My favourite book

White Fang
Books are a paradise of dreams, an imaginary world, a key to understanding your
personality, a world where everything is possible. Books are made to dream, to get you, the
reader, into the characters. Books can be incredibly powerful.
My favourite book is White -Fang by Jack London.
Jack London is the literary pseudonym of John Griffith (1876-1916), an American
writer and journalist, author of novels, among which I mention: "The Call of the Ancients",
"The Sea Wolf", "White Fang".
His work has as its subject the spirit of adventure and the heroes fight for survival.
The novel "White Fang" was written in 190, it is structured in twenty-five chapters and is
divided into five parts.
White Fang is an animal that is three quarters wolf and one quarter dog. The action
begins in the "far north of Alaska", a desolate and wild region, where the winters are very
short and the sun rarely shines. Everything is frozen, even the water in the rivers, and those
who dare to get there use these rivers as roads.
It is a harsh, hostile land, and only the brave venture into that land. The Amerindians,
i.e. the native inhabitants of the two Americas, set up their camps in the forests, the tents
being placed around huge fires, which protect them from the cold but also from bears or
wolves.
There are always wolves living in wild places and they are hungry in winter, so they
become more and more dangerous, attack people or even fight with each other.
The wolf One-Eye went out to hunt for his family, of which he was very proud: he
had five very small cubs, the she-wolf could not leave them alone, so he had to hunt alone.
He roamed the land in search for food, always managed to catch something, but one evening
One-Eye never returned to his family. The she-wolf understood that something terrible had
happened to him: "She must have fought with a lynx, half starving." From now on she was
forced to hunt alone and most of the time she returned without prey. The cubs became
increasingly weak and helpless, and soon four of them died.
The only one left was the strongest. At first fearful, he did not have the courage to
come out of his den, but one day he came out. He was happy and playing in the snow. He
liked to discover the surroundings, fascinated by the river, he even jumped into the water,
without realizing that he was in danger and the current pulled him downstream. With great
effort he managed to get out. Another day the she-wolf was attacked by a lynx and he jumped
to her aid.
One day, not far from the cave where he was staying with his mother, a tent was
placed, in which five hunters lived. They were going to hunt reindeer to sell their skins to the
white men in the fort, and he was terrified. To his surprise, his mother appeared from the
clearing, sitting quietly next to the camp. One of the Indians – Grey Beaver, recognized her,
years ago there had been a great famine, and she did not attack them, she left them and fled
into the forest where she met One-Eye. The mother wolf also had a name, Kiche.
The Indians praise her cub and, like his mother, give him a name, White Fang.
Kiche remains in the Indian camp, and White Fang will know another way of life
among dogs. They were envious of White Fang and never missed an opportunity to bite him.
His greatest enemy was Lip-Lip, and his hatred grew day by day, but the she-wolf defends
her cub with a loud growl, which drives Lip-Lip away for a long time.
The Indians decide to move their camp further north so that they can follow the
reindeer herds, and White Fang, feeling unhappy and wanting to live freely, flees into the
forest. When the evening fell he felt alone, he turned back, he found the camp the next
morning but his mother was no longer there. It had been given to Three-Eagles, the chief of a
nearby Indian tribe.
Being alone taught him to survive in the unforgiving wilderness of the north,
becoming stronger and smarter. He learned to respect the strongest but also to be respected.
Years passed, White-Fang became a strong handsome wolf. Gray Beaver decided to
teach him to pull the sled, placing him at the head of the pack, which attracted the envy of the
other dogs.
White Fang's life changes again when Gray Beaver takes him to Fort Yukon, to be
guarded when he sells furs. In that town lived a terrible man, Handsome Smith (actually he
was ugly, vile and cruel), who he liked dog fights. He gives Gray Beaver to drink until he
sells White Fang to him.
Handsome Smith keeps him chained up and makes him fight the dogs in town,
making a lot of money and treating White Fang cruelly.
A new dog appears in town, a bulldog with a ferocious reputation, and in the fight
between the two, White Fang almost lost his life. His rescue is Mr. Scott and Matt, two well-
known engineers from the city, who remove him from the bulldog's jaws and decide to take
care of him, tending to his wounds. Day by day White Fang understood that Mr. Smith did
not want to do him any harm, so he began to discover love again.
Shortly after, Mr. Smith has to leave for California, not wanting to take White Fang
with him, but he surprises him, jumps out the window, gets on the ship, and Scott feels
obliged to take him with him.
Arriving at the mansion of Scott's parents, he must get used to all the people around
the owner and understand that no one wishes him harm. A delicate moment is when,
unexpectedly, another dog appears who came out to meet Mr. Scott. The dog, named Collie,
was "a female, and all instincts told White Fang that he should not attack her".
White Fang gradually gets used to Mr. Scott's big house, but remains indifferent to
everyone around him, "wolves don't like familiarity", except for Scott, whom he always
wanted around.
Scott loved horseback riding and on one of his walks through the woods, the horse got
spooked by a rabbit. Being injured, he cannot get home, White Fang informs Mrs. Scott, thus
saving his master whom he watches over until he is well.
 Everyone in the house is impressed by the loyalty and love of the wolf, Collie begins
to look at him with different eyes, and the following spring Collie gives birth to six cubs that
resembles her, except for one that had a gray and curly wolf fur.
The novel has a happy ending: "Mr. and Mrs. Scott were laughing seeing White Fang
and Collie playing with the puppies, and Mr. Scott was extremely happy that he had saved the
wolf from a life of torment.
I was very impressed by this novel, from which I discovered people’s cruelty and
wickedness. This book, this White- Fang dressed in a story marked me, broke my heart and
at the same time made me stronger and more positive.