“A Study on the Humanity in the Novel “White Fang” by Jack London”

So as to have information about American humanity, the study deeply analyzes the novel “White Fang” by Jack London.. In this study, the researcher begins from the idea of understanding t

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for all who have supported me during the process of writing the graduation paper

First of all, I would like to show my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to my mentor, Mrs Pham Thi Thu Huong, MA – Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University, who has offered me patient instruction, meticulous critisim, and constant encouragement which are extremely helpful to me to complete my graduation paper

In addition, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mrs Vu Thi Quynh Dung, Deam of Foreign Language Department who has created good condition for me to complete my graduation paper and to all the lectures for their teaching

In addition, I would like to thank all the lectures, teachers and staffs at Hung Vuong University, especially those in the Department of Foreign Language who have created favorable conditions for me to complete my graduation paper

Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family, my friends for their support and encourage during my work

Viet Tri, May 2016

Nguyen Thi Kim Anh

ABSTRACT

In America literature‟s history, especially in the early 20th

century, the literature of United State continued developing with many famous authors and works So as to have information about American humanity, the study deeply

analyzes the novel “White Fang” by Jack London In this study, the researcher begins from the idea of understanding the humanity in the novel

“White Fang” The research supposes the background on American society in

the 20th century, American literature in the 20th century, humanism and

humanity, the humanity in literature, Jack London‟s life and his novel “White Fang”

The study has analyzed the humanity in the novel “White Fang” expressed through three aspects: the humanity expressed through the struggle and desire for life, through the humanity expressed through the evolution of White Fang in the relationship with his masters and, and the humanity expressed through the effort of White Fang to become a civilized wolf

The major findings of the study can help readers have more understanding about literature, the country and language they are studying In addition, the messages withdrawn from the novel can lead readers to explore the profound meaning of life

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

Part A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Research purpose 3

3 The Object and Scope of the research 3

3.1 The Object of the research 3

3.2 The scope of the research 3

4 The significance of the research 3

5 Research methods 3

6 Research questions 4

7 Research design 4

Part B: THE OVERALL STUDY 6

1 Foreign Research 6

2 Research in Vietnam 6

Part C: THE STUDY 6

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

1.1 American society in the 20th century 7

1.2 American Literature in the 20th century 9

1.3 Definition of Humanity 10

1.3.1 Definition 10

1.3.2 Features 11

1.4 Jack London and his works 12

1.4.1 Jack London‟s life time 12

1.4.2 Jack London‟s works 14

1.5 “White Fang” by Jack London 16

1.5.1 The historical context of the novel 16

1.5.2 The plot of the novel 17

1.5.3 The characters 20

Chapter 2: THE HUMANITY EXPRESSED IN THE NOVEL “WHITE FANG” 23

2.1 The struggle and desire for life 23

2.1.1 The harsh environment and the famines 23

2.1.2 The enemies and the death 26

2.2 The evolution of White Fang in the relationship with his masters 30

2.2.1 The relationship between White Fang and Gray Beaver 30

2.2.2 The relationship between White Fang and Beauty Smith 34

2.2.3 The relationship between White Fang and loving master 38

2.3 The efforts of White Fang to become a civilized wolf 42

Chapter 3: JACK LONDON‟S MESSAGES THROUGH THE NOVEL “WHITE FANG” 46

3.1 Life lessons 46

3.2 The power of love 47

Part D: CONCLUSION 51

1 Major findings 51

2 Implications 52

3 Limitations and suggestions for further research 53

4 Conclusion 53

REFERENCES 54

Part A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Ethics is the notions of good and evil, conscience, honor, responsibility for dignity, justice, happiness, the evaluative rules, the behavior between people and people, and the individual and society Ethical values are regarded

as ethical tradition of each country

Nowadays, the phenomenon of moral decadence becomes the concern of many countries around the world Many problems which relate to human moral issue are increasing Never before, unmoral and inhuman behaviors appear with dense frequency in the press at present Some bad acts such as unmindfulness and emotionlessness of people when see an injured person on the street, they do not help them, even the passers-by also take their wealth; doctors kill their patients and non-evidences determination; children kill their parents or siblings because of a little money, even fellow citizen do others harm by chemical food which cause silently the death of many people if they use it in a long time and so on

There are many reasons that cause the bad reality, include both of direct reasons and indirect reasons Some reasons that effect directly to human‟s awareness are the education at family, school and society or the process management and dissemination But the deep reason for the problem is the lack of belief about life and good things

As a result, the bad deeds influence on psychology, awareness of people, especially, the young This make them look misconception about human society, even they lose gradually their human part and approach their animal part Like this, there are a lot of adverse effects on future generations This is

a generation that will not sympathy, ready to step on each other for survival, cannot distinguish good or bad things The society without human love is not different from the world wild of animals

See above, researcher has shown somewhat decadent moral situation in society today It relates to good and evil aspects between people and people, this mention on the humanitarian nature Thus, what can we do to spread the humanity into spirit and action in each person This is the question that make researcher have to worry and want to do a study to propagandize and impact

to others, especially students who are easily to approach it

The study concerns to literature, because learning through literature is an effective method It is regarded as a bridge which connect people to people and countries to countries Moreover, Literature also gives learners and readers the opportunity to connect the real world issues at the time they can learn true values for their life

More detail, researcher wants to research deeply the novel “White Fang”

by Jack London The work was published in 1906 and the name of the book

is eponymous with character, a wild wolf dog Similarly with “The call of the wild” novel – best known novel of Jack London, the two novels are related to that while “The Call of the wild” tells the story of a dog which becomes wild and “White Fang” is the life story of a wolf which comes back toward

civilization, after many hardships dealt him by both man and nature, to live a dog's life with a loving master Both novels are set in the land the author called simply "The North" - the Yukon Territory, Canada

“White Fang” of Jack London reflect the real human life There is no

essential difference between men and animals The novel is the portrayals of nature's unforgiving harshness, humankind's capacity and both of shocking brutality and unconditional love, and of the struggle for survival that is

common to all life Prominently, White Fang shows the power of human

kindness to transform a savage beast into a devoted pet The novel offers more than an animal story about the taming of a wild wolf-dog, named White Fang It is also a human‟s life story

Owning to the reasons above, I want to carry out a research named:

“A Study on the Humanity in the Novel “White Fang” by Jack London”

2 Research purpose

The research aims at:

- Studying the author Jack London and his novel “White Fang”

- Analyzing humanity in the novel “White Fang”

- Finding out the messages of Jack London through his novel

3 The Object and Scope of the research

3.1 The Object of the research

- The Subject of the research is: “A study on the Humanity”

- The Object of the research is: “the Novel “White Fang” by Jack London”

3.2 The scope of the research

- The study focus on humanity in the novel “White Fang” by Jack London

4 The significance of the research

The results of the study help students and readers understand about the

novel “White Fang” as well as know more about Jack London, especially the

humanity in the work Besides, it also transmits the love about American Literature to the readers

5 Research methods

So as to accomplish this thesis systematically and adequately, the researcher uses some following research methods:

- Theoretical study: The method is used to collect and study necessary

materials and documents related to the study

- Deductive and inductive method: The method is used to analyze humanity

expressed in the novel

- Systematized method: The method is used to systematize materials related

to the study

6 Research questions

The research finds the answers to the following questions:

- How is humanity expressed in Jack London novel?

- What are massages the writer wants to send to readers through his novel?

Part B: The overall study

This part focuses on some previous researches and books which relate to

the humanity and other aspects about the novel “White Fang”

Part C: The study

Chapter 1: Literature review

In this chapter, the researcher summaries the background knowledge of

literary context in Jack London‟s time, American Literature in the 20thcentury, general information about Jack London‟s life and works and his

novel “White Fang”

Chapter 2: The humanity expressed in the novel “White Fang”

This chapter analyzes the humanity expressed through the novel “White Fang” The first part analyzes the struggle and desire for life, the second part

shows the evolution of White Fang in the relationship with his masters and the final part indicates the efforts of White Fang to become a civilized wolf

Chapter 3: Jack London’s messages in the novel “White Fang”

In this chapter, the researcher finds out the messages that the author wants to send to readers through the novel

Part D: Conclusion

This chapter summarizes the major findings of the study, proves implications and offers the limitations as well as suggestions for further research

References

Part B: THE OVERALL STUDY

1 Foreign Research

There have been different authors doing researches in many aspects

related to “White Fang” by Jack London

In the world, there are many books and papers review about Jack London and

“White Fang” novel such as “In Steps of Jack London”, Vil M Bykov (2004) The

book showed that Jack London‟s works are full of sympathy for laboring people, for people of high dignity and courage, the characteristics of his writing

Moreover, in a literature essay “The Philosophy of Jack London Exposed

in White Fang” from website www.gradesaver.com, establishes the key

theme of the White Fang novel Through this novel, London seeks to portray his conception of nature, which is dark, ominous and powerful In order to convey this belief, he utilizes unique personification and symbolism, a wild setting and particular vocabulary In addition, he reveals his belief that human life is infinitesimal when compared to the all-encompassing power of nature

2 Research in Vietnam

In Vietnam, there are some researches about Jack London and his works

such as “Thế giới nhân vật trong tác phẩm của nhà văn vô sản Mĩ Jack Lodon” by Le Huy Bac (2005) help readers understand clearly about

characters in Jack London‟s works and the way to build characters of him

Besides, the master thesis named “Loài vật trong “Tiếng gọi nơi hoang dã” và “ Nanh Trắng” của Jack London” by Tran Thi Le (2012) points out

the special art of building the character of Jack London

From the information which are mentioned above, the researcher moves

a conclusion that there are many studies and books about the novel “White Fang” by Jack London However, the researcher realizes that many people who do not make on humanity in the novel “White Fang” by Jack London,

especially at Hung Vuong University.Part C: THE STUDY

Part C: THE STUDY Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 American society in the 20 th century

The 20th century was a time of great changes in American life The beginning of the 21st century seems a suitable time to look back over the past

100 years and see how the United States has developed, for better and worse, during that period of its history According to Nguyen Xuan Thom‟s opinion

in “A History of English and American Literature”, the first downing of a

new century marked distinctive changes of American society on many aspects such as politic, economy, society and so on In other words, the early decades

of 20th century is one of the most developmental period times in American history It is one of the few decades with universally known name – the Koaring Twenties This period with many events affects to the United State, especially, the World War I (1914 – 1918) and the World War II (1939 – 1945) The events affected to politics, economy and society in the United State

Politically, in the 1920s, there were many changes in US political system and foreign policies American people concerned how to deal with difficult problems of economy American took advantage of weapons trading to be rich At the end of the World War II, the US became the richest country in the world

From the 1920s to 1930s, there was a positive change in the US economy The other way, the economy boomed in the 1920s and lasted the entire decade Business activities increased and their prosperity plunged wild dreams of the American The government supported industrial growth by enacting protective tariffs, welcoming crowd of immigrants providing railroad subsidies, maintaining a patent system and looking the other way when abuses occurred The United State cared about obtaining higher diplomas which led

to the double of the number of universities in the 1920s At that time, American became those with the highest standard of living in the world

Society became very liberal because of the wealth and the large amounts

of spare time The great division between low and high culture shows the division between classes The desire to keep the boom within American created isolationism from foreign countries However, the 1930s was a complete 180 degrees or reveal from the 1920s The political climate became liberal and American began concern more their spiritual life In the 19thcentury, it is the first time when women were allowed to vote by the innovative politic However, in the 1920s, it was also the time of change in equality of gender Women were pleased with being set free from the sex discrimination They had the right to wear short skirts and dresses, to cut short hair, especially, they had the right to go to the polls, which was ratified Supplementary Law number 19 in Constitution with the law They were allowed to speak out what they thought legally and frankly and to be able to get important positions in society

In the times, one of the most exciting and significant events appeared in American history in 1866 – The Great Gold Rush in Arctic region, which was also known The Great Klondike Stampede Thousands of prospective gold miners left their homes and set out on their prosperous and adventurous way

to the Klondike area in their hope for finding gold and fortune In the following times, Jack London and his sister‟s husband Captain Shepard sailed

to join the Klondike Gold Rush because he was fond of adventurous life and brought up in the poverty However, his purpose in finding gold became unsuccessful London‟s time in the harsh Klondike was detrimental to his health He was malnourished in the goldfields and developed scurvy He spent the winter near Dawson city to receive shelter, food and any available medicine, so he had no choice but to return to San Fransisco As he himself

said: “It was in Klondike I found myself There nobody talks Everyone thinks You got your perspective I got mine” Jack London gained a tremendous

amount of insight and perspective and got an abundance of notes and memories of the Northland although he did not search for gold which also proves to be a rich resource for the rest of his life

1.2 American Literature in the 20 th century

During America‟s early history, it was a series of British colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States Therefore, America‟s literary tradition begins as linked to the broader tradition of English literature However, unique American characteristics and the breadth of its production usually now cause it to be considered a separate path and tradition

American literature experienced some stages, however, the history of American literature really began with the advent of romanticism in the 19th

century In the period, there are three prominent themes in American literature They are “get-rich-quick” theme, the war theme and the Negro theme

The “get-rich-quick” theme originated from the days of the gold-rush

century At the beginning of the 20th century, the theme also penetrated deeply novels and stories about the gold rush where man and nature wrestled with each other for predominance as known in Jack London‟s works about the

North land “The call of the wild” (1903) and “White Fang” (1906) was

The theme of war described as horror and brutal reality that war brought about, had a lasting impact on American imagination Some particular novels

of the theme as Soldier‟s Pay (1926) by William Faulkner and Tlie Aslo Rises (1926) and Farewell to Arm by Earnest Hemmingway portray war as something barbarian and dishonorable In the theme, some prose writings that

is based on facts, the Viet Nam War (1954 – 1975) has been the subject of

extensive, often highly critical analysis “My Lai 4” (1970) is the detailing the

massacre of Vietnamese civilians, women and children, by American troops

in 1968

The Negro theme, on the other word, The Harlem Renaissance theme developed from 1920 to 1930 In the period, an outburst of activity was a notable among black Americans in all fields of art The focus of this activity was in Harlem New York, as a result, this Negro art outburst was often referred to as the Harlem Renaissance From the Harlem renaissance came a number of notable names Greatest of all was the name of the famed poet and short story writer Langston Hughes

1.3 Definition of Humanity

1.3.1 Definition

The simple definition of humanism following the website

http://www.merrian-webster.com, “Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition” The other simple definition of humanism “Humanism is a system of values and beliefs that is based on the idea that people are basically goo d and that problems can be solved using reason instead of religion”

Humanity is an important incarnation of humanism Humanity focuses

on using human efforts to meet human needs and wants in this world History shows that those efforts are most effective when they involve both compassion and the scientific method – which includes reliance on reason, evidence, and free inquiry Humanity is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethics based on human and other natural values in

a spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities

According to the website http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wili/Humanity,

“The humanity is a set of strengths focused on tending and befriending others The three strengths associated with humanity are love, kindness and social intelligence Humanity differs from justice in that there is a level of altruism towards individuals included in humanity more so than the fairness found in justice That is, humanity, and the acts of love, altruism, and social intelligence are typically person to person strengths while fairness is generally expanded to all”

According to website http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/humanity,

the humanity defines as “The quality of being humane; the kind feelings, dispositions and sympathies of man; especially, a disposition to relieve persons

or animals in distress, and to treat all creatures with kindness and tenderness”

In essence, the humanity affirms the dignity of each human beings, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility It advocates the extension of participatory democracy and the expansion of the open society, standing for human rights and social justice Humanity derives the goal of life from human need and interest rather than from theological or ideological abstractions and asserts that humanity must take responsibility for its own destiny

1.3.2 Features

Following Jean Vanier, a Canadian Catholic philosopher, theologian,

humanitarian and author of “Becoming Human”, there are five main features

of humanity

First of all, the humanity asserts that all humans are sacred It does not matter what their race, religion, culture, capacity or incapacity, weakness or strength Each of us needs help to become all that we might be The humanist tries to follow the Golden Rule (or Ethic of reciprocity) – a moral maxim

found in nearly every human culture and religion: “One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself” It means treat others people as you

would like them to treat you, avoid harming others They also value all human beings, celebrating both our common humanity and shared values

Secondly, the world and also our own lives are in the process of evolution In other words, evolution is a part of life The past flows into the present and leads us into the future We need to love the essential values of the past and think about how they are to be lived in the new These values contain love, openness, wholeness, unity, peace, the human potential for healing and redemption, and most important, the necessity forgiveness

Thirdly, maturity comes through working with others It means the maturity will come through dialogue, a sense of belonging and a searching together So that people can move into insecurity, take ricks, change of life and evolve toward the new

Fourthly, human beings need to be encouraged to make choices People need to choose to be responsible for own lives and for the lives of others Thus, people need to be encouraged to evolve and break out of the shell of self – centeredness

Finally, people need to reflect and to seek truth and meaning together To

be human means to remain connectedness To be human is to accept ourselves just as we are, with our own history, and to accept others as they are

1.4 Jack London and his works

1.4.1 Jack London’s life time

Jack London – a famous American novelist, short story writer, journalist and social activist He is a pioneer in the burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and is one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone In other way, he is one of the first American success in financial from writing career

John “Jack” Griffith Chaney was born on 12 January 1876 in San Francisco, California He was deserted by his father, William Henry Chaney,

a itinerant astrologer, and raised in Oakland by his mother Flora Wellman, a

music teacher and spiritualist In 1876, after Chaney left Flora, she wed John London – a failed storekeeper, he was given his last name and now had two step-sisters Eliza and Ida London‟s youth was marked by poverty He was selling newspapers and learning some hard lessons in life at his age of ten At the same time, he became an avid reader, and borrowed books from the Oakland Public Library

When London was fourteen, after leaving school, he worked as a seaman, rode in freight trains as a hobo and adopted socialistic views as a member of the protest armies of the unemployed In 1894, he spent one month for vagrancy in the Erie County Penitentiary at Buffalo, New York These years made him determined to raise himself out of poverty but they also gave

later material for such works as The Sea-Wolf (1904), which was partly based

on his horrific experiences as a sailor in the Pacific Ocean The Road (1907)

is a collection of short stories, inspired later writers like Steinbeck and Jack

Kerouac In The Road story, he wrote: “Man-handling was merely one of the very minor unprintable horrors of the Erie County Pen I say „unprintable‟; and in justice I must also say undescribe able to me until I saw them, and I was no spring chicken in the ways of the world and the awful abysses of human degradation It would take a deep plummet to reach bottom in the Erie County Pen, and I do but skim lightly and facetiously the surface of things as I there saw them”

Although he had informal education, London spent much time in public library reading fiction, philosophy, poetry, political science and at the age of

19 gained admittance to the University of California in Berkeley During this period, he had already started to white He left the school before the year was over and went to seek a fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 which was a failure but provide him with abundant materials for later writing

In 1901, London ran unsuccessfully on the Socialist party ticket for mayor of Oakland He started to produce steadily novels, nonfiction and short stories Then he becomes one of the most popular authors The first novel of

Jack London is The Son of the Wolf in 1900 By 1904, Jack London was the

author of 10 books The Son of the Wolf gained a wide audience as his other

Alaska stories, The Call of the Wild (1903), White Fang (1906) and Burning Daylight (1910)

In 1902, London went to England, where he studied the backside of the British imperium: the living conditions in East End and working class area of capital city Originally, he set out for South Africa to report the Boer War His book about the economic degradation of the poor, the people of the Abyss (1903), was a surprise success in the US, but criticized in England

In 1907, London and Charmian started aboard the Snark, a sailing trip

around the world On the voyage, he began to write Martin Eden After hardships, London‟s financial affairs were in chaos, his teeth gave him incessant pain and he began to buy plots from a struggling writer, Sinclair Lewis, to produce more articles and stories for sale

At the age of forty, Jack London died at his ranch cottage on 22 November 1916 in Hawaii

1.4.2 Jack London’s works

Jack London contributed to American literature and world literature during his 20 years of writing He was one of those who laid the background for American Socialist literature He was a successful writer, this originated from all his experience in life and great efforts

Jack London published his first collection of stories “The Son of the Wolf” in 1900 He wrote over two hundred short stories in the next twenty

years During that time, he also published twenty novels, more than four hundred nonfiction pieces and three plays

In 1903, London wrote “The Call of the Wild”, an all-time best seller The book made him immediately popular in his time “White Fang” – a

popular tale, was published in 1906 and the name of the book‟s eponymous

character, a wild wolf dog becoming domesticated Similarly, “The call of the

wild” and “White Fang” are adventure novels, and both of them are set in the

land the author called simply "The North" - the Yukon Territory, Canada

While “The Call of the wild” tells the story of a dog which becomes wild,

“White Fang” is the life story of a wolf which comes toward civilization, after

many hardships dealt him by both man and nature, to live a dog's life with a

loving master “White Fang” of Jack London reflect the real human life There

is no essential difference between men and animals The novel is portrayals of nature's unforgiving harshness, of humankind's capacity for both shocking brutality and unconditional love, and of the struggle for survival that is common to all life Prominently, White Fang shows the power of human

kindness to transform a savage beast into a devoted pet The novel offers more than an animal story about the taming of a wild wolf-dog, named White Fang

Next, there are some popular works such as: The Sea – Wolf (1904), The Iron Heel (1908), which became popular in the Soviet Union, The Cruise of the Snark (1911), a travel book from his journeys in South Pacific and semi-

autobiographical Martin Eden, etc

At the end of 19th century in America, people were tired of the romanticism and sentiment of Victorian Age The rough and tough things in life began to have a popular appeal London‟s work came at the right time as a fine specimen of scathing social criticism His idea began to be copied y many other writers

The marked decline of his writing after 1913 coincides with his drifting away from the socialist movement London became millionaire He spent money on the building of his ship for the voyage around the world and on his splendid “wolf house”, but both ventures failed In 1914, he resigned from the socialist Party because he could not resolve the tension exemplified in his fiction London was an unhappy man who could not reconcile his own success with the things he had seen and endured

1.5 “White Fang” by Jack London

1.5.1 The historical context of the novel

In 1897, about one hundred thousand men set off for the Yukon to make their fortune, then, they discovered the gold Consequently, Canada made the rules and regulations whereby gold – seekers could enter the territory

Canadian police decreed that in order to enter the territory, travelers must carry a years‟ worth of gear and supplies This was such a prodigious weight that many were obliged to abundant most of their supplies along the trail when they proved too heavy to bear Consequently, the gold – rush proved to be for those selling supplies and providing other services at unheard

of premiums

London was soon caught in the gold rush frenzy In 1897, he sailed for the Klondike abroad the SS Umatilla He spent a single winter in the Canadian North during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 – 1898 The Gold Rush did not make London rich, but it furnished him with plenty of material for his career as a writer, which began in the late 1890s and continued until his death in 1916 He worked as a reporter, covering the Russo – Japanese war of 1904 and the Mexican Revolution in 1910s, meanwhile, he published over fifty books and became American‟s most author For a while, he was one

of the most widely read authors in the world He embodied, it was said the spirit of the American West and his portrayal of adventure and frontier life seemed like a breath of fresh air in comparison with nineteenth century Victoria fiction, which was often overly concerned with what had began to seem like trivial and irrelevant social norms

After the failed trip to the North, London came back home and wrote

about the North with much more success London wrote “The Call of the Wild” in 1903 and achieved much success It was London‟s best known

novels

Following closely the success of “The Call of the Wild”, London published continually a novel about dog, “White Fang” It is amazing novel, the main conflict in all of London‟s stories is man and nature, but in “White Fang”, is dog-nature and wolf-nature Although “White Fang” is not human,

the book illuminates the wolfish qualities of both men and animals and the way that humans shape lesser creatures

1.5.2 The plot of the novel

“ White Fang ” opens with a beautiful picture of the Yukon in Canada Two men, Bill and Henry, with six dogs pulling a sled on which is strapped a coffin, are fleeing down a frozen waterway, a wolf pack in pursuit At night, a she-wolf lures the dogs in the team to their death London paints a portrait of the two men sitting around the campfire, seeing only the eyes of the wolves One morning, scared and discouraged, thus Bill decides to go out with his rifle and three remaining cartridges Bill does not return after three shots Henry knows that Bill was destroyed by the wolves Therefore, he leaves alone and night after night he feels the wolves coming closer and closer Finally, the wolves become so brazen that they come right up to the fire to have their dinner, Henry Henry literally climbs into the fire and begins hurling brands from the fire at the encircling wolves At the last moment he is rescued as a search party looking for the dead body Henry and Bill were transporting That is the abrupt end of Part I Henry drops out of the novel, and the scene shifts to the wolf pack and the birth of White Fang

Part II of the novel is quite different Part I, as the story tells about the she-wolf and her child, White Fang The famine is now over and the wolf pack begins to separate She-wolf begins to travel with three male wolves which are all vying for her attention, but she has interest in any of them

"One-Eye," an older, more experienced wolf eventually kills the other two males, the inexperienced three-year-old and the wolf off-guard, then, the she-wolf attends towards him They roam the countryside and it is the she-wolf

who teaches One-eye how to raid Indian traps After some time, the she-wolf

is restless, and she begins to look for a nesting place She finds a rocky cave where she can give birth to her cubs

One day, coming back from a day of hunting, the One-eye wolf surprised by the “remotely familiar” sound and finds five young cups in the nest He becomes a father, however, he has to keep distance to his cubs Because the she-wolf uses violently activities to threat him far away the cubs

She knows that male wolves have often “eaten their new born and helpless progeny” The One-eye wolf accepts his role and position, thus he goes out

and search for food and bring it back to the she-wolf and his cubs

Shortly after the birth of the she-wolf's cubs, the beginning of a famine

in the Northland and the One-eye cannot find the food for his family The old one eye wolf tries to kill a porcupine and a ptarmigan and brings back to his nest for his family

In the time of great famine, the old One-eye leaves to find food, however, and never comes back The she-wolf knows that he has been killed by the lynx when he has tried to kill her for food At that time, when the food become scare, there is no more meet and there is no more milk from the mother‟s breast, all of the little wolves die except the gray wolf cub This gray cub is much stronger and more active than the other cubs The survival of the gray cub is a reiteration

of London‟s them concerning "the survival of the fittest"

The gray cub named White Fang, who is three-quarters wolf and quarter husky, enters the story in the first month of his life, and London describes his step-by-step development as he emerges from the lair and learns how to hunt One time when the she-wolf is out hunting for food, the grey cub wanders out of the cave and has some good lesson by himself The first lesson

one-is “kill or be killed”, the law of the wild The next lesson one-is about survival – water can be dangerous The final lesson on the first time of adventure is “the aim of life was meat” Life is meat Life lived on life There were the eaters and the eaten The law was “Eat or be eaten”

Before he is one year old, White Fang is captured by an Indian,Gray Beaver, who trains him as a sled dog White Fang's life in the Indian village is anything but pleasant as he is targeted for abuse by an older dog, Lip-Lip His only protection is his mother, but shortly she is traded by Gray Beaver to pay

a debt When the gray wolf tries to follow his mother downstream, he is recaptured by the Indian and brutally beaten, learning that these men-gods are

to be obeyed Responding to constant attacks from other dogs in the village, White Fang gains a reputation for a savage ability to kill other dogs

This reputation eventually proves to be a liability On an excursion to Fort Yukon, Gray Beaver is tricked into selling his dog to a man namedBeauty Smith Beauty Smith, who is so ugly that his name was an antithesis, is particularly impressed with the dog Beauty does the cooking, the dishwashing, and the drudgery for the other men in the fort, where he is

known for his "cowardly rages" and his "distorted body and mind."

Under Beauty Smith's tutelage White Fang becomes a "fiend", earning

a reputation as "The Fighting Wolf", living a public life in a cage He is

taunted and tortured not only by Beauty Smith, but also most onlookers As the sourdoughs crowd around to place their bets, he beats all comers But he eventually meets his match with a bulldog, who gets a grip on him that White Fang cannot shake Just as he is about to die, the wolf is saved by Weedon Scott, who slugs Beauty Smith and manages to free White Fang from the bulldog Scott, a mining engineer, buys the wolf-dog and takes him back to his cabin It is here that White Fang first learns about love and becomes civilized With great patience and great care, the young engineer teaches the dog to trust someone for the first time in his life When he packs to leave the Yukon, White Fang senses what is coming, escapes from the house, and earns

a trip to the Southland

Weedon Scott's father is Judge Scott, and it is to his estate, Sierra Vista,

in the Santa Clara Valley in California that White Fang is taken Although mostly wolf by two small children to caress him But he does this only out of

love for his master, and his wild instincts never get out of him, as witnessed

by the fifty chickens he kills in the yard The gray wolf even develops a interest with a sheep-dog namedCollie

love-One night when Jim Hallbreaks into the house to get the Judge for

"railroading" him to prison, White Fang, despite taking three bullets from Hall's revolver, leaps on him and slashes his throat White Fang is near death but is able to survive injuries that would have left other dogs dead, once again supporting the theme of the "survival of the fittest." The end of the novel comes quite abruptly when White Fang ventures from the house on his first excursion after his accident only to be greeted by his litter of puppies White Fang lives on to play with his puppies in the California and earns the undying love of the Scott family through his courage and intelligence The family,

from that night on, refers to him as "the Blessed Wolf", but he remains what

he his - three-quarters wolf - and can never by fully domesticated

1.5.3 The characters

Bill: the sled driver who appears in the first section of the novel and is killed

by a pack of hungry wolves

Henry: The sled driver who appears with Bill in the first section of the novel,

before White Fang is born

Kiche: White Fang„s mother She is a she-wolf who appears in the first parts

of the novel, she lures sled dogs away from the team of Henry and Bill

One Eye: White Fang‟s father He is an old one eye wolf that uses his

experience and trickery to attack and kill the inexperienced three-year-old and the other wolf off-guard, then, he becomes the sole companion of the she-wolf and the father of White Fang later

White Fang: This dog is actually three-fourths wolf and one part dog He

possesses all of the intelligence of the dog family, along with the quickness and the slyness of the wolf family From his very first weeks, White Fang proves that he is the strongest of the litter; he survives in a famine that kills

his siblings Later, he gains a reputation for being one of the most savage dogs

in the North However, under the tutelage of a gentle master, White Fang eventually develops into a civilized animal in human society

Gray Beaver: an Indian who first owns Kiche, and the man who later owns

White Fang He represents a type of impersonal master in White Fang‟s life Gray Beaver will stand in contrast to savage owners, Beauty Smith but he compassionate owners as Weedon Scott He respects White Fang because of his uses Therefore, Gray Beaver is quite willing to give White Fang food, protection and shelter in exchange for White Fang„s obedience and work When Gray Beaver falls in the addiction of alcohol, he exchanges White Fang

to the cruel Beauty Smith – simply, to get whiskey

Kloo-kooch: Gray Beaver‟s wife who usually gives meat to White Fang Mit-sah: Gray Beaver‟s son; he is responsible for training White Fang for the

fan-like trace

Lip-Lip: One of the dogs in Gray Beaver‟s camp, he makes life miserable for

the younger and smaller White Fang Finally, he dies by White Fang‟s bite

Beauty Smith: A deliberate, evil man, extremely hideous in appearance;

London calls him a “monstrosity” His outer hideousness represents the

corruption of his soul Smith, who is hated by the world, uses White Fang as

an object on which he can vent his own hatred He seems to take an inner satisfaction out of vicious tormenting White Fang physically, with jabs and strikes and whips, or else tormenting White Fang mentally, with laughter and derision He uses White Fang to obtain money and to satisfy his concupiscence; otherwise, he never treats the dog well

Tim Keenan: The owner of a bulldog named Cherokee When Cherokee and

White Fang fight, Keenan is somewhat of a passive onlooker, and he is not resentful when Weedon Scott breaks up the fight between the two dogs

Cherokee: A bulldog belonging to Tim Keenan, he almost kills White Fang

before Weedon Scott separates them

Weedon Scott: He is the most important character in the novel because he

represents the compassionate, humane, and kind human being who, through patience and understanding, is able to transform White Fang from a wild beast into a civilized animal He is the only one who understands that an animal needs more than just to be fed – is also needs attention and love In return for Scott„s friendship and love White Fang gives Scott his complete love and

loyalty, he is totally obedient to the young master

Matt: Weedon Scott‟s assistant, even though Matt is in charge of feeding

White Fang every day, White Fang‟s total allegiance belong to Weedon Scott

Judge Scott: Weedon Scott‟s father - a magistrate who is saved from Jim

Hall by White Fang

Alice Scott: Weedon Scott‟s mother who owns a huge estate in the Sierra

Vista Valley in Califonia with Jugle Scott together

Beth Scott: Weedon Scott‟s younger sister who call White Fang by the name

“A Blessed Wolf”

Collie: A female sheepdog whose initial animosity towards White Fang is

equaled only by her later passion for him

Dick: Judge Scott‟s loyal and gentle hound

Jim Hall: An incorrigible villain, he kills three guards and escapes from San

Quentin White Fang saves Judge Scott‟s life when Hall tries to kill the Judge Scott

Chapter 2: THE HUMANITY EXPRESSED IN THE NOVEL “WHITE

FANG”

This chapter consists of three main parts The first part is about the struggle and desire for life The second part is about the evolution of White Fang in the relationship with his masters The last is about the rules to become

a civilized wolf

2.1 The struggle and desire for life

2.1.1 The harsh environment and the famines

If you have ever indulged in wild life of Buck in “The Call of the Wild”,

the White Fang will lead you to one harsh life, the struggle for survival of wolf dog White Fang is three-fourths wolf and one part dog His mother – Kiche is a wolf dog and his father is a wild wolf, an old, one-eyed wolf White Fang is born in the cold Northern land in Yukon, Canada, so he has to live early in a cold and harsh environment and lack of food Therefore, he must find food to survive by his natural instincts of predators So that, as soon

as White Fang was born, he had to struggle against the harsh environment and

The Northern land is wild, savage and frozen-hearted All year round, the region is covered by snow and silence So that White Fang and others animals have to face the cold of the snow It is the desolation and lifeless land that all of creatures live in

“There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness, a laughter that was mirthless as the sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaking of grimness of infallibility It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life.”

( Part I, chapter 1, page 3 )

To struggle against the harsh environmental life, White Fang owns an unusual body He is inherited the sly, cunning from his mother and the brave, strong from father, Old one-eye wolf He is a special cub with gray fur while his brothers and sisters have reddish fur He looks like his father than his siblings

“He was different from his brothers and sisters Their hair already betrayed the reddish hue inherited from their mother, the she-wolf, while he alone, in this particular, took after his father He was the one little grey cub of the litter He had bred true to the straight wolf-stock in fact, he had bred true

to old One eye himself, physically, with but a single exception, and that was

he had two eye to his father‟s one”

(Part II, chapter 3, p.27) Particularly, White Fang is much stronger and more active than the other cubs He is a savage cub as his brothers and sisters White Fang is

known as the most horrid cub in the pack of cubs His first growl is louder and fiercer than his brothers and sisters White Fang is the first cub knows how to trick of rolling a fellow-cub over with a deft kick or grab the others wolves ears

“But he was, further, the fiercest of the litter… It was he that first learned the trick of rolling a fellow-cub over with a cunning paw-stroke And

it was he that first gripped another cub by the ear and pulled and tugged and growled through jaws tight-clenched… ”

(Part II, chapter 3, page 28)

At the beginning of his life, the grey cub not only has to face to hard environment, but also he has to struggle with famines

First of all, the keeping of a small and weak White Fang‟s life after some famines, when all his siblings had died, forecasted capability to fight and a desire for life of him As well as others animals in the Northland, the grey cub knows early about the hunger His mother has not enough milk for him and his siblings

The hunger leads the grey cub and his brothers and sisters into the deep coma The flickering life in their bodies is like a dying fire After all, the grey cub is an only wolf which still lives while his siblings die because of hunger

“He found that the population of his world had been reduced Only one sister remained to him The rest were gone As he grew stronger, he found himself compelled to play alone, for the sister no longer lifted her head nor moved about His little body rounded out with the meat he now ate; but the food had come too late for her She slept continuously, a tiny skeleton flung round with skin in which the flame flicked lower and lower and at last went out”

( Part II, chapter 3, page 29 ) When the other famine happen, the grey cub‟s father – old one eye wolf dies because of looking food for him and his family His mother – Kiche has

to put herself at risk to find food Thus, the little wolf and his mother have to fight bravely to destroy a she-lynx together At that time, the grey cub usually lives alone when Kiche goes out to find food This shows the grey cub is very strong and he has the vitality for life Although he is a small and weak cub, he

is bravely to opposite with a strong enemy like a hungry she-lynx

“And if sight alone were not sufficient, the cry of rage the intruder gave, beginning with a snarl and rushing abruptly upward into a hoarse screech, was convincing enough in itself… The cub felt the prod of life that was in him, and stood up and snarled valiantly by his mother‟s side… The two animals threshed about, the lynx ripping and tearing with her claws and using her teeth as well, while the she-wolf uses her teeth alone… Once, the cub sprang

in and sank his teeth into the hind leg of the lynx… The lynx lashed out at the cub with a huge fore-paw that ripped his shoulder open to the bone and sent him hurtling sidewise against the wall… But the fight lasted so long that he had time to cry himself out and experience a second burst of courage; and at the end of the battle found him again clinging to a hind-leg and furiously growling between his teeth”

( Part II, chapter 5, page 36 )