Tarzan/Headscratchers

• When Tarzan was old enough to explore the jungle on his own, he found his parents' house and discovered books there, including some reading primers. Through long hours of study, he was able to decipher the words, teaching himself the English language. When he later encountered white folks, he was able to communicate with them. Except… he spoke with them verbally, something he would not have been able to teach himself from books. Sure, maybe it's possible for him to teach himself to read and write English words that way, but having never heard the words he'd have no idea how to pronounce them, or understand someone else saying them! Pronunciation cannot be conveyed through the written word if you haven't already heard those sounds and associated them with the letters that represent them!
  • In the book, he cannot speak English when he first meets white men; he is taught to speak by a Frenchman during his first sea voyage. The Frenchman's English is poor, and so he uses Tarzan's written English as a basis for instruction, but teaches him French vocabulary. Thus, he learns that ape is pronounced "singe," man is pronounced "homme" and water is pronounced "eau".
  • In fact, the problem with Tarzan's early communication with the Porter party goes precisely the opposite direction: it's clearly established that he can't speak English, having no idea of the connection between the written words and the sounds, so he has to communicate through notes -- which he signs with his name, despite that if he has no idea of the connection between the written words and the sounds he should have no idea how to spell it.
• This troper remembers readin' a Tarzan book where he encounters two tribes headed by ugly-looking brothers, both of whom have strange star charts in their rooms. Tarzan postulates that they may be aliens. Then this is forgotten and never brought up again. You'd think the discovery of alien life would be a pretty significant thing.
  • Maybe not so for gorillas.
    • If Tarzan can recognize star charts and speculate on the possibility of alien life, then he surely knows the value of such information. Despite his origins, he is fairly well-educated.

---

Back to Tarzan