Summary
Summary of The Cave Girl
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Two lives meet in the wild
The Cave Girl brings a soft, bookish young American, Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones, into contact with Nadara, a strong young woman from a primitive tribe. Their meeting sets an adventure in motion, with danger and hardship beginning to change the man.
Burroughs places a hero from the modern world in the kind of wild setting found in his jungle stories. At the heart of the action is a question that their different lives make vivid: what really makes a person strong?
Key idea 2
Comfort offers no protection here
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Key idea 3
Nadara knows how to survive
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Key idea 4
Waldo learns to stand his ground
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Key idea 5
Strength means more than polish
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Key idea 6
A hero must earn his place
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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 early pulp adventure, lost-world settings and stories of a hero who must grow up fast, with wild survival, a bold heroine and love amid danger.
What this book is
The Cave Girl is an adventure novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the American writer who created Tarzan. It first appeared in magazine form in the 1910s, when readers were hungry for tales of lost lands and wild survival, and it came out as a book later. Burroughs wrote it in the same vein as his jungle stories, but with a young man from the modern world as his hero.
The story brings together a soft, bookish young American named Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones and a strong young woman of a primitive tribe named Nadara. Out of that meeting come danger, hardship and a slow change in the man. You get a fast tale, a clear question about what makes a person strong, and a first look at how Burroughs thinks about civilization and the wild. Let us begin with the young man and the world he leaves behind.
In this summary
- 1A sheltered young man meets the wildFree
- 2Nadara shows him a harder way to live
- 3Survival changes the man into a fighter
- 4What the story asks and how it is told
Key point 1 of 4
A sheltered young man meets the wild
The story begins with Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones, a young man from a comfortable American background. He is thoughtful and well read, but he has little strength and little experience of danger. Burroughs makes him a figure the reader may smile at, because he seems built for libraries and drawing rooms, not for harsh country.
The plot soon sends him far from home, and he finds himself in a wild and little known land. There the rules of his old life count for nothing. Manners, money and learning do not stop a hungry beast or a hostile stranger.
This opening sets up the central contrast of the book. On one side stands a civilized man who thinks with his head. On the other stands a world that tests the body and the nerve. The reader is left asking whether Waldo can survive, and what he will have to become if he does.
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why is Waldo poorly prepared for life in the wild?
Right. “He is thoughtful and well read, but he has little strength and little experience of danger.”Not quite. “He is thoughtful and well read, but he has little strength and little experience of danger.”
What gives Nadara an advantage over Waldo in the wild?
Right. “She is at home in a place where Waldo is helpless, and Burroughs gives her courage and a clear mind of her own.”Not quite. “She is at home in a place where Waldo is helpless, and Burroughs gives her courage and a clear mind of her own.”
What inner choice does Waldo face as danger grows?
Right. “He must also face his old fears and decide whether he will keep running or take a stand.”Not quite. “He must also face his old fears and decide whether he will keep running or take a stand.”
Questions about The Cave Girl
What is The Cave Girl about?
It is an adventure story about a sheltered young American, Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones, who is thrown into a wild land and meets Nadara, a strong woman of a primitive tribe. The book follows his struggle to survive and change.
Who wrote The Cave Girl and when?
Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote it. It first appeared in magazine form in the 1910s, and it was published as a book later. Burroughs is also the creator of Tarzan of the Apes.
Is The Cave Girl by the author of Tarzan?
Yes. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote both. The Cave Girl shares the Tarzan books' love of wild settings, bold physical heroes and fast action, though it has its own hero and its own story.
Is The Cave Girl a true story?
No. It is a work of fiction, an adventure tale written for pulp magazine readers. The wild land and its tribe are imagined.
Is The Cave Girl worth reading today?
It is worth reading if you like early pulp adventure and want to see how Burroughs worked. Its pace is quick.
