Review of 'TARZAN OF THE APES (TARZAN, NO 1)' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
An iconic, daft, action packed, romantic romp which would be 5* if it wasn’t horribly marred with racist tropes and stereotypes.
It’s great fun when Tarzan is growing up in the jungle, rising through the ranks of his adopted ape tribe, dealing with murderous bullies, surviving encounters with other animals (don’t read this if you like lions), encountering another group of castaways, falling in love, travelling to America, finding some of the people there just as bad as the worst apes he grew up with, and nobly sacrificing everything for the woman he loves (the ending is very sad). But…
As it’s more than a hundred years old, it’s depiction of black characters is completely shocking. One is the stereotypical loyal but cowardly comic servant woman, most are portrayed as sadistic savages. Tarzan takes revenge on one for the killing of his ape stepmother, but then thinks nothing of murdering …
It’s great fun when Tarzan is growing up in the jungle, rising through the ranks of his adopted ape tribe, dealing with murderous bullies, surviving encounters with other animals (don’t read this if you like lions), encountering another group of castaways, falling in love, travelling to America, finding some of the people there just as bad as the worst apes he grew up with, and nobly sacrificing everything for the woman he loves (the ending is very sad). But…
As it’s more than a hundred years old, it’s depiction of black characters is completely shocking. One is the stereotypical loyal but cowardly comic servant woman, most are portrayed as sadistic savages. Tarzan takes revenge on one for the killing of his ape stepmother, but then thinks nothing of murdering others to steal their weapons and jewellery.
Burroughs comes close to self awareness with a line about Europeans historically treating Africans worse than his tribe of cannibalistic torturers treat their victims, but then loses it again by telling us that Tarzan has inherited a superior character from his noble English ancestors.