White Fang

White Fang is a novel written by Jack London. It tells the tale of a wolf, who comes to be known as White Fang. Kiche, half dog, half wolf, gives birth to White Fang, but when they encounter a great famine, Kiche goes back to her previous home, among the Indians. The Indians welcome her and her pup, but White Fang gets adopted by a cruel owner, Grey Beaver, who shows no love towards the wolf. He gets bullied and tormented by the other dog puppies in the village, who all hate, and do not trust him. White Fang never gets to play or release his energy, so his brain takes control of that energy and he develops very smart and quick instincts and reflexes. He learns to survive in the village, and in turn he grows to hate all dogs too, and he grows into a very strong, obedient, highly intelligent morose wolf. On one occasion, when Grey Beaver sells his commerce in a small town, an ugly cowardly man sets his sights one White Fang. He tries to buy the wolf from the Indian, but Indian knows that White Fang is his best dog, and he needed him for the sled pulling, and he needed his fierceness to protect his goods when he wasn't there. The ugly man, sarcastically nick-named Beauty Smith, then gives whiskey and alcohol to the Indian, and Grey Beaver soon falls in debt, because of having spent all his money trying to obtain more of the addicting liquid. Beauty then tries to buy White Fang again, but this time in bottles, and White Fang gets sold away without second thought. Beauty locks the wolf in a cage day and night, and laughs at the wrathful creature. Soon, his motive for wanting the wolf becomes clear. He enrolls White Fang into dog fights, and the wolf's hatred, cunning, and lighting quick actions make him win every single battle. But now that this creature has been beaten into an angry, loveless, trust less killing machine, will it ever be possible for him to know of love and kindness?

I truly enjoyed this novel, not really because of the actual story, but because of the way it was told. London somehow managed to tell the story from White Fang's point of view, without using the first person, or creating anthropomorphised animals. I thought it was a refreshing new way of writing 'dog' books, without actually using a thinking and speaking wolf. There have been many movie and series adaptations, some only using the name White Fang for their main dog, others actually following the story of the book. Probably the most known of these adaptions is Disney's 1991 'White Fang'. I vaguely remember enough of the outlines of the movie to know that the story is almost completely different. How White Fang became a belonging to Grey Beaver is completely different, and what happens after Beauty Smith is also different.
Over all, I enjoyed the type of writing, but I did not like the actual story because it's flimsiness and unrealistic circumstances. I also didn't appreciate the animal cruelty, even if I already knew it was bound to be there. The ending, however, made up for the feeble and inhumane story leading up to it.

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