“I do not understand exactly what you mean by fear," said Tarzan. "Like lions, fear is a different thing in different men, but to me the only pleasure in the hunt is the knowledge that the hunted thing has power to harm me as much as I have to harm him. If I went out with a couple of rifles and a gun bearer, and twenty or thirty beaters, to hunt a lion, I should not feel that the lion had much chance, and so the pleasure of the hunt would be lessened in proportion to the increased safety which I felt."
One of the advantages of reading is that I can distract myself from the things that are worrying me. Right now, I'm worried about the upcoming election. As I await the results of the election, I feel a deep pit in my stomach. I hate that there is one candidate who makes me feel this way. I pray that that candidate does NOT win. I digress. This is my first time reading Tarzan of the Apes. Of course, I had heard of the popular character my entire life. It was a story I had never wanted to read. I decided to finally check it out mainly because the film came out this year.
 |
Tarzan of the Apes; courtesy of wikimedia
|
As I read the introduction, I knew to be prepared with less that accurate descriptions of native Africans. It is obvious this was written in the early 1900s. Published in 1912, there are many racist tones in the novel. While it is incredibly offensive, I can overlook this due to the time it was written although I do not approve. Tarzan is a product of his time. The native Africans are depicted as savage cannibals. This is definitely a time when there was a superior race as I will discuss further.
 |
Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan; courtesy of Amazon
|
Tarzan is born to upper class parents from England. After his parents die, a female ape mourning the death of her infant finds Tarzan and starts caring for him as her own. Despite the other apes' disdain of the human child, he thrives and becomes one of the strongest members. As he grows older, Tarzan discovers the cabin where he was born and becomes intrigued by it. He explores the cabin and finds his children's books. Miraculously he learns how to read just by studying the letters and pictures in the books. Being a straight, white man he has the ability to do this apparently.
 |
| Tarzan of the Apes; Courtesy of Open Monthly Letters |
Jane is a damsel in distress always accompanied by her equally offensive mammy. Some minor characters are killed off in different ways and Tarzan is always there to save them. He swings through the forest with Jane in his arm as though she weighed no more than a feather. After he rescues Jane she is smitten. He has no way of communicating with her though as he can read and write English, but can not speak it. Of course, Jane is willing to overlook this.
 |
The Edition I read; Courtesy of Literary Fictions
|
This could be the end of the story as most film adaptations end here, but it doesn't. Instead Jane returns to America (She's American. Who knew?) where she is engaged to marry an awful suitor. When Tarzan finds out she is gone he decides he must return to her. He learns to speak French from D'Arnot a man he saved and is helping him get to America. From there, he begins to learn English. Tarzan can speak elephant and ape, who could resist such a man?
 |
Tarzan; Courtesy of Library Thing
|
Despite the racist humor and stereotyping, I found myself enjoying this novel. This is the most popular literary character raised by animals. Tarzan has a hard time believing he is completely human. Yes, the racial portrayals are awful but you have to give Burroughs' credit. He could easily have made only the black characters awful especially given the time. There are some white characters who are greedy and terrible people. The animals are also given the same treatment. Kala is one of the best literary mothers written. The gorillas she lives with are vindictive and only spare Tarzan due to the respect they have for his mother. The overall message of Tarzan is that man is inherently good and are only corrupted when exposed to civilization. Edgar Rice Burroughs' characters are fleshed out for the most part.
 |
All Story Magazine Cover; Courtesy of ERBzine
|
The first story in the Tarzan series ends on a cliffhanger. None of the major problems in the story are resolved. As such the story continues for twenty-five more novels.
Tarzan is one of those characters that you grow up knowing about. He's been in everything from films to television shows to video games. My mom grew up watching a television show about Tarzan. My generation had the animated Disney film. This generation has the latest Tarzan film starring Alexander Skarsgard.
 |
Tarzan of the Apes; Courtesy of Mana Pop
|
I'm not sure when the next time we'll see Tarzan again will be. I'm also not sure I'll continue the series. It was good and I enjoyed reading this adventure, but there are other books to be read and other series to be discovered.
The only film adaptation I have seen is the animated Disney film. That adaptation is nothing like the book. To begin with, Sabor is a lioness and not a leopard. Small detail, but still interesting. Disney did portray Tarzan as intelligent. Whatever the case, it is interesting to see how this man raised by apes turned out to be. There are themes that relate to the modern world. Edgar Rice Burroughs may have misrepresented some people, but he does have some messages he is trying to send out about humans in general. It may not be interesting to some people, but I say check Tarzan out.
It was a good story and it kept me distracted. I must return to the real world now.
No comments:
Post a Comment