White Fang
by Jack London
Table of Contents
Kiche
Kiche, initially referred to as she-wolf, is White Fang’s mother. She appears at the beginning of the novel as the primary leader of a wandering wolf pack. She is in a leadership position even though she is female because of her intelligence. During a famine, she lures male dogs away from Harry and Bill’s sled dog team so that the wolves she travels with can attack and eat them. One of the reasons she is able to do so is that she does not fear the human beings, which is unusual in a wolf. Of course, the reader finds out that Kiche is only half-wolf. Not only is she part dog, but she has lived part of her life as a domesticated dog, and although she travels comfortably in the wild, she always returns to the Indian village and her master, Grey Beaver.
Kiche mates with One Eye, the dominant male in the wolf pack, but only after he proves his dominance by killing the other wolves. She is a very capable mother. She takes care of all of her cubs, getting them all of the available food that she can, and is prepared to kill or die to protect them. However, the famine is hard on all of the wolves, and her other cubs die, leaving White Fang as the only survivor. White Fang and Kiche form a very strong relationship, and she is very protective of him.
When Kiche returns to the Indian village, she sets the stage for the rest of White Fang’s life. Kiche returns to her life as a dog, introducing White Fang to domesticity. However, when Grey Beaver trades her to another Indian, White Fang is separated from her. The next time she sees him, she refuses to acknowledge him. This does not make Kiche a bad mother; she has had an additional litter, and White Fang is now a grown male, which means that he is a threat to her new cubs. This scene illuminates the fact that Kiche is a survivor and, because she was White Fang’s first teacher, prepares the reader for the fact that White Fang will be a survivor, as well.
Sign up to continue reading Kiche >