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language_loving_amateur 's review for:
Tarzan of the Apes
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read this to fill my 1900-1950 category and because I wanted a book I felt no pressure to have a good opinion of. I was curious to see how it was disneyfied, and since it was published in 1912 I expected there to be some racism. I was not expecting the Central Theme to be Racism and White Supremacy. Edgar Rice Burroughs heard about evolution and got really horny for the the "superiority" of English Lords.
The racism in here is WAY WORSE than in Robinson Crusoe, but there is no religious justification for it or messiah complex, so in some ways Robinson Crusoe got on my nerves more. Burroughs really tries for "scientific" justification for the racism, which is bullshit, but being as it wasn't the flavor of racism I was raised with I can dismiss it with fewer icky feelings. The misogyny seemed run of the mill compared with other books I've read from this time period or a little earlier. I was surprised that it acknowledges King Leopold's and Belgium's atrocities in the Congo, but it does it to highlight the righteousness and benevolence of the English Lord, so not really a win.
It was fast paced, with lots of descriptive fight scenes. The tension stays up there, even when the audience knows what will happen, or what something means ages before Tarzan does. I do appreciate that at the beginning the narrator doesn't claim the story as fact "you have to believe me because I heard it from a Methodist and we all know that Methodists never lie." The Narrator claims it as plausible, "the records I was able to verify show these people did sail on this date, and nothing I've uncovered has disproven the story, so though it is extraordinary, it is possible. I believe it, but I will let you decide after having related the tale." I find fabricated explanations for how a story came to be in print amusing, and this seemed like one step away from that. Like how the first Percy Jackson Book starts by saying that the reader could be a demigod and that it's dangerous if you are, but this is his story.
The racism in here is WAY WORSE than in Robinson Crusoe, but there is no religious justification for it or messiah complex, so in some ways Robinson Crusoe got on my nerves more. Burroughs really tries for "scientific" justification for the racism, which is bullshit, but being as it wasn't the flavor of racism I was raised with I can dismiss it with fewer icky feelings. The misogyny seemed run of the mill compared with other books I've read from this time period or a little earlier. I was surprised that it acknowledges King Leopold's and Belgium's atrocities in the Congo, but it does it to highlight the righteousness and benevolence of the English Lord, so not really a win.
It was fast paced, with lots of descriptive fight scenes. The tension stays up there, even when the audience knows what will happen, or what something means ages before Tarzan does. I do appreciate that at the beginning the narrator doesn't claim the story as fact "you have to believe me because I heard it from a Methodist and we all know that Methodists never lie." The Narrator claims it as plausible, "the records I was able to verify show these people did sail on this date, and nothing I've uncovered has disproven the story, so though it is extraordinary, it is possible. I believe it, but I will let you decide after having related the tale." I find fabricated explanations for how a story came to be in print amusing, and this seemed like one step away from that. Like how the first Percy Jackson Book starts by saying that the reader could be a demigod and that it's dangerous if you are, but this is his story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia
Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
Minor: Blood