logo

45 pages 1 hour read

Jack London

White Fang

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1906

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Part 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 5, Chapter 1 Summary: “The Long Trail”

White Fang senses that Scott is preparing to leave again, and White Fang becomes depressed. White Fang breaks out of Matt’s home through the window to follow Scott to the docks, where Scott is boarding a ship to leave. Despite the risks, Scott decides to take White Fang with him.

Part 5, Chapter 2 Summary: “The Southland”

White Fang and Scott land in San Francisco, a metropolis that is hotter than any setting White Fang has experienced. It is a city of towering buildings and White Fang is awed and scared by this new industrial world. Scott drives him to his home in the countryside, where White Fang meets a new pack: Scott has a Collie and a hound, both of whom White Fang tries to fight.

Part 5, Chapter 3 Summary: “The God’s Domain”

White Fang learns that Scott cherishes his children, and White Fang grows fond of the kids as well. He also learns the importance of the other domesticated animals to Scott and his family. White Fang struggles with his desire to hunt, such as when he finds the chickens in the coop. Scott is patient with White Fang and helps him learn how to live in a society outside of the wild. However, Scott still respects White Fang’s wild instincts. For instance, he doesn’t stop White Fang from killing a dog in the street and asserting his dominance.

Part 5, Chapter 4 Summary: “The Call of Kind”

White Fang is spoiled by this new country life; he grows fat and happy. He no longer needs to worry about his survival, “but still there was about him a suggestion of lurking ferocity, as though the Wild still lingered in him and the wolf in him merely slept” (305). He plays and runs with Scott but avoids other dogs. Scott’s family privately worries that White Fang will one day turn against them or the children because he’s a wild wolfdog from the Yukon and can be unpredictable. Finally, White Fang discovers that the Collie is not to be feared, and he starts playing with him.

Part 5, Chapter 5 Summary: “The Sleeping Wolf”

Jim Hall, a man incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit, escapes a nearby prison, eager to get back at the judge who sentenced him. The judge is Scott’s father, Judge Scott. Hall sneaks into the Scott house, and White Fang attacks and kills him. White Fang is hurt during the fight but is nursed back to health. He never regains his former strength but becomes known around the region as “Blessed Wolf” (325).

Part 5 Analysis

Part 5 provides a respite from the novel’s settings that are characterized by violence, danger, and unpredictability. London first shifts the tone of the novel by emphasizing the relationship between Scott and White Fang as one built on love. White Fang is desperate to be with Scott because he truly loves him, and Scott doesn’t leave White Fang behind because he loves him too. This relationship is built on mutual respect, and it is the first time White Fang has had such a friendship. In all White Fang’s other dealings with animals and humans, the relationships were built on power dynamics. This includes his relationship with his mother, whose maternal instinct placed her in the role of his protector, a temporary role that would necessarily fade with time. Scott provides more than security for White Fang. Along with the promise of food and protection, Scott also develops a personal relationship with White Fang, one that changes White Fang’s perspective of himself and of the world around him.

London creates a new dynamic and tone in Part 5 along with the new physical setting. White Fang’s move away from the Yukon is not ideal because he is still a wild Arctic wolfdog. His move to California brings him from the cold to the heat, with different species of domesticated animals surrounding him. London emphasizes this difference in setting through the imagery of the industrialization of San Francisco. As a wolf who has lived only in nature, the big city of San Francisco—with its automobiles, cacophony of sounds, plethora of people, and electricity—is frightening to White Fang. White Fang’s reaction to the city indicates London’s attitude about city life as one devoid of the beauty of nature. In contrast, Scott’s home in the countryside is idyllic. Neither too hot nor too cold, absent of famines and storms, the setting allows White Fang to live in the natural world without experiencing the constant threats and unforgiving brutality of the Yukon wilderness.

One of White Fang’s character developments in these chapters is his coming to terms with other animals. After some conflict, he learns that he can trust and even get along with other domesticated animals: He discovers that he is not in competition with Scott’s other dogs. Instead, White Fang is part of a family. This takes some time to learn because White Fang has spent his entire life fighting other animals for dominance in a natural or man-made hierarchy. In his new life in California, there is no hierarchy, only living for the joy of the peaceful moment. Nevertheless, White Fang still has an outlet for his wild ways, which can never be fully tamed. The undomesticated animals, such as squirrels, are fair game for him. Thus, White Fang finally finds a home in both worlds: wild and domesticated.

In Part 5, London introduces the character of Jim Hall as one final challenge to White Fang. In many ways, the incarcerated Hall is a human parallel to White Fang. Like White Fang, Hall has been victimized by society. Incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit, Jim Hall is stripped of his freedom, an experience that is easily relatable to White Fang’s captivity. Just as White Fang once enacted revenge on those who hurt him, so too does Hall attempt to avenge his loss of freedom on the Scott family. When Hall breaks into the Scott house, White Fang comes face to face with a human version of his former self. White Fang’s fight with Hall is a metaphorical battle with White Fang’s past. White Fang wins the fight and kills Hall, successfully protecting White Fang’s new family and home. The fight has a high cost: White Fang becomes weaker due to his injuries from fight, but he is well loved and well respected.

White Fang is celebrated as a protector, a martyr, and a peacekeeper. In this newfound reputation, White Fang is fully redeemed from the struggles of his past. He is now officially free to live the rest of his life out in peace, happiness, and security. Paradoxically, in the domestic confines of Scott’s home, White Fang is truly free.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text