The Beasts of Tarzan · Chapter
Jungle Island Again explained
The castaways establish a camp on Jungle Island, facing hardships and internal strife.
What happens
The castaways establish a camp on Jungle Island, facing hardships and internal strife. Tarzan hunts for food while Jane agonizes over her lost son. Meanwhile, a mutinous crew led by Gust, Kai Shang, and Momulla arrives on the north coast, plotting betrayal and seeking to capture the castaways' women. Gust, fearing assassination, flees into the jungle.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Resilience
The castaways struggle to build shelters, find water, and hunt, while enduring the harsh conditions of Jungle Island.
Savagery and Civilization
The mutineers' treachery and violence contrast with Tarzan's efforts to maintain order and protect Jane.
Characters to notice
- Tarzan
Leads the party to water, hunts for meat, and suggests building a vessel to return to the mainland.
- Jane Clayton
Suffers anguish over her lost son and is guarded by Tarzan and Mugambi.
- Mugambi
Guards Jane and occasionally hunts for the party.
- Nikolas Rokoff
Not directly present, but his crew from the Kincaid causes dissension in the camp.
- Kai Shang
Leads the mutineers on the Cowrie, plots against Gust, and seeks to capture the women.
- Gust
Aspires to command the mutineers, but flees into the jungle when Kai Shang and Momulla threaten his life.
Key passages
“Lady Greystoke suffered far greater anguish than any other of the castaways, for the blow to her hopes and her already cruelly lacerated mother-heart lay not in her own privations but in the knowledge that she might now never be able to learn the fate of her firstborn or do aught to discover his whereabouts, or ameliorate his condition.”
Jane's suffering was worse than the others' because her heartbreak came from fearing she would never find her lost son, not from her own hardships.
Highlights Jane's maternal anguish and the theme of family.
“But Gust was not to be persuaded. In his wicked heart he nursed a scheme whereby he might increase his share of the booty by something like one hundred percent.”
Gust refused to listen because he secretly planned to steal a larger portion of the treasure for himself.
Reveals Gust's greed and treachery.