# IX explained — Before Adam > Chapter companion for Before Adam by Jack London. ## What happens Red-Eye is described as an atavism, a primitive and cruel member of the horde who terrorizes the Folk. He beats and murders his wives, kills other men to take their wives, and defies all customs. Lop-Ear and the narrator, now growing up, enlarge their cave entrance. After accidentally dropping debris on Red-Eye, he attacks them with a stick. The narrator fights back with rocks, injuring Red-Eye, who then descends and kills a child. The horde flees, and the narrator and Lop-Ear escape into the forest, laughing in relief. ## Themes in this chapter ### Violence and Atavistic Aggression Red-Eye embodies unchecked violence and primitive aggression, beating wives, killing children, and terrorizing the horde. ### Primitive Society and Social Organization The horde's inability to punish Red-Eye highlights the lack of developed government and collective action in early human society. ### Racial Memory and Atavism Red-Eye is explicitly called an atavism, a reversion to an earlier type, linking to the theme of racial memory. ## Character check-ins ### Red-Eye Described as an atavism and a monster of cruelty; beats his wives, murders for wives, attacks the narrator and Lop-Ear, and kills a child. ### Lop-Ear Grows up with the narrator, helps enlarge the cave, and flees with him after the confrontation with Red-Eye. ### Old Marrow-Bone An old member of the horde who is attacked by Red-Eye but spared; flees in terror. ### The Hairless One Observed beating his chest and bristling but afraid to confront Red-Eye. ### The Folk The horde is terrorized by Red-Eye, unable to act collectively; they flee after Red-Eye kills a child. ## Key lines > Red-Eye was an atavism. He was the great discordant element in our horde. He was more primitive than any of us. Red-Eye was a throwback to an earlier, more primitive stage of human evolution, causing constant conflict within the group. _Introduces the concept of atavism as central to Red-Eye's character._ > He beat his wives—not that he ever had more than one wife at a time, but that he was married many times. It was impossible for any woman to live with him, and yet they did live with him, out of compulsion. Red-Eye repeatedly married and abused women, who stayed with him only because they had no choice. _Highlights Red-Eye's cruelty and the lack of agency for women in the horde._ > I caught hold of the stick with my hands, but such was his strength that he jerked me into the crevice. He reached for me with his long arm, and his nails tore my flesh as I leaped back from the clutch and gained the comparative safety of the sidewall. The narrator grabbed the stick Red-Eye was using to jab him, but Red-Eye's strength pulled him forward; he barely escaped being grabbed. _Shows the narrator's growing courage and the physical danger from Red-Eye._ > We turned and ran. We dashed across the open spaces and down the slopes unmindful of possible snakes in the grass, until we reached the woods. Up into the trees we went, and on and on, swinging our arboreal flight until we had put miles between us and the caves. The narrator and Lop-Ear fled recklessly through the landscape, climbing trees and moving swiftly to escape Red-Eye. _Describes their desperate escape and relief after the confrontation._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/ix - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/before_adam_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/before_adam_se/chapters