Tarzan
Tarzan himself is the central defining symbol of the novel and his symbolic complexity has only deepened in the century since he first appeared. For some, Tarzan is nothing more than a perfect metaphor for colonialism and white European imperialism. But even that profoundly meaningful symbol is more complex than it may seem. One can limit Tarzan’s place as King of the Jungle merely to the negative aspects of white patriarchy in which you have a pale-skinned immigrant lording over the darker natives as well as the indigenous animals. From another perspective—one a bit more lenient to the patriarchy, perhaps—Tarzan is actually more fitting as a symbol as the western civilization and all the positive attributes associated with that history: architecture, engineering, art, literature, etc. Both the limited and the more expansive symbolic interpretations have undeniable problems associated with not just racism but sexism and class, but considering that Tarzan hardly seems to fit into the colonialist society of his birthright—and considering that Tarzan himself is not exactly an entirely negative figure in the narrative—perhaps a little slack might be more in order than for a character such as Col. Kurtz or Nostromo, for example.
The Locket, Part I
Tarzan’s locket, which he gives Jane, is a symbol which further strengthens the more liberal interpretation of Tarzan as a figure of white patriarchy. Tarzan’s ignorance of the locket’s spring and the pictures of his parents hidden inside can allow the locket to be interpreted as a symbol of Tarzan’s cultural disconnect from the colonialism of the home he never knew. To read Tarzan merely as a simple metaphor for everything bad out European imperialism in general and British colonialism particular is, after all, to ignore the quite important fact that doesn’t have any greater knowledge or appreciation of that legacy than any ape in the jungle.
The Locket, Part II
Somewhat ironically—maybe paradoxically is more accurate—that very same locket becomes a symbol of symbol of Tarzan’s heritage as Lord Greystoke from the perspective of Jane. An important moment in their lives is when he makes a gift of the locket to Jane who curtsies in acceptance which causes him, almost unconsciously, to bow in return. That gesture cements his heritage of breeding and good genes, if you will, but it is a moment that would never have occurred had he not come into possession of the locket. The locket thus works as a symbol of ignorance and distance from his heritage to Tarzan while at the very same time working as a symbolic rapprochement with that very heritage to Jane.
Tarzan's Hunting Knife
As a symbol, it is deeply significant that the knife which Tarzan discovers in his father’s cabin is a hunting knife. Not a steak knife—and certainly not a butter knife—but an essential tool for men when hunting. Lacking the sheer brute strength combined with the long sharp claws of animals, Tarzan would be at likely fatal disadvantage if the knife had been merely a particularly sharp instrument for filleting fish. A hunting knife is a tool and the limited knowledge that even experts had about great apes when Burroughs wrote his novel tended to assume that one of the things separating men from beasts was the ability to make and use tools to accomplish those tasks for which nature made our bodies deficient. Of course, today it is well-known that animals of all shapes and sizes do, in fact, use “tools” but even with that knowledge in place, the hunting knife remains the most powerful symbol separating Tarzan from the apes.
White Ducks
They say clothes make the man and this must be doubly true when the man wearing the clothes used to fling himself through the jungle wearing practically nothing. “White ducks” is a term used to describe the white canvas suit almost always associated with European men traveling to Africa and other tropical colonial holdings around the globe. The lightweight suit hardly seems to be an worthy option to Tarzan in the jungle, but once he returns home, his adoption of the look is symbolically integral to his integration into polite culture society.
