Summary Of Jack London's White Fang

Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat” and Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” include parallel ideas of Man’s hopelessness in the natural world. Through out both short stories the authors bring up questions of man’s fate and his relationship with nature as well as carry a theme of naturalism. When nature seems to repeatedly play against man, the reader wonders we whether nature is cruel and sinister, making it difficult for man to live. Evidence in the the two stories such as the animal’s presence, the environments, and the different human characters, in both stories leads one to believe that nature is not in fact out to get man, but it is a neutral, indifferent factor.

Characterization, or lack of it in this case plays a dominate role in London’s short story. The reader never finds out why the central character and rival competitor are battle with each other. The conflict is brought to a simple effort of getting information for the scouts side of the fight. Still the readers are giving little to no background “He was a young man, not more than twenty-four or five, and he might have sat his horse with the careless grace of his youth had he not been so catlike and tense.” (London). I can infer from this this that this is his first war, he is inexperienced. Later on in the story, the antagonist is introduced. Comparable to the protagonist the antagonist’s previous history is for a reader to conclude on their own. The little given information t is “ {…} the man with the ginger beard {…} “ (London). This is a hard hitting point

As Charles Darwin once said. “It is not the strongest of species that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change”. Darwin’s quote strongly relates to “The Call of the Wild” in many circumstances where the stronger species was not able to thrive, but the one that was most able to adapt to change. In Jack London’s novel, “The Call of the Wild” it is conveyed that in order to survive in any environment one must be able to become accustomed to their surroundings. To survive by adaption one must drop old habits, be able to thrive in poor treatment environments, and love when given the chance. The main character in “The Call of the Wild” Buck, proves this idea on a multitude of occasions throughout his journey in the hostile Canadian Yukon Territory. The first adaptation that is made in “The Call of the Wild” is conveyed when one must drop their old habits to survive.

The main character of the story is doomed from the start. London says, “The man broke through” telling the reader about the main character’s experience with the water spring (London 337). Nature gives him bad luck over and over again, showing us his doomed fate from the start. Naturalism also demonstrates the environment being indifferent; the environment does nothing to help its inhabitants. The Yukon does not cease the bitter coldness when the man is struggling to stay alive: “He was losing this battle with the frost” (London 344). This indifference makes survival the only possible goal to try to reach. Another characteristic of Naturalism is the force of instinct. London states in the story, “The dog did not know anything about thermometers. Possibly in its brain there was no sharp conscious or a condition of very cold such as in the man’s brain. But the brute had its instinct” (London 334). The dog’s instincts give it an awareness of the wilderness that is superior to or better than the man’s sense of judgment. The dog’s instinct also ties in with the Naturalistic characteristic of heredity. The dog, unlike the man, has physical characteristics that have been passed down genetically

Human traits and characteristics like imagination, love, anger and revenge are projected by London into Buck’s character, a trait called anthropomorphosis, by using these human feelings and thoughts allowing the reader to better relate to Buck’s understanding and handling of certain situations. “At various points in the narrative, Buck is said to “imagine”, “decide”, “realize”, “know”, “divine”, “wonder”, and so on” (Auerbach 53). Further analysis of London’s narration by Auerbach of Buck is critical, claiming that while London is writing an animal tale, he is doing so more from a human perspective, rather than that of an animal. Unlike other animal tales written during the same time-period, London’s narration helps the story work as an animal story partly due to the way “Buck is put into a situation not in his control, then invested with a human mentality and morality to evaluate the situation, and then represented as reacting to that situation by way of “instinct”,”

Jack London brings a natural instinct into the spotlight by defining that everyone has that primal call to the wild, and often one feels this when in a difficult situation. Giving into this ‘call of the wild’ leads to a different kind of adaptation, it makes you become primal to survive in a primal situation. Further into the book it states, “The others sat down and howled. And now the call came to Buck in unmistakable accents. He, too, sad down and howled.” (London, 1990, p.62). This is the defining moment of Jack’s book when Buck lets go of all ties to humans and decides to carve his own path, adapting the way he needs to, not the way that humans encouraged him. Soon, Buck changes himself completely to fit snugly into the environment and to prevent further torturous struggles with humans. These quotes combine to paint a picture of total and complete change when it comes to a new and unfavorable environment.

In his novel, The Call of the Wild, Jack London wants us to see the step beyond the survival of the fittest to the complete adaptation to and domination of a once unfamiliar and unforgiving environment. Using a third-person, limited omniscient narrator, the cold, icy Yukon wilderness, and a journey from lazy farm life to the deadly work of a sled dog, we see Buck, a Saint Bernard/Scotch Shepherd mix slowly return to his ancestral roots. As Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin states in her book The Call of the Wild: A Naturalistic Romance, “The book deals less with the concept of evolution than with that of devolution” (Courbin pg 57). London asks us to believe that happily domesticated farm dog, Buck, can not only survive life as a sled dog in the Yukon, but can become completely in tune with his primitive inner self, and ultimately thrive as a leader of a wolf pack.

A major theme in Jack London’s classic, The Call of the Wild, is that adaptability is essential for survival.

Also, Jack London reveals the other opposite character of the human being through Wolf Larsen who rescues Van Weyden. Larsen is a murderer sea captain who is uncaring, evil and threatens his crew with cruelty despite their several trials to revolt against him. However, in the end, Larsen becomes ill and crashes on an island after his brother attacks him . The London’s argument is strong and a reality of what comprises human being. People have different characters, and these characters emerge through interactions, and tribulations that one faces in life. Also, it is true that nature defines one’s character as one can end up being either corrupt or good as one struggles to overcome the harshness of life .

Jay Gurian comments in his article, “The Romantic Necessity in Literary Naturalism: Jack London”, about how London, and other naturalist writers deal with the forces of nature:

The book White Fang is yet another successful novel that was written by Jack London that will interest nearly anyone who reads it. The novel, featuring people, wolves, dogs, and other animals, is categorized as realistic fiction. Through the book, London gives readers accurate insight on survival in the natural world and natural selection, adding importance. It also shows how the presence of other creatures, especially humans, affects wildlife. Separated into five different parts, this well written book continues to captivate more and more people.

Jack London’s novel, The Sea-Wolf, has many different interpretations. The story can be read as a combination of the naturalistic novel and the sentimental romance, both very popular around the turn of the century. London also brings into play literary naturalism, in which human beings are characterized as just another species in nature, subject to all of Her cosmic forces. The Sea-Wolf fits almost perfectly the archetypal pattern of an initiation story. Depth and interest are added to The Sea-Wolf by successfully integrating these three elements -- the combination of two popular genres, literary naturalism, and the initiation story.

In White Fang, Jack London uses several different settings throughout the story. A dark, snowy, spruce forest starts out the novel, while the conclusion leaves you in the warm and welcoming Santa Clara Valley. As a cub, White Fang encounters the ways of the Wild, then is transitioned to the Mackenzie Indian settlement where he first meets man. He stays with them for a quarter of his life, all the while going through the hardships of being a lone wolf amongst the domesticated dogs. Here he learns to be solitary and how to fend for himself; he doesn’t need anyone else to survive in the Wild. After being with his owner, Gray Beaver, for most of his life, he is sold to Beauty Smith, an abusive owner who was intent on entering White Fang into the dark world of dog

Jack London, an American author known for his thrilling adventure stories, showed the world that even an exciting story that takes place in exotic settings can include all the intricacies of great literature. This is seen in many of his stories with the implementation of symbolism, many times a recurring theme in his work. Also, London used many ideas of the day such as Darwinism and Spencerism in his writings in order to better portray his views. However, perhaps one of the most telling signs that London wrote good literature was through London's mastery of a rising literary movement known as naturalism.

A major theme in many of London’s works was Naturalism, as seen in his books The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and others (insert). London emphasized nature’s beauty as well as harshness in his books, and the change in his descriptions of the surroundings was a very effective way of indirectly changing the mood and tone. This is particularly evident in The Call of the Wild where the dog Buck is taken from his warm