Reading Ruminations: Tarzan of the Apes

Recently, while I was visiting home I was in a bookstore with my older sister, and unable to resist the pull of the printed word ended up purchasing more than I had intended.  One of the books that I succumbed to buying was “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  I have always enjoyed the Disney film version, and since I was unfamiliar with the literary version of Burroughs’ character decided to acquaint myself with him. 
On the first leg of my return trip, I opened the book.  It is an excellent read, for those who may wonder, however, I was shocked to discover how Disney-fied my own expectations of the story were! 
First, I was disconcerted to discover that Miss Jane Porter is an American, not a Brit.  She’s from Baltimore, in fact.  I was chagrined by this.  I had been annoyed by the recent film “The Legend of Tarzan” where Jane’s character is an American since I ignorantly believed the writers to have taken much artistic license.  As I have now read the first four out of Burroughs’ twenty-four Tarzan novels I can say that the newer movie more accurately conveys the spirit of Tarzan than Disney ever could. 
There is nothing wrong with the Disney film from an entertainment standpoint, and honestly, considering all the mutiny, breaking of necks, and general violence of the books, there’s no way Disney could turn the story into a children’s movie without some major plot changes.  Tragically, in doing so they left out many of the story’s dimensions, including how Tarzan’s father was a British Peer, and that Clayton was actually Tarzan’s cousin whose only crime was falling in love with Jane, prior to them ever meeting Tarzan.  Also, no one in the stories actually wanted to study gorillas. 
The ending of the first book is rather a letdown, which makes one very glad that Burroughs gave in and wrote more about his legendary hero, despite originally planning to write only the one novel.  It was very frustrating though, to finish the book with still an hour of my first flight remaining, unable to know if or how the story continued.  Prior to boarding the plane I had given no thought to the possibilities of there being more books.  I was certain that I held the complete story of Tarzan and after coming to the end was anxious that my supposition prove to be incorrect.  Gratefully it did.


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