White Fang Questions

Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.

  1. Why does London start his story with White Fang's mother and the men she's hunting? How does that reflect on both White Fang's character and the story as a whole?
  2. Why show this from White Fang's perspective? What does he bring to the table that a human narrator can't?
  3. How does Jack London depict Native Americans? Does he stumble into racism here and there? If so, where?
  4. Beauty is evil and Scott is good, but where does Grey Beaver stand in the pantheon of White Fang owners? How does the sequence of owners—from Grey Beaver to Beauty Smith to Weedon Scott—shape White Fang's personality? Would he be different if the order of owners were switched around?
  5. How does White Fang's suffering end up helping him? Would he be as loyal or brave if he hadn't gone through all that rotten stuff?
  6. What aspects of life in the wild do we see that can't be experienced by a human being? How would the chapters with White Fang and his mother be different if a human character were describing them?
  7. Why does Jack London spend so much time describing Beauty Smith's looks, when everyone else gets just a sentence or two?
  8. What steps does London take to make California different from the Yukon? Is California any less of a wilderness than the Yukon? Why or why not?