Abstract

I have two main goals in this paper. First, I want to ward off the quite feasible interpretation that Tarzan, in his long speech towards the end of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes, is endorsing the view that black males are particularly ferocious. Second, I want to argue that Tarzan’s between-the-lines claim that he will continue to be on guard around black men is reasonable for his situation and not a function of racism. My additional hope is to show that if Tarzan of the Apes is a racist text, as it is widely believed to be, it undermines its own racism particularly through Tarzan’s speech, where he arguably endorses the view each person must be judged individually, case by case.