# VII explained — Before Adam

> Chapter companion for Before Adam by Jack London.

## What happens

The narrator recounts his first encounter with a Fire-man, who kills Broken-Tooth with an arrow. Lop-Ear shows altruism by helping the narrator remove an arrow from his leg, foreshadowing human comradeship. The chapter also describes Broken-Tooth's expulsion from his mother's cave and his death.

## Themes in this chapter

### Fear and Survival

The narrator and Lop-Ear experience terror and pain from the Fire-man's attack, highlighting primal survival instincts.

### Violence and Atavistic Aggression

The Fire-man's killing of Broken-Tooth and wounding of the narrator illustrate early interspecies violence.

### Evolution and Human Origins

The narrator reflects on Lop-Ear's altruism as a foreshadowing of human traits like comradeship and self-sacrifice.

## Character check-ins

### Lop-Ear

Shows altruism by staying with the narrator after he is wounded, gnawing off the arrowhead and dressing the wound with leaves.

### Broken-Tooth

A youngster forced out of his mother's cave; joins the narrator and Lop-Ear; killed by a Fire-man's arrow while playing tree tag.

### The Fire People

First appearance of a Fire-man, who uses a bow and arrow to kill Broken-Tooth and wounds the narrator.

### Red-Eye

Mentioned as a strong man who would be more than a match for the Fire-man.

### Big-Tooth

Mentioned as a dim denizen of the Younger World whose strength traces back to Lop-Ear.

## Key lines

> He was very much like my kind, except that he was less hairy and that his feet were less like hands than ours.

The Fire-man resembled the narrator's people but had less body hair and feet that were less hand-like.

_Describes the physical differences between the narrator's group and the Fire People._

> Lop-Ear was plainly in a funk, and yet his conduct in remaining by me, in spite of his fear, I take as a foreshadowing of the altruism and comradeship that have helped make man the mightiest of the animals.

Despite being terrified, Lop-Ear stayed with the narrator, which the narrator sees as an early sign of the altruism that made humans dominant.

_Highlights the theme of evolution and human origins._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/vii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/before_adam_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/before_adam_se/chapters