The Return of Tarzan · Chapter
VIII: The Fight in the Desert explained
Tarzan befriends the tribe of Kadour ben Saden and learns their ways, but after returning to Bou Saada he is ambushed by Arab assassins hired by a mysterious enemy.
What happens
Tarzan befriends the tribe of Kadour ben Saden and learns their ways, but after returning to Bou Saada he is ambushed by Arab assassins hired by a mysterious enemy. With the help of Abdul and the sheik's daughter, he escapes and fights off the attackers. Kadour ben Saden and his daughter depart for the south, leaving Tarzan to ponder his duties.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Physical Prowess
Tarzan's agility and strength are highlighted as he leaps from a roof and fights off multiple attackers in the dark.
Colonialism and Otherness
Tarzan's admiration for the 'wild, rough lives' of the Arabs contrasts with the 'effeminate civilization' of European cities.
Deception and Betrayal
The ambush is orchestrated by a mysterious enemy who hired assassins, and Lieutenant Gernois is involved in suspicious whispers.
Characters to notice
- Tarzan
Defends himself against assassins, befriends Kadour ben Saden and his daughter, and learns the rudiments of their language.
- Kadour ben Saden
Sheik who dines with Tarzan, later rescues him from ambush, and departs south with his daughter.
- Abdul
Tarzan's companion who translates Arabic and fights alongside him in the desert ambush.
- Lieutenant Gernois
Seen at breakfast in Bou Saada; an Arab whispers to him, revealing a sling on his left arm.
- Monsieur Thuran
Implied as the man who offered money for Tarzan's slaying and broke his wrist.
Key passages
“Here were people after his own heart! Their wild, rough lives, filled with danger and hardship, appealed to this half-savage man as nothing had appealed to him in the midst of the effeminate civilization of the great cities he had visited.”
Tarzan felt a deep kinship with the Arabs' rugged, perilous existence, which resonated with his own wild nature far more than the soft life of European cities.
Reflects Tarzan's preference for wilderness over civilization.
“I have not remained because I wished to; I have been a prisoner.”
The girl explains that she stays at the café not by choice but because she was captured and sold into slavery.
Reveals the girl's backstory as a kidnapped slave.
“The odds are evening, Abdul, said Tarzan, with a low laugh.”
Tarzan jokes that the battle is becoming more balanced after he shoots one of the attackers.
Shows Tarzan's calm humor under fire.