The Edgar Rice Burroughs novel Tarzan of the Apes was written in the year 1912 as a series in a magazine. The reviews were nowhere near as grand as the book's two years later which labeled it an instant classic. The novel's main themes touch on man's survival and protection of the things that are closest to him as well as the identity of race and gender as symbols of power throughout the novel. And also of that man's need to explore the wild frontier and that they are the most sophisticated thinkers, hunters, and species in the world. All of these themes are evident not only in the novel Tarzan of the Apes but also in the everyday lives of middle-class American men at the beginning of the twentieth century, as the nation was growing so were the ideologies of the supremacy of the white male.
The first theme in the novel Tarzan of the Apes that will be examined is the idea that the male must support the weak and to protect the people that cannot protect themselves. This is evident throughout the novel as Tarzan protects everyone he loves to the furthest extent with no care for himself. His battles with neighboring tribes, huge lions, and other apes do nothing but reinforce his power and his protection to those that he holds dearest to himself. This helps to further explain the author Edgar Rice Burroughs view on modern life in the 1910's and how white males should be protectors of their families and go to any extent to make sure that they are and always will be protected at all times under all conditions. The significance of these ideas is that to the reader, the reader being a white male American, is that he is not only the head of the household but also the protector of the weak and everyone in the family.
Another point that was extremely evident throughout the reading of Tarzan of the Apes is that of survival of the fittest. In order to survive throughout the novel Tarzan is forced to find different ways to defeat his enemies, whether it is through the tools he uses or the tactics he is constantly evolving to his situation and finding ways to outsmart, outthink and out maneuver his enemies.
