're like, why exactly, given that the white people in this are mostly a bunch of drunks and fuckups. London's racial ideology is accompanied by this thing where the scion of the judge's family in California comes in and stomps the vicious lumpen goldpanners who are forcing White Fang to dogfight ("You beasts!" he shrieks, fists flying, superman curl coming unstuck. "You beasts!"). And White Fang is redeemed by being brought into the manor of the patriarch, the Judge of the Law. London himself said this book was an expression of "worship of power" and evoked Nietzsche, but it's a pretty thin Nietzscheanism--more Leibnizian all-is-for-the-best-in-this or Calvinist elect: those who rule are the strongest by virtue of ruling, not vice versa. Like, this guy's a socialist???? But then you read further that London saw this book as a fable-retelling of his own stratospheric rise from working-class kid to millionaire author, and you're like, no, he may think he's a socialist but he's actually the worst kind of fuckhead.

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I also enjoyed this book. Jack London has a unique way of describing things. He paints pictures with his words, you can see the snarling wolves and feel the cold. Reading his books transported me to a different time and experiences that I never had and never will have. I recommend this book, but

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not for young children, there are some scenes that could be disturbing.

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I loved this book. It chronicles the life of a wolf(half dog) through the harse wilderness, brutal treatment at the hand of man, and then ultimately friendship and love. The book is written from the aspect of the wolf. Truly a great book. Highly recommend for dog lovers!

The aim of life was meat. Life itself was meat. Life lived on life. There were the eaters and the eaten. The law was: EAT OR BE EATEN. He did not formulate the law in clear, set terms and moralize about it. He did not even think the law; he merely lived the law without thinking about it at all.”

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“I’m going to give the evolution, the civilization of a dog—development of domesticity, faithfulness, love, morality, and all the amenities and virtues.” Jack London

The opening scene where White Fang lures out the sledge dogs one by one and kills them - and then goes after the two men - is both frigthening and fascinating.

There are several other frightening scenes - like the crucial fight with the bull dog. Oh, my. But then also delightful scenes where White Fang encounters the God’s (humans) goodness and tenderness.

I had forgotton how great this classic American tale was - up there with "Watership Down"] in it’s realism and moral force.

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The sequel to ‘The Call of the Wild,’ ‘White Fang’ is more developed and tells a mirror story. In it, a half-wolf, half-dog endures great hardship in the wilds of Alaska, and eventually is domesticated. As in the first book, its realism suffers as London ascribes emotions and actions to the

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dogs that are too human-like, but he is effective in painting a picture of life in the cold, harsh climate, where the law is “eat or be eaten,” as he puts it. Unfortunately, it also has a dose of the white supremacy common to the period, as the dogs look up to the Indians as “Gods,” and then look up even more to “White Gods,” who are described as superior. Overall, though, it has some memorable scenes, such as the owner who holds brutal dog fights, and a nice message of how love, tenderness, and patience can overcome the bitterness bred from a violent upbringing. London also gets in a little jab at corruption in law enforcement towards the end, via a prisoner who has been framed. Imperfect, but worth reading.

Just this quote:
“To have a full stomach, to doze lazily in the sunshine – such things were remuneration in full for his ardors and toils, while his ardors and toils were in themselves self-remunerative. They were expressions of life, and life is always happy when it is expressing itself.”

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White Fang is, much like Black Beauty, unrelenting in its depiction of animal misery. As an adult, I find the misery rather tiresome, but it would have no doubt been far more bestirring when I was child. It's emotionally evocative, and it forces the reader to embody an animal perspective very

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different from their own and confront the pain caused by animal cruelty.

I still want to make note that it's an unrealistic depiction of wolf mentality. While books about animals don't have to be realistic, the wolves in White Fang are unrealistic in ways that uphold longstanding harmful narratives about wolves and the wilderness. In White Fang, the fact that wolves are not obedient to humans is a problem--and it doesn't just make them bad pets, but bad in terms of their moral character. In White Fang, the wild wolf is cruel, brutal, and lonely because nature requires it, because wolves cannot think beyond their selfish individual needs without human help and love--even though in nature, unlike the novel, wolves are highly social and companionable with one another, and rarely benefit from increased contact with humans. Wolves are not especially violent or dangerous animals, and the idea that they are has fueled the anti-wolf policies still in place in much of their natural territory today.

All of that is bad enough; still worse, the idea that wilderness and wild animals are a problem that must be solved feeds directly into the novel's harmful depiction of Native Americans. Just as White Fang is part-wolf and part-dog, Native Americans in this novel are presented as part-wild and part-civilized. And just as White Fang benefits from being tamed and becoming more doglike, it's clear that Native Americans would benefit from becoming more civilized, like their colonizers. This bias is not subtle: when White Fang meets Native Americans for the first time, he sees them as gods; and when he meets white people for the first time, he explicitly states that they are superior gods. Add to that the fact that the primary Native American character is an animal abuser and an alcoholic (a common stereotype) and the depiction becomes especially distasteful. I'd suggest reading Black Beauty instead.

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White Fang by Jack London is the story of a wolf who is born in the wild to a half wolf/half dog mother and a full wolf father. He spends his first few formative months in the wild being raised by his mother and then the two of them are absorbed into an Indian village and White Fang learns about

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living with humans. There is always an aspect of wildness about White Fang and unfortunately as he is passed on to other humans this aspect is taken advantage of. He is tortured and mistreated and set to fight against other animals. Eventually he is rescued from the fighting ring but now must learn how to trust and care for a human again.

This book shows both the cruelty and kindness that an animal can face during it’s lifetime. It reminded me a lot of his Call of the Wild, although to my way of thinking White Fang should have been left in the wild where he truly belonged. Set in the Canadian Yukon at the time of the Klondike Gold Strike, I found this to be an absorbing read. I know that research into wolves has advanced since Jack London wrote about them, but the writing here is extremely descriptive and at times quite lyrical. I couldn’t totally buy into this story as the author’s descriptions of White Fang’s thought processes were a little too detailed and human-like, but I can certainly understand this author’s popularity as the book was a true adventure read.

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I drive a lot for work and get bored with listening to the radio after a while. A lot of times I'll listen to audiobooks but they're so expensive that I haven't listened to one in a while. So I was happily surprised when I found White Fang and The Call of the Wild on audio for $4 apiece at Half

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Price Books. If you are not familiar with this store, I am very sorry. It's absolutely wonderful (but not near as wonderful as our own Recycled Books here in Denton - I really love that store).

So I remember reading The Call of the Wild when I was kid and I think I saw a movie on White Fang at some point in my life but they're both very fuzzy and needless to say I had the two confused in my head. Well, maybe not confused but merged is the better word. I had somehow remembered a wild half-wolf dog that was captured and tortured to fight other dogs then rescued and taught be a sled dog who eventually went back to the wild. Yeah. Just remember it had been a long time.

After listening to the two back to back, I believe that The Call of the Wild is my favorite of the two simply because I'm not fond of the narrative in White Fang. The narrator keeps referring to people as "gods" in White Fangs eyes. Also, he sees power as coming from material possessions. This is a human qualification and I have never seen animals give deference to another animal because of possessions. They base power on strength. It is possible with some animals that the leader may have access to more food and other possessions but that is because he/she is ALREADY leader. Those things do not make the leader. So, because the wolf apparently sees materials possessions as power he sees white people as being superior to all others. See where I'm going here? Very irritating.

Ok, here's another problem: inconsistency. I realize these are different stories but they both concern sled dogs at some point. In The Call of the Wild, the sled dogs regard the lead sled dog with deference and treat him as leader in all other aspects of life. In White Fang, the other dogs view the lead dog as running away from them and therefore a coward to be tormented. The lead dog must sit with the people in order to be protected. WHAT??!! I don't know anything about sledding but I know about dogs and this simply doesn't make sense. The Call of the Wild was written first so maybe he discovered something that I don't know about. I tried to find some other reviews to see if there was any mention of this but all I could find were school papers and descriptions of the book. Anyone know where I can find good critiques not written by 6th graders?

Ok, so I didn't completely dislike White Fang. I was irritated by those things but the storyline is very good. I was surprised when I found out it was written after The Call of the Wild because it seems a little more rough. It reads like a first book, where The Call of the Wild seems more polished. In both books I really enjoyed the interplay between the main characters and the other dogs. The dogs seemed more real than the people. This makes complete sense, since the story is told from the point of view of the dog. The other dogs would be the ones that Buck and White Fang knew the best. London accomplishes this very well. I also enjoyed the exchange between Buck and Thornton and White Fang and Scott. Being an animal lover and having dogs all my life, I know the power of the love from an animal. I was impressed by how Scott won over White Fang. His devotion to Scott reminds me of my boyfriend's dog, Skillet, who treats Jeff as if he hung the moon and my dog, Loki, who treats me the same way. Both of these dogs were rescued also. There seems to be something that happens to a dog who is rescued and loved that makes them more devoted than a dog who comes to you as a puppy, like my other dog, Aurora. She obviously loves me and I love her very much but Loki and Skillet become visibly upset just being out of our presence. I was also impressed that Buck remained with Thornton even when he wanted to be free simply because he loved this man. Many people may say this is anthropomorphizing, that animals can't love like this. I say they have never given themselves to an animal enough to feel that love.

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London excels at showing the world through the eyes of an animal. That being said- it dragged. As anthropological fiction, it's great, but as a story, it leaves something to be desired. Good themes and good writing, just not much fun.

I loved this book....I've read other books from the point of view of animals and they have all seemed to fall flat..but this book was so exciting and inciteful. I felt that the writer truly understood the canine mind. You absolutely fall in love with White Fang and want to stand up for him, cheer

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for him, or cry for him throughout the book...it's a heartwarming story.

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White Fang is the story of wolf/dog who descend from Kiche, a wolf/dog who runs the wild in ??anartica? The story begins with two man traveling across the dark frozen tundra with 8 dogs a sled and a coffin. But the wolf continuously attacks all the dogs and the one man traveler. The wolf is then

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found by it's "owner" gray bear where White Fang grows up, learning to become a fighter to survive in the pack for food and for his life. The vocabulary and the writing style takes some time to get your mouth around. This is an intriguing and sometimes intense story, but not a fast read.

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Avoided reading this for many years despite it being recommended by many. Guess the name suggested gory violence, and there is very little of that. The tale of this dog/wolf mix from puppy to adult is a loving, curious, sorrowful, and joyful adventure. The human/dog relationships depicted are

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realistic. A captivating read.

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This story follows the life of White Fang who is part dog and part wolf from puppyhood to maturity. The descriptive writing by the author is poetic and extensive to illustrate the interactive dynamics in White Fang's life. The reader is drawn into White Fang's impressions and thoughts as he moves

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through the brutality and cruelty of his fellow canines and owners until he is rescued by Wendon Scott. The emotional learning from hatred to love is complex but the author is able to evolve these emotions with great expertise. The author's use of vocabulary is effective and picturesque. A wonderful read.!

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Summary: Part wolf, part dog, with strenght and courage of both in his blood, White Fang is an orphan cub in the frozen frontier of the yukon. His is a world of enemies, animal and human.

I love this book. I have read this upwards of 20 times, and it never gets old! His description of wolves is almost magical. Very interesting perspective and easy to read.

Powerfully written and heart wrenching. The story of an abused wolf-dog- beat, abandoned, and only let loose in a dog fight ring. Made vicious and wary of all, but still going strong, waiting for a kind heart.

I don't think I've ever read such an offensive, disturbing book in my life. I've never encountered a book with so much violence, nor have I ever read a book that so clearly advocated for violence on every front. I have no idea why this book is geared towards children??? I would NEVER give my child

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this book.

On top of that, I don't think enough people pay attention to what a flagrant racist London was. For example, "Those white gods [white men] were strong. They possessed greater mastery over matter than the gods [Native Americans White Fang] had known, most powerful among which was Grey Beaver [a Native American]. And yet Grey Beaver was a child-god among these white-skinned ones" (162).

Beyond this, London is unendingly pessimistic and depressing. He has a horrendously ugly worldview in which the world is "a chaos of gluttony and slaughter, ruled over by chance, merciless, planless, endless" (90). And he is incredibly disrespectful towards religion -- I'm not a particularly religious person, but even I was offended.

However, after reading this book, I would have to say I am thankful for a few things. First, I am thankful I never have to read this book again or be curious about it or get snookered into reading another London text. Second, I am thankful tenfold for the fact that I will never know Jack London. I have never disliked an author more and I will never read another London book as long as I live. Half a star is too good for this book.

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I bought this book at a book fair at school when I was nine. I cannot tell how many times I have read it. As a child, I mainly read it for the 'wolf' story, but as an adult, I have appreciated the deeper aspects of the writing. London was big on analyzing why people do what they do, not always

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correct imo.

It's still a good read, forget the movie(s).

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White Fang is the story of a wolf, the likes of which has never been heard of before. It takes place in Yukon Territory, Canada, and follows the life of White Fang, a crossbreed of wolf and dog, through the many twists and turns that make a story memorable. White Fang begins his life in a small

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cave, with very little more than a mother and an instinct: Survive. Following a chance encounter with Grey Beaver, an Indian that was once his mother’s master, his life begins to change drastically. Once a young wolf struggling to learn the ways of the wild, then a furious devil in awe of the power of man, White Fang struggles with conflicts. When he is bought by Beauty Smith, a coward with a brutal nature, and made to fight in an arena against other animals, his rage only worsens. Then he is rescued from certain death by Weedon Scott, the son of an influential Judge, and his life begins to take a turn for the better. But can White Fang overcome his killer instinct and lead a different life? One of Love, instead of hate?

White Fang is one of the best books I have read for a long time. Once I picked it up, it was truly impossible to put it down again. Every page I turned only made me more curious as to how the story would end. Like Call of the Wild, Jack London has worked his magic again. A truly memorable read.

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Not as good as Call of the Wild, but still one of Jack London's best books.

This is an amazing book, highly addictive. I just couldn’t put it down. Jack London writes with detail and emotion!

The story’s about a wolf named White Fang and its life through the hands of many masters. This is one of those books that transports you to another place and time while you’re

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reading it - a real time machine. And since it’s always told from the wolf’s point of view, sometimes it made me remember the National Geographic TV documentaries I watched in awe when I was a child.

It also focuses on the man-animal relationship, and how the environment and society shape spirits and behaviours.

After reading it I learned that this book is a companion novel for Jack London’s most famous novel, “Call of the Wild”, in which a dog becomes wild again, in contrast to White Fang, a wolf that becomes domesticated.

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I used to confuse this with London's "Call of the Wild," and stupidly so. White Fang is three times meaner than Buck ever became. Hee. Curious that London's pieces have become Young Adult classics over the years.

Jack London imports Social Darwinist credo, used more clumsily and less divertingly by authors such as Frank Norris, into letters with fervor, conviction, and skill. We encounter White Fang, a part domestic dog and mostly wolf dog that lives with a pack in the wilderness and whose mother had once

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been domesticated by the Native Americans. As in the case of its companion volume, "Call of the Wild," (where the dog Buck moves from domesticity to the wild, as opposed to vice versa), White Fang has abusive owners who want White Fang to fight for money, but White Fang is rescued by a man who is called, under the regime of London's casually assumed racism, one of the "white human gods." A great tale, and a book that serves as an excellent introduction to literature for young adolescents, bit can be relished at all ages.

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Having only a cursory knowledge of London's work, I decided to choose White Fang first when considering which public domain works to record as audio books. I've only "read" it once, but have listened to it probably a half-dozen more times in the editing process. It's very well written, accessible,

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and very involved. At no time did I feel as if London was writing without a clear purpose and passion. Excellent read and rather timeless.
As a side note, there are some very decent young adult versions with illustrations and even one with a sidebar defining more complex words. Very useful for young readers.

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