XIV: Alone in the Jungle explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Survival and Resilience

  Jane Clayton demonstrates resilience and resourcefulness as she escapes Rokoff, retrieves a rifle, and attempts to navigate the jungle and river alone.

• Good vs. Evil

  The chapter contrasts Tarzan's pursuit of justice with Rokoff's cruelty and treachery, culminating in Jane's recapture.

Characters to notice

• Tarzan

  Tarzan is guided by Tambudza to Rokoff's camp, finds it empty, and tracks Jane and Rokoff into the jungle.

• Jane Clayton

  Jane escapes Rokoff's camp, retrieves a hidden rifle and ammunition, and attempts to escape by canoe but is recaptured by Rokoff.

• Nikolas Rokoff

  Rokoff is discovered stunned after Jane's escape, his camp falls into chaos, and he flees into the jungle, eventually recapturing Jane by grabbing the canoe's mooring rope.

• Tambudza

  Tambudza guides Tarzan toward Rokoff's camp and later suggests returning to M'ganwazam's village.

• M'ganwazam

  M'ganwazam sends runners to warn Rokoff of Tarzan's approach, but Tarzan finds no sign of Jane or Rokoff in his village.

Key passages

• “Tambudza, leading Tarzan of the Apes toward the camp of the Russian, moved very slowly along the winding jungle path, for she was old and her legs stiff with rheumatism.”

  Tambudza guided Tarzan slowly through the jungle because of her age and stiff legs.

  Highlights the slow pace of their journey.

• “Rokoff had that morning been discovered stunned and bleeding within his tent. When he had recovered his senses and realized that Jane Clayton had escaped, his rage was boundless.”

  Rokoff was found injured in his tent, and upon learning of Jane's escape, he became furious.

  Shows Rokoff's violent reaction to Jane's escape.

• “The terror-stricken Muscovite scurried like a hunted rabbit through the hole that still gaped in the boma’s wall at the point where his own prey had escaped, and as Tarzan approached the camp upon the opposite side Rokoff disappeared into the jungle in the wake of Jane Clayton.”

  Rokoff fled through the same hole Jane had used, escaping into the jungle just as Tarzan arrived.

  Emphasizes Rokoff's cowardice and narrow escape.

• “To her consternation she saw that the apes were pausing in the centre of the clearing. They came together in a little knot, where they stood looking backward, as though in expectation of the coming of others of their tribe.”

  Jane was alarmed to see the apes stop and gather in the clearing, as if waiting for more of their kind.

  Illustrates Jane's fear and the threat of the apes.

• “Jane Clayton crouched, wide-eyed and horror-stricken, in the bottom of the boat as she realized that at the last instant success had been turned to failure, and that she was indeed again in the power of the malignant Rokoff.”

  Jane was horrified to realize that her escape had failed and she was once again under Rokoff's control.

  Climactic moment of Jane's recapture.