Blog EBE English Book Education
As we know, from every book we can learn a certain lesson about friendship, dignity, kindness, evil and so on… Every book contains something that could serve as our moral compass for life. I’ve read many books this year, but now I would like to discuss the book “White Fang” written by Jack London.
White Fang may seem to be an ordinary, typical book about animal (and human) abuse, but personally, when I read it, I was shocked by the things it may teach us, if we think about it “from the other side”. For example, in my opinion, White Fang might be a human too, but Jack London chose an animal to be the main character for two reasons:
First – The book can be read and analyzed by young readers;
Second – The reader may draw a parallel with real life. A certain reader can imagine White Fang as a real person and analyze the book more deeply, from the “human” side.
So, these two types of readers look at the book from their point of view – for children – it is just a book about “bad” guys that abuse animals.
Consequently, children learn a lesson – “I should not be a “bad” guy, I should not abuse animals, I should not spill anger onto animals or people around me.”
The second type reader may analyze it the other way! For example:
“White Fang may be a person, that withstood the situation he was in and stayed strong, no matter he was abused many times, no matter he had to change places, no matter he lost his loved ones, no matter he became more aggressive than before – at the end he stayed strong, didn’t give up on his life and achieved peace and happiness, that means, I should do the same!”
I think you already understand that I am a second type of reader of this book. From this book I’ve learned that sometimes life puts us in difficult situations, and during that period we should show our strength and not our weakness, we should not give up but we should endure and adapt. A person can achieve everything, the only thing he needs is a will to do something and endurance.
To summarize, every person understands in books his own way, every person has his/her moral compass, from every book a person can learn something valuable. The most important thing is that each person should understand himself/herself and understand what is right and what is wrong.
Author: Niko Katamadze
