Tarzan of the Apes is one of the most well-known classic adventure stories. The novel set the groundwork for an entire series of wildly successful sequels and a franchise of blockbuster movies. The name “Tarzan” is known to millions as a noble savage of the jungle. Burrough’s novel is an exciting, fast-paced romp through the jungle. His hero is noble and good, but also brutal in a way that was unusual for heroes at the time this book was written. This savage aspect of the hero makes him seem very much an early cousin to modern action heroes.
Some readers of Tarzan of the Apes may at first find the language archaic and difficult, since the book is over a hundred years old. However, this book is a perfect choice for readers who want to delve into classic literature but may be intimidated by it. The detailed, but not overly long, descriptions craft an immersive setting, and the nearly constant action will keep the interest of even those who shun most classic literature as “boring”. The store is entertaining, energetic, and beautifully written.
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 11 religious exclamations; 7 mild obscenities. Note: The word “negro” is uesd in a historical context several times and is not tallied.
Violence/Gore: A few verbal threats; human skulls are found in a building; characters are led by a rope around their necks; a few reports of characters being beaten; report of an animal shot; report of a murder; a few reports of battles and massacres in which soldiers and civilians are hurt and killed; a few reports of cannibalism; report of a murder and robbery; report of murders; report of two suicides; report of death by starvation and thirst; report of a man cutting himself to drink blood; report of bloody torture; a character falls from a tree without major injury; an animal bites another; a male animal beats a female animal as chastisement; a character is shot without serious injury; a fight in which an animal is shot to death and a character is badly wounded (bloodless); an animal falls to its death; a few scenes where animals wound and kill other animals by crushing, biting, or hitting them; a character is killed by an animal; a character uses a noose-like rope to strangle animals a few times; characters hunt animals with arrows and poison; a character is beaten and tortured; a character attacks and injures another and threatens to kill him; a tense scene in which an animal tries to reach helpless characters; a fight with men killed by shooting or melee, one of whom is chopped in the face with an axe; several scenes in which humans fight with animals with claws, bites, and knives resulting in serious injuries or death to animals and humans; a character hangs and stabs another; a character is shot to death; a character skewers others with a spear; a character stabs another in the head; a battle with dead and wounded characters without gory details; a character kills another with a noose; a battle, then massacre following, in which soldiers and civilians are killed; animal and human characters eat animal meat raw a few times; a bloody scene in which a character kills an animal by stabbing it repeatedly; a character considers whether to participate in cannibalism; a character wears a necklace made of dried human hands; a mob kills a character through brutal beating and stabbing and then eats him; a character throws a human skull at another; a gory fight between a man and an animal in which the man sustains grave injury including the skin of his the man’s head laid open to the bone in a flapping strip of flesh.
Sex/Nudity: A male character is in love with a woman (their relationship is chaste); a character writes a love letter; characters kiss a few times; characters hold hands; a male character carries a woman in his arms; characters flirt verbally a few times; a man is jealous that a woman likes another man; a few mentions that a character is in love; a character proposes marriage; a character refers to a woman as his mate (instead of wife); a character spends much of the novel naked because he doesn’t know about clothes; native children are naked in a village, and the women wear only skirts with no shirt (not sexual); a man notices the heat of a naked woman’s body as she stands near him (no sexual connotation); a character strips naked as part of a wager (no sexual connotation); a few mentions of animals mating; speculation about whether apes and humans can have offspring;characters hug and caress areas not normally covered by a bathing suit;report of native characters mating; a character considers ethics of taking a woman as a mate without her permission. Because the animals in the story are heavily personified, in some cases almost as human as the humans, the following are worth mentioning: Report that an animal character stole another animal’s mate; report of an animal character giving his daughter as a mate to another animal to settle a dispute.
Mature Subject Matter:
Age-induced dementia; slavery; mutiny; death (parent, spouse); racial discrimination; the author’s depiction of black Africans implies that they are fundamentally inferior to white Europeans; kidnapping; suicide (reported); cannibalism.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
It is implied that a character (the narrator) had alcohol; a character drinks absinthe.
