Tarzan of the
Apes is a worldwide popular novel for its unique story. Though the book is
quite racist in its semblance, but it is the overall story of a white boy being
raised by apes, makes all the difference. The book was written (around 1910)
when colonization was a trend and writers, especially from Europe and America,
cared least to unhurt the feelings of native black African people. They
generally associated them with slavery, wilderness, uncivilized and so on. They
never deemed them up to a standard of being human. Let’s see what’s in the
story of this extremely popular book.
The white
couple John and Alice Clayton is travelling to Africa on a ship. However, the
ship sees a mutiny, thus for their safety they are deported somewhere on the
African coastal strip. The couple is at a strange place and very much on the
edge of dark jungle. They are stuck undoubtedly. Soon, John manages to build a
wooden cabin and start living in fear. In a year’s time they are bestowed with
a baby boy. When their baby is around one year old, the hostile ape leader
Kerchek murders the man and the woman Alice dies due to illness. Well, in time,
she-ape Kala takes the baby boy as a substitute for her dead infant.
The ape
community names the boy as Tarzan, meaning white skin. Because of his
intelligence and her protection, Tarzan not only learns the brutal rules of
jungle but also thrives ahead, to an extent that one day he kills his most
fierce rival Kerchek – the leader of the ape community.
Apart from his
daily hunting expeditions, Tarzan also loves to explore the inner depths of the
African jungle. On one occasion, he discovers strange things from a wooden
cabin, which once was his birth and dwelling place. Through cabin’s material,
he tries to understand human figures, as there were books which ignited his
mind to think that apart from jungle and animals there also exist different
types of humans. This discovery was inevitable as he being from white parents
has different and sharp mind than his community members.
On the same
coastal strip some naïve and defenseless white men arrive, probably in the
search of a treasure. Among them is Jane Porter, a young beautiful girl from
Baltimore, Maryland. This is the first instance when Tarzan sees humans and
also saves them from the untoward things of the jungle. During one romantic
confrontation when Jane stays with Tarzan in the depths of the jungle for few
days – they fall in love with each other. That’s the turning point for Tarzan’s
destiny.
In between
Tarzan’s ape mother is being killed by the black natives of the jungle. To
avenge her death, he tactfully kills the natives by stealing their arrows only
to use on them. He kills them with so precision and secretly that they take him
as an evil shadow and they fear him the most.
When the group
of the white men goes back to the USA, Tarzan feels a deep need for Jane. In
order to follow her, he sets out on a journey with a French naval officer, Paul
D’Arnot, whom he saved from the black natives of the jungle.
Upon reaching
the USA, Tarzan finds Jane caught in a forest fire, and then he saves her life
once again. This incident and Tarzan’s bravery nudge her to break her
engagement from the person who runs away when she was caught in the fire.
However, in the end, Jane refuses Tarzan’s marriage proposal just for the sake
of social status, and she marries Tarzan’s cousin, who now inherits all the
wealth of Clayton. Tarzan goes back silently renouncing his identity and share
in the wealth.
In 1912,
‘Tarzan’ titled stories was published in a magazine in a series. However, it
came as a whole book in 1914. Tarzan of the Apes is more or less based on
differences in the civilizations that have been existing since ages.
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