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“White Fang” and “The Call of the Wild”

White Fang is a novel with the themes that center around the progression of humanity

from nature to civilization while “The Call of the Wild” centers its theme on the story of survival

and return to primitivism. The two works are similar yet different in many aspects; thematic

content and the styles that have been applied in the depiction of the themes. Consequently, this

paper compares and contrasts the two works based on their similarities and differences that are

inherent throughout the two texts.

Before analyzing the differences and similarities that exist in these two novels, it is

imperative to understand their plot. In the White Fang, the beginning is period before the wolf-

dog hybrid given birth to, in this period, there are two men plus their dogs that set out for a

journey. The journey intends to deliver Lord Alfred’s coffin to Fort McGurry which is a small

town in Yuko Territory, Canada. These two men, Bill and Henry, encounter wolves that are

starving in the course of their journey; these wolves are hungry and face starvation that can make

them eat anything. In the process, the wolves eat all the dogs of the two men and Bill. Four

teams further move into the area to find Bill struggling with the wolves as he was fighting to

escape the hungry and starving wolves.

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After the famine has ended, the pack splits, and the story then moves by following a she-

wolf and her mate. After giving birth to a litter, she-wolf loses all but one of her cubs to hunger.

One eye is killed in the process of Lynx trying to look for food. The mate, later on, discovers that

there were remains near the den of the Lynx. In other words, the story is that of animals which

are trying to survive the changes of the times. There are also issues of domestication and

adaptation that have been discussed in the novel. By this time, the dog was already domesticated

in the area, and this has been shown in the story. The story, therefore, depicts organisms which

are surviving in the environment and the animals which are also striving to survive the harshness

of the conditions in the environment. Eventually, the story is also that of civilizations which are

being depicted in the major themes of the novel.

In the case of the call of the wild, the story starts with the Back that is both large and

powerful Scotch Shepherd. The Buck lives happily in the Santa Clara Valley, California. It lives

as a pet of Judge Miller who is regarded as rich and influential in this valley. This is a point that

is already showing civilization in the valley. The rearing and domestication in this valley have

already depicted a society which is rearing domestic animals for making them act as pets.

However, there is stealing of this pet by Manuel who is addicted to gambling. Manuel puts Buck

into a crate and ships this Buck to Seattle. While in the crate, Buck faces a seemingly different

and unfamiliar environment filled with maltreatment and starvation. The new environment

redefines the new life of the Buck. Buck, therefore, attacks the man in red when he is released

from the crate. This is an epitome of adaptation that the author uses to paint his picture. The

Buck has adapted again and influenced by the environment to attack people who he sees for the

first time. This is an act which shows that the environment defines people.

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After attacking the man, Buck is taught the law of the club; he is hit severally by the man

as being the law of club. The hitting cows Buck into submission and not being wild. The Buck is

then sold to Francois and Perrault, and they move the Buck to Klondike region. In Klondike,

Buck is again trained as a Sled dog where he fully learns how to survive the cold weathers and

the cold environment of the Klondike. In their training, there is a rivalry that develops between

Buck and Spitz that leads to a fight where Buck beats Spitz. Buck has fully been adapted to the

new environment and the new climate. This presents a point of survival for the fittest where the

strongest of the animals survive the harshness of the environment.

In the two novels; the main themes revolve around adaptation to the environment. In

other words, animals which are stronger and animals which are capable fight the battles to the

end in a manner that invokes the struggle between the changes in the environmental conditions

and the animal strength. The authors paint a picture of animals that can survive any environment

and those that can become adapted survives. The authors have used the war between the

organisms as a measure of strength and a measure of their ability to stand the test of time amidst

the changes in the environment. The authors have used such tools as hunger and starvation to

reveal the impact of changes in the environment as the main causes of hunger.

The two works are the same in their central themes. They all refer to a situation of

adaptation and progression by the individuals in the texts. In the Call of the wild, the progression

has been depicted succinctly by Pizer and generally captured when Pizer affirms that “ the

strong, shrewd, and the cunning shall prevail when… life is bestial”(Pizer). The statement is a

depiction of the true environment, and what is likely to happen to the weak is only imagined. The

text depicts a theme where the environment is moving, and changes are occurring to the

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environment in a manner that different people have to adapt to the system to survive. It is also

according to the Darwinism concept where the weakest of the organisms do not survive the

harshest of the conditions and do not live to pass on their weakling traits to their offspring. This

has been depicted in the Call for the Wild.

Just like in the case of the Call for the Wild, the White Fang is also centered on the theme

of progression from nature to human civilization. This is captured by the statement of Paul

Deane which states that “the society demands conformity that undermines individualism.” The

picture painted from the statement is that the society is dynamic, but individuals must survive by

society moving from the point where nature defines most activities to a new society where there

is civilization. The basis of this novel is Herbet Spencer’s principle of survival of the fittest. The

case depicted the main foundation of the theme in the novel is that of a society where people are

struggling to fit in and to subsequently survive through the thick of the system. The story in the

novel also begins by giving a three-point to relate with; before the wolf-dog hybrid, during and

after the wolf-dog hybrid. It is a depiction of the flow of the environmental issues that force the

decisions of survival of the fittest to be made in the novel.

In the two stories; there is a depiction of violence and love that have been shown by the

authors as major themes. In the case of the Call of the Wild, there is a conflict that is developed

between humans and Buck. However, what also prevails from the conflicts is that fact that each

of the individuals involved in the conflict are involved because of their love for one another.

Buck is also in conflict with other dogs out of love and with the environment out of the need to

survive. The main issue of conflict is brought out in the novel in a manner that invokes the

comparison of the characters which are involved. The story is only complete with the conflict

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that is witnessed in the novel. The author sends the message using conflicting characters in the

film that shows the importance of fitting to the environment else an individual perishes, and the

strong in the environment survives.

The conflict has also been brought out in the White Fang. From the onset, there is a

conflict that is either perpetuated naturally by the changes in the environment or that is

perpetuated by the individual characters. Hunger forces wolves to look for food and to adapt to

the environment. In the story, the wolves are adopted by the Indian pack, and the wolf-dog turns

out to be a deadly fighter owing to the actions that the wolf-dog has gone through that has shaped

the life and increased the survival tactics of the wolf. Consequently, the conflict has resulted in a

better understanding of the issues that exist in the novel. The novel is based on the conflict

between different players; environment and characters. This novel revolves around conflict just

like the Call of the Wild.

The two novels have also applied the characters of animals in the process of ensuring that

they bring out the depiction in the environment as succinctly as possible. There is the use of

animal characters like wolves and dogs in the novels. Use of animal characters that are given the

ability of humans to act and reason like humans is a common practice in most novels.

Personification and allegorist tendencies are some of the styles that authors usually apply to

depict a situation in the stories. In the Stories, there is the depiction of true characters and the

implied meanings from the characters used. The characters are sometimes, in a literary sense,

used to show the pictures of the themes and also to show other hidden meanings from the stories

which have been shared. They have been used to indicate the main themes which would be

human civilizations and the adaptation of organisms to their respective environments.

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There are also differences that arise from how the stories have been depicted. The White

Fang moves from a point where there is nature to a point where there is civilization. In the end,

civilizations occur and define the changes that the animals have in the end. The wolves have

been adapted by the Indians, but they end up fighting stronger due to the environment which they

have been through. However, in the case of the call of the wild, it begins from the point of

civilization and then reverses backwards to the adaptation to nature which includes the

environment which Buck is adapted in Klondike. The environment in Klondike defines how the

Buck becomes strong and beats the other dog, Spitz. This is the main difference that the authors

have used in providing the explanations of their major points and depiction of their major themes

in the novels. The use of the characters is also an important difference that has been eminent in

the novels. Whereas, they have used both animals and human characters, the white fang has used

more than one set of a wild animal which exists in packs. The Call for the Wild, on the other

hand, has only used one type of domestic animal that is being adapted differently to different

environments. Therefore, animals play an important role in expressing the themes.

In conclusion, the two novels depict similar themes; adaptation and changes in the

environment. However, the methods and the modes of the depiction of these themes vary. Much

as conflicts are also used in the novels, the contexts of the conflict vary between the existing

characters in the novels.

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Works Cited

London, Jack. The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories. OUP Oxford, 1998.

London, Jack. White fang. Penguin, 2008.

Pizer, Donald, ed. The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism: From

Howells to London. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Tavernier-Courbin, Jacqueline, and Courbin Jacqueline Tavernier. The call of the wild: A

naturalistic romance. Twayne Publishers, 1994.

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