Tarzan of the Apes | Themes and Characters
Tarzan of the Apes is a quintessential tale of the "noble savage"—a theme, especially prevalent in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Romantic literature, that equates natural goodness with lack of exposure to civilization's corrupting influences. Burroughs believed that humankind had sacrificed its moral integrity in the pursuit of material goods. Tarzan, in his jungle world, knows a freedom never to be attained by those people defined and thereby trapped by the expectations of civilization.
The Tarzan books are escapist literature in several senses. At the time of the...
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