简要分析《白牙》中环境差异对性格造成的影响

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摘 要

作为一名著名作家，杰克·伦敦在美国文学史上的地位非常重要。出版的小说带有极浓重的自然主义色彩，而《白牙》正是其中的代表作之一。在此作品中，作者描写了不同地理环境下人类之间的性格差异，以及白牙在人文环境转变前后不同的思想和性格转变的历程。不同的地理环境，使得人与人之间的性格天差地别，而人文环境的转变也使得白牙的性格特质发生巨大改变。野性在北方严酷的环境之下被极度的激发，而人性则在温暖的南方慢慢复苏。本文将从人类和白牙两个角度出发，通过研究不同环境背景下的人物性格，和不同主人驯养下白牙前后的性格转变，来阐释环境差异对于人性和野性形成的重要作用以及生存环境转变对动物性格的重大影响，以此表现作者对于人类文明进步的美好愿望。

关键词：白牙；人性；野性；环境差异；性格

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 A Brief Introduction about the Author and the Novel 1

1.2 A Brief Introduction about the Environmental Effect 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. The Deep Influence of Different Geographical Environments on the Formation of People’s Personalities 3

3.1 Wildness：An Analysis of the North People like Gray Beaver and Beauty Smith 5

3.2 Humanity：An Analysis of the South People like Weedon Scott 6

4. The Deep Influence of Different Humanistic Environments on the Formation of White Fang’s Characters 7

4.1 Wildness：An Analysis of White Fang’s Characters in the Early Stage 8

4.2 Humanity：An Analysis of White Fang’s Characters in the Later Stage 9

5. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

1.1 A Brief Introduction about the Author and the Novel

Jack London was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco. Although London had his great aim of studying, he had no chance to study in the school for his dream because of his poor family. He was essentially self-educated. On July 12, 1897, London and his sister"s husband Captain Shepard sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush. This is the setting for some of his first successful stories. “It was in the Klondike I found myself. There nobody talks, everyone thinks. You get your true perspective. I got mine.” (Deane, 1968: 7)

Like other great writers, London wrote about life as he saw. The majority of his works about men and animals against the environment and survival against hardships were drawn mainly from his own experience. He passed his childhood in poverty in the Oakland slums so that he got known how the poor battled to live. His years in the Klondike searching for gold also left their mark in his novels.

White Fang is one of Jack London’s famous works. First serialized in Outing magazine, it was published in 1906. The story takes place in Yukon Territory, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. It describes in detail about White Fang"s journey to domestication. Similar with most of his works, “natural” and the “struggle for existence” are the most important index keywords.

Much of White Fang is written from the viewpoint of the titular canine character, enabling London to explore how animals view their world and how they view humans. The story ends with White Fang relaxing in the sun with the puppies and the sheep-dog Collie. It expresses the theme of the regression and the rebuilding of humanity, particularly in the situation that they are faced with harsh circumstances. It also means a return to the civilization.

1.2 A Brief Introduction about the Environmental Effect

Generally speaking, environment is the surrounding. This includes living and non-living things around people. Also, it refers to the culture that an individual lives in, and the people and institutions that they interact with. The view of environmental effect is that the physical environment sets limits on human social development. It holds that human behavior is similar to the growth of plants and animals, which is influenced by the environment.

From Madame de Stael, she believes that different climatic conditions, races and geographical environment lead the different kinds of literature styles: the Southern literature and the northern literature. People living in the southern may enjoy their life fully, because the climate is milder and the terrain is more accommodating to people and livestock. While the north is cold or ice covered. People have to face the threat from environment, so they become physically stronger and spiritually more aggressive. That may be one of important reasons why they develop the completely different character traits.

Also, Hippolyte Adolphe Taine, who puts forwards the famous “Three Factors” theory, holds that the creation and development of the literary art depend on race, environment and epoch. The environment has been regarded as one of important factors to the formation of people’s personality:

“For man is not alone in the world；nature surrounds him，and his fellow-men surround him；Accidental and secondary tendencies overlay his primitive tendencies，and physical or social circumstances disturb or confirm the character committed to their charge. Sometimes the climate has had its effect .” (Taine, 1908: 19)

Taine takes the environment as one of most important external powers, because it moulds human matter and by which the external acts on the internal. Thus environment plays a very important role in the formation of the character, whether animals or human beings. This thesis analyzes the major characters’ different personalities to show the importance of the environmental effect.

2. Literature Review

As one of the most important writers in the world, there are lots of scholars studying Jack London’s life and his thoughts. Irving Stone is one of the outstanding representatives. His famous work Sailor on Horseback is a bridge for people to learn more about Jack London. The other one Earle Labor is also the official biographer of novelist Jack London. He insists that Jack London is America’s greatest world author because London represents an American myth and his portrayal to the theme about American dream is better than others. For White Fang, the foreign scholars have done a lot of research and exploration on it. Tom Feller describes the story as “an allegory of humanity’s progression from nature to civilization.” He also expresses that “the implication is that the metamorphosis of both the individual and society will require violence at some point.” (Feller, 2000: 2) Paul Deane states that “society demands a conformity that undermines individualism.” (Deane, 1968: 7) Jack London himself takes influence from these words: survival of the fittest.

With its special style and theoretical theme, White Fang also attracts many studies from domestic scholars. In China, most of the critics try to analyze the novel from the perspective of eco-criticism and to explore the relationship between literature and nature environment. From Zhang Xiangting, he thinks that there are three major artistic features in Jack London’s works. “The features are peculiar and perilous environment description, clean and succinct dialogue description, and the vivid and concise action portrayal.” (Zhang Xiangting, 2008: 50) While Ma Xingzhi thinks that Jack London shows his special understanding to survival of the fittest. In her opinion, the theory of survival of the fittest is not just means to survive in competition, it also means to adapt to the civilization. Thus, some critics study White Fang from the point of survival of the fittest. They think that the mind of “natural selection” is embodied by White Fang. And they believe that White Fang’s ability to adapt to any new circumstances and somehow survival is the embodiment of Darwin’s popular idea. Besides, also some critics, like Shao Fang and Chen Mingyang, study White Fang from the point of romanticism. From the novel, it shows the power of love. As White Fang learns to love his master, this love produces a desire for the dog to do anything to protect his master.

From above, it’s obvious that there is still enormous room for developing and researches in terms of the relationship between environment and the personalities. Thus this thesis analyzes White Fang from this aspect, and illustrates the importance of environment in the formation of human beings and animal’s personalities.

3. The Deep Influence of Different Geographical Environments on the Formation of People’s Personalities

The different environment backgrounds include social environment difference and natural environment difference. For the social environment, regional humanistic environment difference is the most important factor. And as for natural environment, climate is regarded as the most important one.

The northern region’s natural condition is totally different from the south. In the north, it’s hash and hollowness, and wildness is the theme of nature. The whole world is eternally covered by a lifeless blanket of snow and ice. The freezing northland is indifferent to man’s suffering or any kind of life. All living beings that want to survive must pass the test it poses. Where the environment or death shows no mercy to its master who needs human’s civilized products –warm clothes, matches, map, thermometer to sustain his life. The bitter cold life sharpens the pressure of living to all the people lived there. The ice sheet is horrific because people never know what’s coming to them. To surviving in the environment is not easy, because it not only means the battle with nature but also means to fight with other human beings. The cost of the slightest error or ignorance may be death. People win the battle of living not by their rationality but their instinctive abilities, for rationality in the cold environment is useless, fragile and even fatal. Power is everything.

Unlike the living conditions in north, the development of manor and southern economy cultivate hanger-on and scholars. Meanwhile, it offers them material guarantee. People enjoy their full life. They read books and chat with others. They do everything they want. The freedom, joy and chubbiness of life spread in the real daily life. That is the regional humanistic environment difference. As for people living in the south, they live in peace and security, live with spiritual maturity, rich soul. Thus the personalities of the two areas of people are quite different from each other. Just like what Taine wrote in his book:

“some in cold moist lands, deep in rugged, marshy forests or on the shores of a wild ocean, beset by melancholy violent sensations, prone to drunkenness and gluttony, bent on a fighting, blood-spilling life; others, again within the loveliest landscapes, on a bright and pleasant sea-coast, enticed to navigation and commerce, exempt from gross craving of the stomach, inclined from the beginning to the social ways, to a settled organization of the state, to feeling and dispositions such as develop the art of the oratory, the talent for enjoyment, the inventions of science, letters ,art.” (Taine, 1908: 19)

It’s obvious that living in the loveliest southern landscapes means living in better conditions. Take the example of White Fang, he is born and grows up in the north, before he enters into the life of human beings, the topic of his life is just to fulfill his stomach. After he follows Gray Beaver and Beauty Smith, the most important thing for him is just to battle for existence. The environment releases his innate characteristics and strengths to the point where he fights for survival and becomes leader of the pack. However, when he comes to the south with Weedon Scott, the biggest problem to him is how to adapt to the family and not to struggle for existence. Just like people living the two different areas, the topic of northern life is how to fill the stomach and the theme of southern life is how to melt into the civilization.

3.1 Wildness：An Analysis of the North People like Gray Beaver and Beauty Smith

Gray Beaver is the first master of White Fang. Actually, he is very harsh and shows no affection for his dog, but White Fang still displays loyalty towards him out of respect for his superiority. The first time White Fang sees Gray Beaver, he knows that Gray Beaver is the one he had to respect, whatever love him or fear him. For White Fang, Gray Beaver is neither strict nor tolerant. When White Fang works very hard to protect his family or wealth, Gray Beaver rewards him. And if the wolf-dog does something wrong, he punishes him without mercy. “Impelled by the blows that rained upon him, now from this side, now from that, White Fang swung back and forth like an erratic and jerky pendulum.” (London, 2001: 199) From these words, it’s obvious that Gray Beaver just thinks of White Fang as a watchdog. Gray Beaver may care about nothing but the chase of material. He pays a debt to Three Eagles with Kiche, and finally, he also sells White Fang to Beauty Smith for wine. He is a rude, insensitive person; a boor, and a selfish creature. He lives in the Indian encampment without educated, and depends on the nature for living. Facing with the threat from survival environment, he becomes one of the typical representatives of the wild Indians.

Beauty Smith, a cunning person, is the second master of White Fang. He is an ugly man who gets Gray Beaver addict to alcohol so that he can buy White Fang from Gray Beaver. He has come into the world with a twisted body and a brute intelligence without the kindly molded by the world. Living at the bottom of the society, he craves for money and he thinks that the best ways to fulfill his dream is White Fang. Thus he trains White Fang to be a fighting dog and earns money from the battles between dogs. Actually, White Fang is just a tool for him to make money; he tries to sharpen the wildness of the wolf-dog so that he can defeat more fighting dogs. After White Fang is forcefully saved by Weedon Scott, he tries to steal it from Scott, but he fails. Except cunning and brutal, he is also weak and greed. Cringing and sniveling himself before the blows or angry speech of a man, he revenges himself, in turn, upon creatures weaker than him. When he is beaten by Weedon Scott, he decides to do nothing but compromise. “Beauty Smith regained his feet and came toward him, sniffling and cowardly…he decided that the snow was the safest place for him, and lay where he had fallen, making no effort to get up.” (London, 2001: 273) From this description in the novel, a character with cowardice is well presented to readers. Thus, submitted to the power and position of Scott, he chooses to be a thief but not confrontation.

Some people like Mit-sah and others living in the Indian camp, though there is not enough room here to introduce, are also wild and rude. After losing their human nature, people may become wilder than animals. As for cruelty, numbness, and greed, they act more like animals. The description of these people exposes the darkness and ugliness in the environment of north. Money supremacy is the theme of the environment and moral degradation tends to be the trend. Living with the environment like that, human also tends to show the wildness like animals. In the Weedon Scott’s rescue to White Fang, no help is offered. Instead, the crowd begins sarcastically to cheer him on and shows with facetious advice. That is a group of people symbolizes with cold, indifferent, and apathetic.

3.2 Humanity：An Analysis of the South People like Weedon Scott

Weedon Scott is White Fang"s third master and the first one to show affection toward him. He saves White Fang from the bulldog and forcefully buys him from Beauty Smith. He tries to tame White Fang and slowly gains his trust, then finally his love. He takes White Fang to live with him in California. As the personification of justice and kindness, Scott never tolerates cruelty of animals. Just like those words he said in the novel: “What he needs is some show of human kindness.” (London, 2001: 279) The kindness is not only from people’s mercy to animals, but also from people’s respect to other creatures with their generous love and humanity. If Beauty Smith is a symbol that represents the complete opposite of what he looks like, Weedon Scott, White Fang’s later owner, may symbolize the real kindness after he rescues White Fang. He cares about White Fang’s wounds and he makes every effort to help him. At first, White Fang is afraid of his new master’s abuse, because he thinks that Weedon Scott may be the same kind of person with his former master. However, his new master, Weedon Scott, shows great kindness and affection to him. Gradually, White Fang tries to accept the kind man. “Weedon Scott had set himself the task of redeeming White Fang—or rather, of redeeming mankind from the wrong it had done White Fang. It was a matter of principle and conscience. He felt that the ill done. White Fang was a debt incurred by man and that it must be paid. So he went out of his way to be especially kind to the Fighting Wolf. Each day he made it a point to caress and pet White Fang, and to do it at length.” (London, 2001: 290)

That kind of personality, without question, is affected by a good environment. Living in the warm southern climates and enjoying his life of wealth, Weedon Scott never battles with the nature environment and he also does not need to struggle to survival. His father is a judge, so he grows with justice, grace and benevolence. Just like What White Fang feels in the novel: “…not alone was he in the geographical Southland, for he was in the Southland of life. Human kindness was like a sun shining upon him, and flourished like a flower planted in the good soil.” (London, 2001: 323)

It is a safe, convenient, sound and healthy environment, where people live a simple, quiet life. The final pursuit of humanity is calm and free.

Not only Weedon Scott treats White Fang sincerely, Scott’s family members like musher Matt and his wife also show their good intention to White Fang and treat him with patience. That is the important role civilization plays.

4. The Deep Influence of Different Humanistic Environments on the Formation of White Fang’s Characters

White Fang is the main character of the book. He is three-quarters wolf and one-quarter dog. Although he is born wild，he becomes more dog-like after Grey Beaver domesticates him. Having grown up with the fierce and unloved environment, White Fang is constantly bullied by other dogs, and then becomes a fighting dog after Beauty Smith bought him. Experiencing a lot of misery, he eventually becomes more lovely and friendly after he is bought and tamed by Weedon Scott. From the novel, White Fang’s personalities transformation can be divided into three stages. Every stage, White Fang learns different knowledge to the world, from nature, or from human beings. He shifts his personalities to the surrounding and tries to find a way to survive.

The first stage, he gets to know the nature rule: the world as a place wherein ranged a multitude of appetites, pursuing and being pursued, hunting and being hunted, eating and being eaten, all in blindness and confusion, with violence and disorder, a chaos of gluttony and slaughter, ruled over by chance, merciless, planless, endless.

The second stage begins with his mother Kiche submits to humankind. That is the critical period of his life. He learns to live in a brutal environment and fight for surviving. The two different owners—Gray Beaver and Beauty Smith—teach him the different rules of living with human beings. That is a period of wildness.

The last stage, White Fang humanizes his evil in the spirit of civilization. Integrating in the southern life, he eliminates the alienation to the world and the humankind. That’s Weedon Scott’s work. He affects the wolf-dog and takes him come to civilization.

For White Fang, different owners mean different humanistic environment, and different humanistic environment decides his personality traits—wildness or humanity. To analyze his character should start from the owners in different stages.

4.1 Wildness：An Analysis of White Fang’s Characters in the Early Stage

As the first two masters to White Fang, Gray Beaver and Beauty Smith actually play a very important role in the novel. At the first, White Fang comes to the Indian camp from the ice sheets and experiences a lot of abuse. However, he quickly comes to know much of the ways of the man-animals, but familiarities do not result in the contempt. “The more he came to know them, the more they vindicated their superiority, the more they displayed their mysterious powers, the greater loomed their godlikeness.” (London, 2001: 194) As his mother, he is beginning to render his allegiance. However, struggle to survive not only means being submitted to humankind, but also means fighting with other dogs like Lip-Lip. Because of Lip-lip, White Fang becomes malignant and morose; his temper becomes more savage under that unending persecution. Also, he learns cunning and he has idle time in which to devote him to thoughts of trickery. In order to face the constant danger of hurt and even of destruction, he has to become stronger than before: more enduring, crueler, more ferocious, and more intelligence. Besides he would not hold his own nor survive the hostile environment in which he finds himself. With the development of the ferocious character, Gray Beaver is coming to prize him more greatly with the passage of each day.

Actually, he has fully adjusted to the life in Indian camp. However, he is changed hands to Beauty Smith. That is the start of a nightmare. Under the tutelage of the mad person, White Fang becomes the evil. He hates all things blindly and without the faintest spark of reason. He has to fight every day and life becomes a hell to the fighting wolf, people have become the environment to mold him into a more ferocious thing than had been intended by nature. He adjusts himself and lives; it is another instance of the plasticity of his clay, of his capacity for being molded by the pressure of environment. The wolf-dog tries his best to live in different environments and changes his character with the changes of environment. Facing the rules of the northern life, only the strongest, brightest, and most adaptable elements of a species will survive. “It was a savage land, the men were savage, and the fights were usually to the death.” (London, 2001: 262) That may be the best description to the environment where those people live.

4.2 Humanity：An Analysis of White Fang’s Characters in the Later Stage

Weedon Scott, White Fang’s last owner, plays a major role in the transposition of his character. The relationship between them is just like a father and his son. Being rescued and taken from the south White Fang learns to believe humankind again because he wants to follow his new master’s steps. The love from his new master awakens his humanity, so he gives up his own animalistic instincts and tries to live peace with other dogs in the family. After being punished, he knows the law that how to live in the civilization: he can not touch the chickens, cats, rabbits and turkeys, because all these belong to humankind; he learns to remember the family of the master. By observation, study of action, speech and the very intonations of the voice, he slowly learns the intimacy and the degree of favor they enjoys with the master. As the rule White Fang obeys is: what was of value to the master he valued; what was dear to the master was to be cherished by White Fang and guarded carefully.” (London, 2001: 316)

Except his master, the two babies and Judge Scott also get his trust. He allows all the members of the family to pet him and make much of him, but he never gives them what he gives to the master. However, this is a matter of development, and takes time. Living with plenty of food and no work in the south he has learned to control and poise, he achieves a staidness, and calmness, and philosophic tolerance, it’s safe and sound. In order to adapt to the environment, White Fang changes himself. He tries to melt into the southern circumstance, and finally, the human world becomes more and more attractive and the wildness becomes weaker and weaker in his mind.

“Danger and hurt and death did not lurk everywhere about him. In time, the unknown, as a thing of terror and menace ever impending, faded away. Life was soft and easy. It flowed along smoothly, and neither fear nor foe lurked by the way.” (London, 2001: 326)

The description above obviously shows that White Fang has been adjusted to the warm south and melted into the human civilization, back from wildness to humanity.

By all of these, the author shows the amazing intelligence of White Fang, and on the other hand, he states how important the environment plays in white Fang’s changes. White Fang learns laws from life, and changes his personalities in different environment. For living, he gives his body and soul to his master, so he betrays his real emotion to face the reality; and for love, he becomes gentle and soft. He controls his desire to wildness and chooses the civilized society without any hesitation. As a result, life is soft and easy to deal with for him. It flows along smoothly, and neither fears nor foe lurks by the way.

5. Conclusion

Jack London lived in a dynamic and transitional era that was one of the most crucial periods in American history and he was a witness as well as a participator of these events. What he saw and experienced contributed greatly to his works that brought him fame and wealth and gave his society and the world the exciting and enlightening stories about man and the indifferent environment and the desperate battle of the men in the environment.

In the novel, the geographical environment differences between north and south lead to the two different personalities, and it also produces a huge impact to humanistic environment which makes a great influence to the formation and the transformation of White Fang’s characters. By means of analyzing of different personalities between people and the wolf dog White Fang, it’s helpful to understand how geographical environment works on the personalities and how humanistic environment becomes a bridge between humanity and wildness.

From the social ecology perspective, the aim of the thesis is to emphasize the importance of the environment. However, due to the limited time, what deserves more in-depth can only be handled roughly here in the short thesis. The relationship between environment and personalities should be explored more comprehensively. And more fruitfully results can be anticipated.

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