Jack London and White Fang

 

Reynaldo models a frequent scene in White Fang

 January 12th is Jack London's birthday.  In 2010 we read Call of the Wild together as a family and really enjoyed it. This year Wesley said he wanted to read and blog about White Fang. Below are the first of several postings he'll do this week:

White Fang is comprised of three parts. The first part is the introduction to the whole book, especially the orgins of Whtie Fang. The second part is about White Fang's mother, father and siblings, his birth, and the beginning part of his cubhood. The third part of the book is the rest of White Fang's Life and his first encounter with man.

Jack London writes White Fang and as if he, Jack London, was another dog looking on--almost as if he were a ghost. What I find fascinating in the works of London that I've read is that he mainly expresses what he thinks dogs think and why they act the way they do, and he always hints of the wild side all dogs have in them. White Fang first encounters man--Indians--when he is a puppy. As he lives with them he starts to look up to them as "man-gods" who can make the world move at their will and is the administers of justice and the adminsters of punishment. As White Fang grows up he is constantly bullied by another puppy and his "pack." This turns White Fang into a mean ruthless fighting machine who wishes just to stay alone but will fight if not respected. White Fang learns how to fight very cunningly cutting out all of the circling and growling or preliminaries of a fight and making his move catching the dog unawares going directly for the vein in which life bubbles in the throat. He learns how to kill with few strokes. London paints this picture so well; he has an amazing talent for using imagery to take you into the book and living with the characters.

 "So, Wesley, what does London's portrayal of the relationship between dogs and "man-gods" say about man's relationship with God?"

Well, in the book the "man-gods" are the ultimate administers of justice and punishment which sort of portrays London's view of our relationship with God.

"And what about love? Does the book portray anything about the loving side of man and God?"

In the book London talks about two sides two a dog the loving and the wild side. White Fang's first owner isn't a cruel owner but doesn't bring out the loving side in White Fang. His second owner is a really cruel owner and brings out only the wild side in White Fang, but White Fang's third owner is a really nice man and brings out what he can of White Fangs loving side.