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| Author: | roxyteacher [ 15 Jun 2012 13:01 ] |
| Post subject: | White Fang - civilizing of the wolf |
Discuss the civilizing of the wolf in "White Fang", in terms of gains and losses. |
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| Author: | achim_diana [ 16 Jun 2012 14:04 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: White Fang - civilizing of the wolf |
Civilizing the wolf means to take away his sense of smell, hearing and taste. It weakens his powers of an independent animal, becoming more the shadow of man/master. This is better for the humans, being protected by an animal, but not good for the animal itself. Also his heredity helped him a lot for the fact that he was already half dog and it took only some time to sit on him. "His heredity was a life-stuff that may be likened to clay. It possessed many possibilities, was capable of being molded into many different forms. Environment served to model the clay, to give it a particular form." (part III, chapter 6). The only thing that brought Fang a lot of pain were the humans. From organized indians to a disordered way of life at Beauty Smith's "home". "They were [White Fang's] environment, these men, and they were molding the clay of him into a more ferocious thing than had been intended by Nature." (part IV, chapter 3). The brute that Fang became was hollow and meaningless. He lost all his identity: "The basic life that was in him took charge of him. The will to exist of his body surged over him. He was dominated by this mere flesh-love of life. All intelligence was gone. It was as though he had no brain." (part 4, chapter 4) His gain was Warren Scott who redeemed him and gave him a new life with the help of his kind and lovely hand that soothed him and knew where Fang belonged. "This expression of abandon and surrender, of absolute trust, he reserved for the master alone." (Part 5, Chapter 3) |
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