It isn’t until later, when Tarzan discovers the abandoned home of his birth parents, that he realizes he’s not an ape after all.
He’s deeply ashamed of his smooth, hairless skin and thinks of himself as ugly. Growing up as a young boy, Tarzan knows nothing of his human heritage, but his physical differences from the rest of his family leave him with a lingering sense that something isn’t quite right. She gives him the name Tarzan, meaning ‘White Skin,’ and teaches him the tools he needs to survive in the animal kingdom. Orphaned and alone, he’s taken in by a kind-hearted she-ape named Kala, who decides to raise him as one of her own. Tarzan is the main protagonist of the story, and he’s also the most interesting character by a long shot.īorn into an aristocratic family and given the name John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke, he was set to inherit a vast amount of wealth.īut as an infant, he and his parents find themselves marooned in the western jungles of equatorial Africa, and his fate takes a rather different turn.īy the age of just one, his mother died of natural causes, and shortly after, his father was killed by the savage leader of the Mangani apes. So, if you’re a curious reader, it’s well worth suspending your outrage and diving into this world-famous tale. This book, and the two dozen sequels that followed, are considered literary classics, and they’ve been adapted more than any other book in history. Plus, sexism runs rife in his early descriptions of Tarzan’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, Jane.īut, if you’re willing to grit your teeth and explore the story that inspired countless further novels, comics, and movies, Tarzan and the Apes still makes for a fascinating read.
The author’s portrayal of native Africans and his perception of white superiority are hard to ignore. So much so that it raised eyebrows among readers even back in the early nineteen hundreds.
Unlike Disney’s memorable movie adaptation, the original story contains a pretty jaw-dropping amount of stereotypical racist and sexist themes. Burroughs’ novel was published way back in 1914, and boy, can you tell.
It tells the tale of an orphaned boy who is taken in and raised by apes in the jungles of Africa, and it’s become one of the most famous stories of the 20th and 21st centuries worldwideīut brace yourselves. Tarzan of the Apes was the first book in a series of 24 adventure novels by American author Edgar Rice Burroughs
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