White Fang

by Jack London and Fred Carrillo

Book Overview

A classic adventure novel centering on a ferocious and magnificent creature, half dog, half wolf, through whose experiences we feel the essential savagery of wilderness life among animals and men.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0883012715
• ISBN13: 9780883012710
• Release Date: September 1977
• Publisher: Pendulum Press
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Age Range: 9 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 12

Customer Reviews

Adventure in the Wild

As a boy I used to love books like this, about untamed nature and woodlore and woodcraft, but it has been many years since I've read them. I recently had the occasion to revisit this excellent novel, and found that it has aged quite well and is still a terrific read. The story has to do with a wolf named White Fang, and begins before he was born, with his father and mother leading a pack in the dead of winter in the frozen Canadian wilderness. There is no game around and all are starving. They harass and harry a beleaguered dog-sled team over the course of several days, picking the dogs off one by one, then finally surrounding the one remaining man. He builds a ring of fire to protect himself from these ravenous wolves, but knows he soon must succumb to exhaustion. He notices the she-wolf, sitting patiently outside the ring, seemingly indifferent--except for the string of drool coming out of her mouth in anticipation of making a meal out of him. That is the lesson here, in this story of White Fang. It is a savage world, a world in which you either kill or are killed, eat or are eaten. His first day out of the den he kills and eats a small bird, then in turn is almost eaten by a hawk. He observes a porcupine roll itself into a ball to defend itself against a lynx, then observes the lynx yowl in pain after foolishly getting stung. The lynx plays another prominent role. Trying to survive a typical lean winter, White Fang's mother takes the desperate step of going to the absent lynx's den to eat its offspring. The enraged lynx later comes to their den and attacks, but with the help of a growing White Fang, they defeat it. It also becomes a meal. White Fang eventually gets taken in by men, first an Indian tribe where he is "tamed" with brutality, then by white traders who use him for their own base purposes. Through it all we see the cruel world in which he lives and feel his pain and hunger and anger. It is a well-plotted adventure carefully observed, and serves as a great reminder of how savage the untamed wilderness is, and that mankind is often only a bare step above it.

One of the best books I have ever read.

White Fang deserves two huge thumbs up. It is exciting, touching, and sometimes kind of silly. Jack London did a very good job writing this book. This book is about a wolf that had a part-wolf and part-dog mother and a wolf father. The book starts out telling about the mother's journey, but quickly turns to the son called White Fang. Eventually White Fang gets domesticated and the Native Americans turn him into a sled wolf. The only thing I did not like about this book was in the very beginning. The author thrusts you into the story without any explanation. I wish the story was set up more. This book rates with my favorite books. Jack London does well at showing the feelings of non-human characters along with the differences between the old Native Americans and the new settlers. I think you should buy this book and enter the world of White Fang.

A story of survival, White Fang.

The book White Fang, by Jack London is a excellent novel about survival, love, and loyalty. White Fang, a cross between a wolf and a dog must learn to survive in the void of the north. He is found by Indians and soon becomes one of their dogs. There he fights often with the other dogs and soon becomes feared because of his fighting ability. He then travels to a place where he is sold to a man that uses him only for fighting. He ultimatly loses a fight to a bulldog, being almost killed in the process. After the fight he is bought by Weedon Scott who teaches him the true meaning of love. The main character is White Fang, a cross between a wolf and a dog. He is big for a dog. He is very capable of surviving in the wild. London has developed him very well and I think that he may be the best character in all of Londons writings. I would recomend this book to anyone and everyone with an interest in reading. I think that many more schools should include this book in their curriculum. It shows the reader that life is not a stroll in the park. Many more people need to realize that. Hopefully, the book will help readers learn that they need to work to survive, no matter where they are.

London at his best

Masterfully done, White Fang is ultimately a story of love. The cruelty and hardship and bitterness of the Wild, bored into the very essence of a wolf-dog named White Fang, whose heart is turned cold as stone by the cruel hand of man and of the Wild. A killer, more wolf than dog; even his own kind turned against him. His mother taken away before his very eyes when he was only a puppy; reunited years later, even she does not recognize him and turns her back on him, as have all of his kind, growling and snarling at him; the enemy of his kind. Hatred towards every living thing posesses him, until he does not even remember what love is.It is not until a man named Weedon Scott appears, and saves White Fang from certain death, that White Fang's life is changed. Scott is the opposite of all that he had come to know in life, and very, very gradually, White Fang comes to know love, for the very first time.This story stays as one of my favorite, and the best, pieces of literature of all time, and anyone who has not read it is sincerely missing out. White Fang, is definately, Jack London at his best.

Unmatched

This is one of my favorite books. The only other book that might be better is The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, but Jack London has definitely outdone himself this time. It is the story about an animal who is three quarters wolf and a one quarter dog who goes from life as an indian sled dog to a fighting dog owned by a cruel man, to a loving owner who trys to show this maddened savage creature the meaning of love and kindness. What is really unique about White Fang is that it tells of what might be going on in such a creature's head. It tells of what it is like living in a den out in the wild, tells of how White Fang first comprehends the wild and what he learns aboout the law of life. It explains what his first impression of humans, and of the harsh enviorment of all the other puppies and dogs in the camp. It is beautifully written and I would suggest it to anyone who likes long, thought provoking stories about dogs and wolves and the northlands.