White+Fang

London, Jack. **//White Fang//** (The Whole Story Series). New York, NY: Viking, 1999. Illus. by Philippe Munche. A wolf-dog cub survives the hardships imposed by man and nature in the Klondike during the Gold Rush. White Fang grows to become a savage and deadly fighter, then becomes the loyal companion of the man who rescues him from near death.

Young Adult novel; 237 pp. Lexile: 970L; BL: gr. 6-8; Awareness of moral issues; Animal welfare --Fiction. Feral dogs --Fiction. Pet theft --Fiction. Sled dogs --Fiction. Dogs --Fiction. Wolves --Fiction. Canada --Fiction. Klondike River Valley (Yukon) --Fiction. Gold Rush -- Fiction [] [] [] [] See also: London, Jack. **//The Call of the Wild//** (The Whole Story Series). Illustrated by Philippe Munche. New York, NY: Viking, 1996. A family dog is kidnapped from suburban California and taken to the Yukon to work as a sled dog for gold rush miners. Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #15,967 in Books Gr. 6-8. Ed Young, whose haunting illustrations of the wolf made his Caldecott- winning //Lon Po Po// (1989) so memorable, was well chosen as the illustrator for the Scribner Illustrated Classics edition of //White// Fang. Jack London's 1906 novel. As many will remember, London tells the story of a wolf-dog who endures great cruelty before he comes to know human kindness. The 12 pastel illustrations illuminate the text with their dramatic use of light and dark, sensitively delineated forms, and soft, subtle shades of color. A handsome new edition of a longtime favorite. //Carolyn Phelan// //Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved// //--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.//
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This review originally appeared at www.readinasinglesitting.com

When I was in Grade 6, my teacher decided to embark on a classics reading campaign, and White Fang was one of the choices on offer. Being your typical twelve-year-old, I gravitated straight towards the book with the dog on the cover, but was asked instead to read (a heavily abridged edition of) The Count of Monte Christo. It’s only now, a good twelve or so years later (no giggling at that “or so”, please), that I’ve finally got around to Jack London at last. Unfortunately, I think this is one of those novels that I might have appreciated more as a starry-eyed, anthropomorphism-loving pre-teen.

Perhaps the most famous of London’s considerable body of work, White Fang tells the story of the life-long belittlement and abuse of the part-wolf, part-dog animal of the same name before tracing the animal’s eventual redemption at the hand of a loving master. It’s a surprisingly brutal tale in parts, with a pervasive sense of horror that’s hard to shake, but this is contrasted with a series of almost mawkishly quixotic scenes involving White Fang’s socialisation into a world of gentility and civilisation.

For me, the novel started off with immense promise, with an eerie account of two travellers in Alaska being incessantly stalked and preyed upon by a pack of desperate, slavering wolves. It’s a chilling depiction of the forces of nature versus civilisation and of the consequences of forcing ourselves upon the natural world, and the sheer horror evoked by the situation is testament to London’s skill as a writer. There’s a sense of the inexorable tread of death about it (and having done my fair share of camping I must say that I’m glad that the only large predators in my country are made up). But the novel takes a bit of a hairpin turn from there, and despite myself I found my interest waning.

The second section of the book takes us through the circumstances surrounding the birth of White Fang, and his subsequent adoption by a group of Native Americans, an experienced characterised by constant punitive discipline, to which White Fang gradually becomes accustomed, learning to fear and respect the “gods” who are his masters. But all of this seems rosy in comparison with what awaits White Fang: a thoroughly awful stint as a fighting dog against whom just about every creature found in North America is pitted. The whole nature vs civilisation thing that has been a rather salient theme throughout White Fang’s interaction with human society is highlighted when, though having achieved victory against all manner of wild animals, White Fang meets his match in a bulldog, an animal bred and socialised to ignore its natural instincts in favour of human norms.

However, although White Fang is destined for further socialisation, his experience is markedly different. The inscrutable Weedon Scott voices his objections to White Fang’s mistreatment, and takes him under his wing. And to be honest, this is the part of the book that lost me. White Fang is adopted rather than being purchased, as he was by his previous owner, and thus becomes an individual rather than a mere thing or commodity. Moreover, his new situation allows him to eschew the crude trappings of his wild past in order to reap the benefits of being a civilised, socialised creature. Not only is this a problematic notion, but this moral is so explicitly, saccharinely rendered that it’s hard to swallow. Somewhat creepily to my secular, egalitarian mind, Scott is positioned as a sort of force for good, and White Fang almost as his disciple, and not only do we end up with redemptive overtones, but those of racial/social assimilation.

On a simply mechanical level, White Fang at this point in the book become…well, effectively, a hairy human. We’re given a rather thorough analysis of White Fang, his mental state, and his actions, and it all feels a little oddly appended. I think I could have stomached this had the novel been less pointedly positioned as an allegory, or had the allegorial elements been there but not the strained anthropomorphism, but as it is it’s hard to read this without returning time and time again to the moral being expounded.

While as a novel White Fang doesn’t quite work for me, I’m curious to read London’s The Call of the Wild, which I’ve heard described at the opposite of White Fang–perhaps the two when read side by side offer the reader something a little more balanced and satisfying

Violence and cruelty towards animals and people.
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 * Recommended by:** BJ Hampton