Tarzan of the Apes

Although the novel claims that Tarzan’s behavior is the result of his life among the apes of Africa, the narrative also establishes that he is sometimes prevented from violating social taboos by the more mysterious manifestation of his English heritage, and thus, Burroughs highlights the interplay between nature and nurture. Throughout the book, Burroughs stages comparisons between how Tarzan acts and how his aristocratic English relatives act back in England, often to mock the English for their physical weakness. However, as much as Burroughs seems to praise Tarzan’s ape-like instincts and physical prowess, he also implies that the protagonist’s intrinsically civilized European nature is the real reason why Tarzan never goes so far as to commit major social taboos. With this dynamic, the author implicitly places white British culture on a pedestal, for Burroughs suggests that Tarzan represents the best of both worlds—the power of an animal combined with the mind of a contemporary white man.

Throughout the story, Burroughs uses juxtaposition in order to explore how being nurtured in the jungle differentiates Tarzan from the rest of his bloodline. For example, when Tarzan is eating raw boar meat that he finds in the jungle, Burroughs writes, “Then Lord Greystoke wiped his greasy fingers upon his naked thighs and took up the trail of Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the king; while in far-off London another Lord Greystoke, the younger brother of the real Lord Greystoke’s father, sent back his chops to the club’s chef because they were underdone” (46).