# The Pithecanthropus explained — Tarzan the Terrible

> Chapter companion for Tarzan the Terrible by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

## What happens

Tarzan, searching for Lady Jane, crosses a forbidding landscape and encounters a strange, tailed humanoid creature (a pithecanthropus). He saves the creature from a lion, and they form a tentative alliance. The pithecanthropus tends Tarzan's wound and attempts to teach him its language. Their breakfast is interrupted by a sudden attack from a hairy beast.

## Themes in this chapter

### Survival and Adaptation

Tarzan adapts to a new, dangerous environment, using his jungle skills to hunt, find shelter, and fend off predators. The pithecanthropus also demonstrates adaptation to its environment.

### Civilization vs. Primitivism

The contrast between Tarzan (a civilized man raised in the wild) and the pithecanthropus (a primitive, tailed humanoid) highlights the blurred line between human and animal, civilized and primitive.

## Character check-ins

### Tarzan

The protagonist, searching for Jane in an unknown land. He saves a pithecanthropus from a lion and begins to learn its language.

### Pithecanthropus

A tailed, humanoid creature with prehensile toes and thumbs. He is grateful to Tarzan for saving him and tends to Tarzan's wound. He attempts to teach Tarzan his language.

### Numa

The lion that Tarzan saves the pithecanthropus from, and which had earlier clawed Tarzan.

## Key lines

> The pithecanthropus ate in silence, cutting small strips from the deer’s loin with his keen knife.

The tailed man quietly ate, using a sharp knife to slice meat from the deer.

_Introduces the pithecanthropus's human-like behavior and tool use._

> Behind the fleeing figure, escaping, came Numa, the lion, in full charge.

A lion was chasing the fleeing figure at full speed.

_Sets up the dramatic rescue scene._

> The fellow shook his head dubiously as though entirely unable to comprehend why Tarzan should differ so from him but at last, apparently giving the problem up with a shrug, he laid aside his own harness, skin, and weapons and entered the pool.

The creature seemed confused by Tarzan's lack of a tail, but eventually shrugged and went to bathe.

_Highlights the physical differences between Tarzan and the pithecanthropus._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tarzan_the_terrible_se/chapters/i-the-pithecanthropus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tarzan_the_terrible_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tarzan_the_terrible_se/chapters