# Among the Maniacs explained — Tarzan the Untamed

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

## What happens

Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick are captured by a tribe of mentally deranged people after being dragged from a cave where lions attacked them. They are taken through a strange forest to a city inhabited by maniacs, where they witness horrific acts of violence and madness. Smith-Oldwick, wounded by a lion and further injured by a captor, confesses his love for Bertha, who promises to try to love him but remains uncertain. Believing Tarzan dead, they face a hopeless situation, with Bertha asking Smith-Oldwick to save a bullet for her.

## Themes in this chapter

### Madness and Rationality

The captors are depicted as maniacs with erratic behavior, such as laughing hysterically after violent rage, highlighting the theme of irrationality versus sanity.

### Survival and Adaptation

Bertha and Smith-Oldwick struggle to survive in a hostile environment, with Bertha using a saber to defend them and Smith-Oldwick hiding his pistol for a potential escape or mercy killing.

### Gender and Heroism

Bertha Kircher displays bravery by wrestling a saber from a captor to protect Smith-Oldwick, challenging traditional gender roles of the time.

## Character check-ins

### Fräulein Bertha Kircher

Captured by maniacs after the lion attack; wrests a saber from a captor to defend Smith-Oldwick; promises to try to love him but feels only fondness.

### Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick

Wounded by a lion and further injured by a captor; confesses his love for Bertha; believes he will die in the city of maniacs.

### Tarzan

Believed dead by Bertha and Smith-Oldwick after being seen lying lifeless at the cave mouth during the lion attack.

## Key lines

> “Pretty mess, what?” he remarked with a wry smile, indicating his bloody and disheveled state.

Smith-Oldwick comments dryly on his disheveled and bloody condition.

_Smith-Oldwick uses understatement to acknowledge his injuries after the lion attack._

> “Save one cartridge for me, please?” she begged.

Bertha asks Smith-Oldwick to reserve a bullet for her in case they need to end their lives.

_Bertha requests a means of suicide to avoid a worse fate at the hands of the maniacs._

> “I don’t believe I could do it, overbalanced him and sent him sprawling to the pavement upon his back.

Smith-Oldwick hesitates to shoot Bertha, but is interrupted when a captor attacks him.

_Smith-Oldwick's reluctance to kill Bertha is cut short by a violent assault._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tarzan_the_untamed_se/chapters/xviii-among-the-maniacs
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tarzan_the_untamed_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tarzan_the_untamed_se/chapters