Literary Analysis of White Fang by Jack London Essay Sample

Everyone who owns a dog has a different way of treating it. It might be very similar to someone else’s. It might be very different. This is the case with White Fang’s owners. Two of them were very abusive and sadistic when it came to Whit Fang. The other one, however, was the complete opposite of that. He was very kind to him. This combination of owners was extremely confusing for the dog & gave him some trust issues when his owner became Weedon Scott.. All of the owners in White Fang treated White Fang differently. Because of that, their relationships with White Fang were all drastically different. 

Beauty Smith was likely the cruelest of White Fang’s masters. Which is probably the reason White Fang hated him. He seemed to gain satisfaction when White Fang disobeyed him, since then he could beat him as much as he pleased afterward. When White Fang hurls himself at Beauty Smith taking him away from Grey Beaver, Beauty Smith was “waiting for this.” He then “swung the club smartly, stopping the rush midway and smashing White Fang down upon the ground.” The fact that he was waiting for it means that he loved having an excuse to hurt him. He also doesn't really care when White Fang gets hurt. Well, he sort of does, but not for the reasons one would expect, and he definitely doesn't show it in the way one would expect. When Beauty Smith knows the fight with Cherokee is lost he “sprang upon White Fang and began savagely to kick him” Beauty Smith isn’t a charismatic person by any means. He’s the complete opposite. He treated White Fang horribly & because of that, his relationship with White Fang was by far the worst.

Grey Beaver was similar to Beauty Smith in the way he treated White Fang, he gains satisfaction whenever White Fang gets hurt & he doesn’t care for him much at all, but White Fang appears to respect Grey Beaver in a way he didn’t with Beauty Smith later on in the story. The reason for that could be that Grey Beaver was his first master. Nevertheless, They didn’t have a good relationship. The relationship between Grey Beaver & White Fang was built on fear. White Fang was scared to do basically anything because “Grey Beaver’s wrath was terrible; likewise was White Fang’s fright.” White Fang being terribly frightened of Grey Beaver being displeased shows how their relationship is built. It’s built on forced respect & fear. Back to what was stated before. Unlike Weedon Scott, who gets angry when harm comes to White Fang, Grey Beaver enjoys it when he’s hurt. Whenever Beauty Smith hit White Fang with a club, knocking him down to the ground, he “laughed & nodded approval.” He finds amusement in White Fang’s pain & beats him to the point where White Fang is terrified of him. Grey Beaver’s relationship with White Fang was awful & Grey Beaver was quite cruel to him. However Grey Beaver did show some bits of compassion and respect for White Fang at times. That 

Now, Weedon Scott was by far the kindest owner White Fang had. He really confused White Fang because, unlike Gray Beaver & Beauty Smith, he was really kind to White Fang and tried to win his trust. As was previously stated, Weedon Scott did things differently than Gray Beaver & Beauty Smith. Instead of abusing White Fang he “talked on softly, and ever the hand rose and fell with non-hostile pats.” (Part IV Chapter VI)  White Fang had mixed feelings about this at first. It didn’t hurt him, but it was, “distasteful to his instinct,” because it “opposed the will of him toward personal liberty.” Even though White Fang initially wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with Weedon Scott early on, Scott still provided “much thinking and endless patience”. That kind of devotion built the foundation for White Fang & Weedon’s relationship. Because of how Scott treated White Fang, White Fang began to fully know trust and comfort, unlike with his previous two masters. 

Basically, Beauty Smith’s way of treating White Fang was abusive, neglectful, & simply terrible. Beauty Smith’s relationship with White Fang was filled with hatred & was just entirely negative. Grey Beaver beat White Fang a lot, but he did show a bit of compassion and respect for White Fang at some points in the story. Because of that, their relationship was built off of White Fang fearing & respecting Grey Beaver. Weedon Scott treated White Fang with compassion & respect. Scott treating White Fang with such kindness led to their relationship being very positive. White Fang’s owners were different people who had different ways of treating White Fang. This caused their relationships with White Fang to be quite different.