Summary
Summary of Tarzan of the Apes
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A mutiny leaves a family stranded
John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, sails to West Africa to investigate reports of mistreated native people. His wife, Lady Alice Rutherford, travels with him, but violence aboard the Fuwalda destroys their plans. The crew kill the officers and leave the couple on a lonely coast rather than taking them home.
Clayton builds a cabin with the supplies they are given. Alice is expecting a child, and their new home must shelter a family with no help nearby.
Key idea 2
Kala makes the child her own
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Key idea 3
Difference brings shame and resourcefulness
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Key idea 4
The cabin opens another world
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Key idea 5
Human resemblance does not create belonging
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Key idea 6
Jane draws Tarzan toward human connection
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Key idea 7
Birth and upbringing pull against each other
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Key idea 8
Objects mark Tarzan's changing identity
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Key idea 9
Civilization must answer for its cruelty
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love fast adventure, wild settings and jungle heroes, and anyone curious about the origin of a character they know from films. It also rewards those drawn to questions of identity and upbringing.
What this book is
A baby boy is left alone on the African coast, and the creatures who find him are not human. Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in a pulp magazine in 1912 and became a book in 1914. Burroughs was a clerk and a salesman who wrote it for money, and it made him a full-time author. It also gave the world a lasting hero. Follow the story from a mutiny at sea to a boy among the apes, and ask what truly makes a person.
In this summary
- 1A mutiny strands a noble coupleFree
- 2A child is born far from home
- 3A mother ape adopts the white baby
- 4Growing up strong among the apes
- 5The cabin gives him books and a blade
- 6First contact with human beings
- 7A new party lands on the coast
- 8Birth against upbringing
- 9How Burroughs builds his tale
Key point 1 of 9
A mutiny strands a noble couple
John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, is sent by the British Colonial Office to look into reports of mistreated native people in West Africa. He marries Lady Alice Rutherford and takes her along on a ship called the Fuwalda. The captain is rough and the crew is worse, and trouble feels close from the start.
The mutiny is swift and bloody. The crew kill the officers, then decide what to do with the two passengers who saw everything. Clayton and Alice are spared, but the sailors will not take them home.
The mutineers put them ashore on a lonely coast with tools, books, clothes and furniture. Clayton builds a cabin near the beach and thinks of defence first. Alice is expecting a child, and the cabin becomes their whole world.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why does Kala take the human baby into her care?
Right. “She has just lost her own baby, and she is full of grief.”Not quite. “She has just lost her own baby, and she is full of grief.”
How does Tarzan begin learning to read?
Right. “Step by step he works out that marks and pictures belong together.”Not quite. “Step by step he works out that marks and pictures belong together.”
What central question does Tarzan's upbringing raise?
Right. “The story asks whether blood or upbringing forms a person, and it never settles the matter neatly.”Not quite. “The story asks whether blood or upbringing forms a person, and it never settles the matter neatly.”
Who’s who
- Tarzan
- The son of an English lord, Tarzan grows up among apes under Kala's protection.
- Kala
- Kala is the female ape who adopts Tarzan and protects him against the tribe.
- Jane Porter
- Jane is Professor Porter's brave daughter, stranded with his party on the African coast.
- Kerchak
- Kerchak is the fierce leader of the ape tribe and distrusts Kala's human child.
- Tublat
- Tublat is Kala's mate, an ape who dislikes Tarzan and bullies him during childhood.
- Professor Archimedes Q. Porter
- Professor Archimedes Q. Porter is Jane's absent-minded father, a scholar travelling with companions from Baltimore.
- William Cecil Clayton
- William Cecil Clayton is a courteous young Englishman accompanying the Porters and connected to Tarzan's family.
- Lieutenant D'Arnot
- Lieutenant D'Arnot is a French naval officer who helps Tarzan learn human language and customs.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 87,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 50 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Tarzan of the Apes
What is Tarzan of the Apes about?
It tells of an English lord's infant son, left orphaned on the African coast and raised by a tribe of great apes. He grows up in the jungle, teaches himself to read, and meets other people for the first time.
Who raises Tarzan in the book?
A female ape named Kala, who has lost her own baby, takes the human child and raises him as her son. Her mate Tublat and the leader Kerchak do not welcome him.
What does the name Tarzan mean?
In the invented language of the apes in the novel, Tarzan means White Skin. The apes give the boy this name because his skin is pale and hairless, unlike theirs.
When was Tarzan of the Apes written and is it a true story?
It is fiction. Burroughs published it in The All-Story magazine in 1912, and it came out as a book in 1914.
Is Tarzan of the Apes worth reading today?
Yes, if you enjoy fast adventure and want to see the original of a famous character.
