# Tarzan and the Black Boy explained — Jungle Tales of Tarzan > Chapter companion for Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. ## What happens Tarzan captures a black boy named Tibo, whom he calls Go-bu-balu, and attempts to raise him among the ape tribe, but the child remains terrified of the jungle and its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Tarzan fashions a new rope and cares for Teeka's infant Gazan, while Tibo's mother Momaya, grieving and frustrated with the witch-doctor, considers seeking help from the outcast Bukawai. ## Themes in this chapter ### Nature vs. Nurture Tarzan attempts to nurture Tibo in the ape way, but the child's innate fear and lack of 'imagination' highlight the tension between natural instinct and learned behavior. ### Otherness and Prejudice Tibo is viewed as an alien 'Go-bu-balu' by Tarzan, and the narrative explicitly contrasts the 'dull Negroid mind' with Tarzan's 'divine spark,' reinforcing racial otherness. ### Survival and Instinct Tibo's terror of the jungle and its predators underscores the primal survival instincts that both Tarzan and the apes possess. ### Love and Affection Tarzan's growing fondness for Tibo and his tender care for Gazan contrast with the fierce maternal love of Teeka and Momaya. ## Character check-ins ### Tarzan Fashions a new rope, cares for Gazan, and attempts to raise the captured black boy Tibo as his own balu. ### Teeka Feeds in the clearing and shows trust in Tarzan by allowing him to play with and pursue her infant Gazan. ### Gazan Teeka's playful balu who distracts Tarzan by stealing his rope and is later cared for by the ape-man. ### Tibo The captured black boy, terrified of Tarzan and the jungle, but gradually begins to trust and admire his captor. ### Momaya Tibo's mother, grief-stricken and angry with the witch-doctor, considers seeking help from Bukawai. ### Witch Doctor Consulted by Momaya but fails to locate Tibo; driven away by her shrewish tongue after demanding more goats. ### Bukawai Mentioned as the unclean outcast who dwells in a cave with hyenas and is known for black magic. ### Taug Mentioned as the sullen sire of Gazan who no longer suspects Tarzan's intentions toward his offspring. ## Key lines > for Tarzan is a mighty fighter. None so great as Tarzan, son of Kala. Do not fear. Tarzan reassures the trembling child by boasting of his own strength and reputation as a fighter. _Tarzan tries to comfort Tibo by asserting his prowess, but the child cannot understand the ape language._ > It was quite certain to Tarzan that Go-bu-balu's speech was not talk at all. It sounded quite as senseless as the chattering of the silly birds. Tarzan dismisses Tibo's language as meaningless noise, comparing it to bird calls. _Highlights Tarzan's ignorance of human language and his assumption that ape speech is the only true form of communication._ > In imagination he was wanting, and imagination is but another name for super-intelligence. Imagination it is which builds bridges, and cities, and empires. The beasts know it not, the blacks only a little, while to one in a hundred thousand of earth's dominant race it is given as a gift from heaven that man may not perish from the earth. The narrator asserts that imagination, a form of super-intelligence, is almost absent in blacks and beasts but rare among the white race, enabling civilization. _A racially charged passage that explicitly links imagination to racial superiority, reflecting the author's worldview._ > Momaya, being of a short temper and of another people, had little respect for the witch-doctor of her husband's tribe, and so, when he suggested that a further payment of two more fat goats would doubtless enable him to make stronger medicine, she promptly loosed her shrewish tongue upon him Momaya, angry and from a different tribe, berates the witch-doctor when he demands more goats for stronger magic. _Shows Momaya's independent spirit and her frustration with the witch-doctor's ineffective remedies._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jungle_tales_of_tarzan_se/chapters/v-tarzan-and-the-black-boy - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jungle_tales_of_tarzan_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jungle_tales_of_tarzan_se/chapters