White Fang facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
White Fang

First edition cover
Author	Jack London
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Jack London
Genre	Adventure
Set in	Santa Clara Valley and the Yukon, c. 1896–99
Publisher	Macmillan
Publication date	May 1906
Media type	Print (serial, hardback & paperback)
Pages	298 pp (2001 Scholastic paperback)
ISBN	978-1-85813-740-7
Dewey Decimal	813.52
LC Class	PS3523 .O46
Preceded by	The Call of the Wild
Text	White Fang at Wikisource

White Fang is a famous novel by American writer Jack London. It was first published in 1906. The book is named after its main character, a wild wolfdog.

The story follows White Fang's journey. He learns to live with humans in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. This happens during the exciting time of the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. White Fang is like a partner story to London's other famous book, The Call of the Wild. That book is about a pet dog who learns to live wild. White Fang is the opposite: it's about a wild animal learning to live with people.

Much of the book is told from White Fang's point of view. This helps readers understand how animals see their world. It also shows how they see humans. The story explores big ideas like right and wrong, and how someone can change for the better.

The story of White Fang has been made into many movies. The first film was in 1925. A well-known movie version came out in 1991, starring Ethan Hawke. Another film was made for Netflix in 2018.

The Story of White Fang

A Wild Beginning

The story starts before White Fang is born. Two men, Bill and Henry, are traveling through the snowy Yukon. They are pulling a coffin with their sled dog team. A large group of hungry wolves starts to follow them. The wolves are very dangerous.

Slowly, the wolves attack their dogs. Eventually, all the dogs are gone. Bill is also taken by the wolves. Henry is found just in time by other teams. The wolf pack runs away when more people arrive.

The story then follows the wolf pack. They are still very hungry. They finally catch a moose, which ends their hunger. The pack then splits up. The story now focuses on a she-wolf and her mate, One Eye.

The she-wolf gives birth to five cubs near the Mackenzie River. Sadly, four of them die from hunger. Only one cub survives. One Eye is killed by a Canada lynx while trying to find food. The she-wolf later finds his remains.

The she-wolf and her cub are now alone. She kills the lynx's kittens to feed her cub. This makes the mother lynx angry. A fierce fight happens between the she-wolf and the lynx. The she-wolf wins but is badly hurt. She eats the lynx to recover.

Life with Humans

One day, the cub meets five Native American people. The she-wolf comes to protect him. One man, Grey Beaver, recognizes the she-wolf. She is his brother's wolfdog, Kiche, who ran away during a famine. Grey Beaver's brother is gone, so he takes Kiche and her cub. He names the cub "White Fang".

White Fang has a difficult life in the Native American camp. The other puppies see him as a wolf. They attack him right away. The humans save him, but the puppies never accept him. A pup named Lip-Lip especially bullies him. White Fang grows up to be tough and lonely. He becomes a fierce fighter.

White Fang is then separated from his mother. Kiche is sold to another camp. White Fang runs away from the camp. He realizes how hard life is in the wild. He earns Grey Beaver's respect when he saves his son, Mit-Sah. Mit-Sah was being attacked by other boys.

During a time of hunger, White Fang runs into the woods again. He meets his mother, Kiche. But she chases him away because she has new cubs. She has forgotten him. He also meets Lip-Lip again. White Fang fights and kills Lip-Lip. Then he returns to the camp.

A New Home

When White Fang is five years old, Grey Beaver takes him to Fort Yukon, Alaska. Grey Beaver wants to trade with the gold-hunters there. One day, Grey Beaver is drunk. White Fang is bought by a cruel man named "Beauty" Smith. Smith makes dogs fight for money.

White Fang wins every fight he is in. He beats other wolves and even a lynx. Then, a bulldog named Cherokee is brought to fight him. Cherokee grabs White Fang's neck and starts to choke him. White Fang is almost killed.

But a rich, young gold hunter named Weedon Scott stops the fight. He forces Beauty Smith to sell White Fang to him. Scott tries to tame White Fang. It takes a long time and a lot of patience, but he finally succeeds.

When Scott tries to go back to California alone, White Fang follows him. Scott decides to take the dog home with him. In California, White Fang has to learn new rules. At the end of the book, a criminal named Jim Hall escapes from prison. He tries to kill Scott's father, Judge Scott. Jim Hall blames the judge for sending him to prison unfairly.

White Fang attacks and kills Jim Hall. White Fang is badly hurt but survives. The women at Scott's home call him "The Blessed Wolf." The story ends with White Fang resting in the sun. He is with the puppies he had with Collie, a sheepdog.

Main Characters

Here are the most important characters in the story:

• White Fang: The main character of the book. He is a wolfdog who was born wild. He becomes more like a dog after Grey Beaver takes him in. He is bullied by Lip-Lip. Beauty Smith forces him to be a fighting dog. But his life changes when Weedon Scott buys him. Scott takes him to his home in Santa Clara Valley, California. White Fang becomes part of the family after saving Judge Scott.
• Kiche: White Fang's mother. She is a sled dog owned by Grey Beaver. At the start of the book, she is called the "she-wolf."
• Lip-lip: A puppy who lives in the Native American village. He bullies White Fang often.
• One-Eye: White Fang's father. He is a true wolf. He is killed by the lynx.
• Cherokee: A bulldog. He is the only dog who defeats White Fang in a fight.
• Collie: A sheepdog. She is the mother of White Fang's puppies.
• The Lynx: An aggressive Canada lynx. It kills One-Eye. Later, Kiche kills the lynx to get revenge.

Major human characters:

• Gray Beaver: A Native American chief. He is White Fang's first human owner. He is not as cruel as Beauty Smith, but not as kind as Weedon Scott.
• Beauty Smith: The bad guy in the story. He is White Fang's second owner. He makes White Fang fight other dogs.
• Weedon Scott: A rich gold hunter. He is White Fang's third owner. He is the first person to truly show White Fang love and kindness.
• Matt: Weedon Scott's helper. He helps Weedon tame White Fang.
• Judge Scott: Weedon Scott's father. He accepts White Fang into the family. This happens after White Fang saves him from Jim Hall.
• Jim Hall: A dangerous criminal. He tries to get revenge on Judge Scott. White Fang kills him.
• Henry: A character at the beginning of the book. He is carrying a coffin with Bill.
• Bill: A character at the beginning of the book with Henry. He is killed by the wolves led by Kiche.
• Three Eagles: A Native American who buys Kiche from Grey Beaver.

Background

Jack London wrote White Fang partly about his own life. It shows how he changed from a wild teenager to a married writer. He was also inspired by the ideas of thinkers like Herbert Spencer and Friedrich Nietzsche. The way things were in the United States at the time also influenced the story.

Adaptations

The story of White Fang has been made into many movies and TV shows. It has also been turned into audiobooks.

A TV series called White Fang was filmed in New Zealand in 1993.

Films

• White Fang (1925)
• White Fang (1936)
• White Fang (1946)
• White Fang (1973)
• Challenge to White Fang (1974)
• White Fang to the Rescue (1974)
• Zanna Bianca e il grande Kid (1977)
• The Story of White Fang (1982), a Japanese anime film
• White Fang (1991)
• White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf (1994)
• White Fang (1997)
• White Fang (2018)

Television series

• The Legend of White Fang (1992)
• White Fang (1993)

See also

In Spanish: Colmillo Blanco para niños