Originally published in a magazine in 1912, and later as a novel in 1914, Tarzan of the Apes is the first book in a long-standing pop culture franchise, written by the late Edgar Rice Burroughs.
After countless adaptations, the rough story is known by many, but for those who are unaware I will give a small description. Lady Alice and Sir John Clayton, whom also share the Lordship of Greystoke, are marooned after a mutiny, and are forced to spend the remainder of their lives in the deep jungles of Africa. Before Alice dies in her sleep and John is murdered by Kerchak the gorilla, they birth their only son, also named John Clayton. John junior is adopted by the gorilla Kala, who renames him Tarzan. Tarzan lives his life in the gorilla pack until one day, many years later, the jungle is visited by William Cecil Clayton, Samuel Philander, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, and his daughter Jane Porter. I will leave out the rest of the story as much as I can to focus on my critique.
A good chunk of the book is Tarzan growing up raised by Kala the gorilla. This section of the story plays as a style of coming-of-age story that stays unique to this day. It is not fully uncommon for the “raised by wolves” storytelling to come around, however, Tarzan is written the way you would expect someone who was raised as a gorilla to act. He does not know the concepts of human society, he only knows how to act like a gorilla. Tarzan is, by default, a gorilla. It makes him a fascinating character to behold. He’s a literal animal. He hunts for his own food, he has no fear in fighting anything that may be stronger than himself, he has little interest in anything besides eating and sleeping. From time to time, a bit of advanced human survival skills come along, yet he is written more realistically an animal than many other stories I’ve read dealing with animals.
Allow me to describe my favorite scene in the book. Up until this point, Tarzan has been absolutely hated by his adoptive father Tublat. Tarzan does something to annoy Tublat so much he goes on a murderous rampage, killing a few fellow gorillas in the process. Tublat makes the mistake of accidentally hurting his mate Kala. Tarzan leaps at the protection of his mother, by grabbing Tublat by the throat and stabbing him several times in the chest with his deceased father’s knife. After he is done, the gorillas go along with their lives as if nothing happened. It’s truly an invigorating and shocking experience to read the hero of the story, for lack of a better word, shank one of the book’s major villains. Even more to have the other characters show no reaction to it, this is an everyday thing for them.
On that note, Tarzan is allowed to brutally assault the other villains of the book as well, as he knows too well how to fight and kill. These villains being Kerchak, the tribe leader who regularly goes on the same rampages Tublat did on the day of his death. Terkoz, Tublat’s son who is openly despised by the other gorillas, which hints he is even worse than Kerchak. Finally, to avoid further spoilers, we have Sabor. Sabor is either a lioness or a leopard depending on which version you are reading, as Burroughs later discovered lions do not live in rain forests. This was the copy I read, and it featured Sabor as a lioness, in case you would rather read that version:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tarzan-of-the-apes-gore-vidal/1121226491?ean=9780451531025
As for the human characters, the majority of them are incredibly nice people with their own agendas. Professor Porter is seeking a treasure, and Philander is his friend making sure the old Professor’s scatterbrained tendencies don’t get himself killed. Will Clayton is a strong and kind individual who in his own right is a force to be reckoned with, even if Tarzan is far stronger. Then there is Jane. Jane is absolutely wonderful. She is not an action hero in her own right, however, she never loses her cool when in danger, and is the kind of person who when encountered by a lion, her first reaction is to shoot it. She is known far and wide today as Tarzan’s true love, but I personally believe she deserves more recognition as her own character, as she is a strong character. She is also the woman of Will Clayton’s affection, giving the story a love triangle.
There is another member of the party I left out, but it she is more difficult to talk about. The group also has a maid named Esmeralda, who is a heavily negative black woman stereotype. Instead of discussing her as a character, as she lacks one, it is necessary to discuss Burroughs’s thoughts on race. In a way, Burroughs was progressive and well-intended for his time, but still wrote like the kind of man who did not fully research what he was talking about. To explain this better, there is a native tribe in the book which is mentioned several times. They are all bloody-thirsty, murderous cannibals, a horrible stereotype for African tribes, one that has died out and is not used in fiction anymore as a result. However, Burroughs does not paint this as their fault. He claims they are this way because of the actions of British invasions and Imperialism, and also points out that those actions were far worse in comparison.
There are other black characters in the book as well, and they are not treated as any different than the white characters, although I understand later books do say unfortunate things about human races and apparently outright evolution in regards to this topic. In short, as I said, Burroughs meant well but the execution was not completely solid. Esmeralda feels and sounds like a racist caricature, and there is still a tribe of cannibals. Admittedly, this tribe is still written as if these are people instead of inhuman monsters, and their given reason for evil makes him incredibly sympathetic in-story. It should have been done better, but for what we got, it is far better than some other novels from the 1910’s and before.
Tarzan of the Apes is, at its heart, a jungle fantasy story. It’s action sequences are action-packed, gruesome, and bloody. It’s romance subplot is surprisingly well-written and catches your attention, even if you have heard how the original novel ends beforehand, which I did. The characters are memorable, my favorite being Philander with Jane at close-second. All in all, it is easy to see why Tarzan of the Apes remains a classic.
The question when it comes to classic literature is, do you read it for yourself? In this case, I give the original Tarzan of the Apes a heavy recommendation. Some aspects have not stood the test of time, but the rest of the book remains fresh and new despite being just over a hundred years old. If you live in the United States, the book is in the public domain, and access to it is easy. If you do not, it is probably not all that hard to secure a copy. Either way, it is worth seeing as to why Tarzan has become a hero of pop culture.