Book Report: Tarzan of the Apes

Tarzan Of The Apes

By Edgar Rice Burroughs

The majority of the book is set within the jungle on the coast of Africa, with a tiny portion being set in France and America. I’m not sure about the time period. They had cars so it wasn’t too far back in history.

My favorite character is surprisingly enough Tarzan. I normally prefer secondary characters. I guess I like Tarzan because the book is mainly told through his point of view, and he’s an interesting character. The one thing I don’t like about him is how many times it tells how handsome he is or how well built his body is. That gets annoying after a while, but that’s the author’s fault not Tarzan’s.

My second favorite character is probably the Professor. I know his character is pretty much a stereotype, but I love that stereotype. Professors and archeologists always interest me, whether they be villains or a side character. Also the Professor shows he has a bit more character in the scene when he and his companion are up in the tree talking after having just been chased by a lion. I think that it is one of my favorite conversations in the book. Sometimes it is better to hint at a deeper character than to lay it all out. At least to me it makes the person more fascinating.

I also rather liked the Frenchman, though that’s probably because he is French.

My least favorite character is Kerchak. If I hadn’t seen the Disney movie he probably wouldn’t have bugged me so much, but seeing him bloodthirsty and stupid just made me dislike him strongly.

The author was obviously coming from an evolutionary view, though I’m not sure if he was trying to teach any lessons. Perhaps that you can be raised by wild, even fierce beasts and still turn out good? That men can be just as cruel as the animals?

Yes, I did like the book. It was a very interesting read and not a single part of it was boring. The only part I didn’t like was the way it ended. What if an author ended a book like that and then died before he wrote the second one? That would just be evil, though it is a good way to make sure people will want to read the second book.

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