WOLF FANG AND SNOW

White Fang is probably not a strange name to those who love classic works, especially the works of author Jack London. I first knew Jack London through his short story Love of Life. From there, I searched for other short stories such as: making fire, iron heels... And I cannot help but mention the work "The Call of the Wild", as well as White Fang,... I also intended to write a review of The Call of the Wild, but unfortunately, I read it more than 3 years ago. Now, writing a review is a bit vague. But as for White Fang, I just finished reading it, so I'll write a review.

It's too bad that from the last review of Catcher in the Rye until now, I've read a few more books, but haven't written any more book reviews.

About author Jack London and White Fang

Jack London was born in 1876 and died in 1916. He was a famous American writer. I like Jack London's works because of the characters' determination and desire to live. Besides, there is the call of the ego, of the nature deep inside the subconscious of the characters.

Like The Call of the Wild, White Fang is a familiar name that I have heard a long time ago, since I was a little kid, when the same name was still broadcast on TV. Only later when I grew up did I realize that these are classic novels. These two novels are both about wolves in the context of the gold rush in Alaska in the 19th century.

White Fang is the name of a wolf cub. And to meet this wolf cub in the novel, you will be led through a long series of dramatic events from its parents' life. In contrast to The Call of the Wild, when the dog Buck left humans to go into the jungle following the call of his ego, the call of his ancient race echoing in his subconscious. White Fang in the novel of the same name, left the jungle, to return to serve humans, after going through many storms, finally he had an owner who treated him with love, touching the wild soul of that wolf.

Starting in the vast white landscape of snow

The story begins with the image of two guys with a pack of sled dogs, trying to drag themselves on the white snow, transporting the coffin of a count who died in the gold rush. They had to face the wolves, losing each sled dog one by one, then they lost one of them. Until the remaining person was about to lose his life, he was rescued in time by another group of people. He only had time to say a few words before he fell asleep again. Of course, those losses were all caused by the pack of wolves. In this opening paragraph, you still don't know who White Fang is, and you don't know if he is a human or a wolf. You don't know that until later.

In the beginning, you will see the loneliness and weakness of humans in front of the wild nature of the frozen Alaska. Using fire to prevent the wolves from approaching, but they only keep a short distance, and when the fire dies down, they rush forward. Having to fight against sleepiness and having to fight against the wolves when alone, it is truly a hopeless situation. But that person, still full of will to live, and fight to the end, determined not to surrender.

The wolves, after being disrupted by the rescue team, moved far away, they hunted a deer, shared their food and then split up. It's like when they are too hungry, they gather together to hunt, when they no longer have to worry about their empty stomachs, they go their separate ways. And a wolf cub, the main character of the story, was born from one of those sub-packs. Two males, one the strongest, one the oldest, fought to the death to win the female wolf.

Born in a cave, along with 3 other siblings, but hunger, made Little Wolf the only one to survive. Even his father, Old Wolf, died not long after. The female wolf was a wolf-dog hybrid, who had lived with the Indians. So obviously, Little Wolf also had the blood of a dog in her.

During those famine days, the female wolf had to leave her cubs in the cave to find food, Little Wolf took advantage of one of those free opportunities, to explore the outside world, and had his first lessons in life, including his first battle. Jack London described the way Little Wolf perceived and learned from nature, as if he understood the way wolves did. A way of perceiving like seeing and knowing.

Little Wolf's first achievement was a flock of chicks, then had to fight with Mother Hen. The next fierce battle was with his mother, the female wolf, fighting to the death with Mother Lynx.

On one occasion, when the mother wolf and her cubs went to the river to drink water together after recovering from a deadly battle with a lynx, they met the Indians, who were also the mother wolf’s masters. Kiche, the mother wolf’s name. And White Fang was the name the Indians gave to the cubs. White Fang, far from his mother, grew up in battles, and submitted to the Gods – men.

Not long after returning to the Indians, mother and son had to part. White Fang had to live alone, endure the treatment of humans, learn to respect and obey humans, and his master, an Indian named Gray Weasel. But besides that, he also had to learn to live with a pack of dogs, which White Fang was always a different species and always tried to cause trouble for. Among them was Liplip, the strongest dog in the pack. But as White Fang grew older, his body developed more and more, surpassing the other dogs. In addition, he trained himself in fighting skills, so in no time he became the loser. But with the nature of a wolf, he always liked to be alone, not trying to integrate with the other dogs. As long as they left him alone, nothing would happen. Much later, White Fang met his mother again, but this time his mother did not recognize him anymore. Perhaps it was the nature of the species that when the cubs grew up they would fend for themselves, and Kiche followed the genetics of the species.

Then another famine season came, White Fang left the humans, went into the deep forest to find food for himself, many other dogs did the same, during that time he also met and fought with a few. He returned to his den for a moment, memories flooding back. Surprisingly, he saw his mother, Kiche, there, but there were also a few other wolf cubs. Kiche's maternal instincts arose, she chased White Fang away. White Fang knew that his mother had also no longer recognized him, so he went far away. When the famine season ended, he craved the warmth of the fires, accustomed to serving humans whom he considered gods. He returned to Gray Weasel, among the huts, near the warm fire.

White Fang fell into dangerous days, his soul was nourished by blood and violence

According to rumors, Gray Weasel went to a white people's area to trade animal skins. He earned a lot of money from this trade. Besides, this also brought a new entertainment for White Fang and the Indian dogs. Every time a ship arrived at the port, the white people's dogs just got off, they would be attacked by the native dogs, of course, the victims had to die. During these times, White Fang always showed himself to be the bravest, and also the most disobedient. He rushed in to attack first, and immediately retreated. When the white people realized the problem, and took out his anger on the native dogs. White Fang had already run away, only those stupid dogs, because of their bloodlust, suffered.

“Handsome Smith”, a strange man, was very interested in this bloody game of the dogs, and he obviously also noticed the clever actions as well as the bravery of White Fang. And the ambition to take over the wolf cub was in him from then on. After many unsuccessful negotiations and bargaining, he used tricks with bottles of wine to make Gray Weasel addicted and then had to part with White Fang to the new owner for the price of 25 bottles of wine.

From here, the dark days of White Fang began. Being harshly trained both physically and mentally under the evil hands of “Handsome Smith”. At this time, the purpose of “Handsome Smith” was clear, White Fang was brought by him to dogfights to the death. And of course, the winner always belonged to White Fang. But through these fights, White Fang was immersed in blood, its nature became more aggressive than ever, and more unruly than ever.

The story only ended when it was about to die under the fangs of a dog (in the story, the translator said "poodle", but through the descriptive details, I think it was a Pitbull). This dog, beaten to a pulp by White Fang, still stubbornly moved forward, just waiting for a careless move from White Fang, its jaws caught White Fang's chest. Resolutely refusing to let go, and gradually moved up to the throat. Right when the god of death had placed the scythe on White Fang's throat, Scot and his associates appeared. Two straight punches to the face made "handsome Smith" fall down and shut up. The crowd dispersed. Scot paid "handsome Smith" 150 dollars to get White Fang.

White Fang got used to love, moved to a new land, and a final fight

Thanks to Scot's care, White Fang soon recovered. But it was still aggressive and uncontrollable, biting Scot and his dog handler when they tried to approach. But with his patience and devotion, Scot gradually won White Fang's affection. Under Scot's love and devotion, White Fang gradually felt the love and worship of this new god. He voluntarily devoted himself to the god, trying to protect Scot and his property. He also gradually learned to distinguish between guests and lurking thieves.

One time, while sleeping in the house, Scot jumped up and ran out when he heard the sound of a door and howled in horror at the door. Before his eyes, the “handsome Smith” was lying down, with his two hands covered in blood, torn to the bone. This guy had the idea of taking White Fang back for his dogfighting to make money.

Once, Scot went on a business trip, White Fang went crazy, starving himself to the point of almost being exhausted. He always waited for his master to return. At that time, Scot knew that White Fang’s feelings for him were really deep, although he did not show them as much as the dogs at home. And because he was a wolf, he liked solitude, in his adult years, life had only taught him killing, fighting, violence, etc., so he was not familiar with expressions of love. He did not run to his master immediately when he returned. The only expression that Scot had seen up to that time was wagging his tail.

But when Scot's work in Alaska was over, he had to return south. He would not know what to do with a wolf south. White Fang had sensed the separation, and seen through Scot's preparations. He tried to lock it in the house to escape, and the dogkeeper would look after it for him. But White Fang broke through the glass window to find him, on the deck of the ship preparing to depart south. With no other choice, and not willing to leave, he took White Fang with him.

The world in the South, America, brought many new things to White Fang, from space: roads, cars, horse-drawn carriages, square, massive buildings, farms, other domestic dogs. In addition, it had to change its habits, no longer hunt, and be served food and water. It had to train its bloodlust against domestic animals such as chickens, rabbits, sheep, etc.

The story ends with the image of White Fang, playing with its own children and its mortal enemy - a German Shepherd, after it had just gone through a seemingly incurable disaster. It attacked the criminal Jim Ham when he sneaked into Scot's house to take revenge. In the dark night, when terrifying howls rang out, everyone ran down, Jim Ham was taking his last breaths with a torn throat. White Fang also passed out afterwards because he was thrown around and bullets pierced his body...

The fact that it survived the disaster was not only thanks to luck at a rate of 1/1000 but also thanks to the strong will to live of a wild wolf. A wolf that from the very beginning of its life had not had any peace, and the training of life helped it become tough, always striving to defeat all enemies.