White Fang is often read as an allegory for humanity’s progression toward civilization. White Fang’s journey from his birth in the wilderness, to his domestication by Gray Beaver, to his growth of a capacity for love and affection with his final owner Weedon Scott, mirrors the advancement of humanity from animal origins to present-day civilized and technologically-advanced societies. This focus on evolution reflects the profound influence of the ideas of Charles Darwin on Jack London’s novels, including White Fang.
London begins his evolutionary allegory before human history, at the dawn of life itself. In Part 2, Chapter 3, when White Fang is still a puppy living in the cave where he was born, he is metaphorically compared to a plant moving mindlessly toward the light of the sun, a description that evokes some of Earth’s earliest life-forms, like algae and other simple microorganisms:
He had discovered that [the cave entrance] was different from the other walls long before he had any thoughts of his own, any conscious volitions. It had been an irresistible attraction before ever his eyes opened and looked upon it. The light from it had beat upon his sealed lids, and the eyes and optic nerves had pulsated to little, sparklike flashes, warm-colored and strangely pleasing. The life of his body […] had yearned toward this light and urged his body toward it in the same way that the cunning chemistry of a plant urges it toward the sun.
Here, London describes White Fang as pre-conscious—he is pure instinct, moving toward the light of the sun “before he had any thoughts of his own, any conscious volitions.” At this point in the novel, he is meant to represent life in its most basic form, desiring to move and continue living for its own sake. Gradually, White Fang develops a rudimentary sort of consciousness, following the laws of pain and hunger as he explores the wilderness as a puppy, before meeting Gray Beaver and developing religion. When he meets Gray Beaver, he sees him and other humans as gods with a supernatural power over nature. This development of religion, with human beings playing the role of gods for White Fang, could in the overall allegory represent the development of religion in early humans during the Stone Age and the role that it played in the development of modern-day civilization.
Unfortunately, London seems to promote the racist idea in White Fang that Indians are somehow less evolved or less civilized than white people when he asserts that white men are, in White Fang’s view, “a superior race of gods.” It is also possible that he meant white people had more power than Indians in the United States during the 1890s, and that White Fang is intuitively aware of this fact. Either way, White Fang encounters advanced technology like steamboats, cars, and cities for the first time after he first sees white people, suggesting that this phase of the novel is meant to represent industrialization in the allegory of human history.
London represents two opposing visions of modern society in White Fang. One is White Fang’s time with Beauty Smith, which is cruel, violent, selfish, and driven by competition with and domination of others. The other is his life with Weedon Scott, which is characterized by love, compassion, and selflessness. That White Fang is able to change from the vicious and hateful fighting dog he became with Beauty Smith to a loving and gentle pet with Weedon Scott suggests that London believes humans can evolve beyond the competitive and violent aspects of modern society into something kinder and more altruistic.
