The Return of Tarzan · Chapter
XVIII: The Lottery of Death explained
After the wreck of the Lady Alice, Jane Porter, Clayton, Monsieur Thuran, and two sailors find themselves adrift in a lifeboat, separated from the other boats.
What happens
After the wreck of the Lady Alice, Jane Porter, Clayton, Monsieur Thuran, and two sailors find themselves adrift in a lifeboat, separated from the other boats. Tensions rise over leadership and provisions, and the discovery that the oars have been lost adds to their desperation. As starvation looms, the corpse of a dead sailor becomes a source of gruesome temptation. Wilson, driven mad by hunger, attacks Clayton and then leaps overboard. Monsieur Thuran proposes a lottery to decide who will be sacrificed so the others may live. Despite Clayton's objections, the majority agrees, and Thuran manipulates the drawing using his trained touch to avoid the fatal coin. The lottery continues, leaving the survivors in a state of horror and suspense.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Physical Prowess
The chapter starkly portrays the struggle for survival as hunger and thirst drive the castaways to consider cannibalism and a deadly lottery.
Deception and Betrayal
Monsieur Thuran manipulates the lottery by using his trained touch to select a safe coin, betraying the others' trust in the fairness of the draw.
Civilization vs. Wilderness
The veneer of civilization crumbles as the castaways descend into bickering, madness, and a brutal lottery, revealing the primal instincts beneath.
Characters to notice
- Jane Porter
First to awaken after the wreck; she feels utter loneliness and helplessness. She urges the men to elect a leader and is horrified by Thuran's proposal of a sacrificial lottery.
- William Cecil Clayton
Awakens to find the boat alone; tries to maintain order, retrieves provisions, and opposes the lottery plan. He helps dispose of the corpse and later draws a safe coin in the lottery.
- Monsieur Thuran
Proposes the lottery of death, manipulates the drawing using his card-sharp skills to avoid the fatal coin. He insists on drawing first and orchestrates the grim plan.
- Spider
A sailor who initially suggests that scattered boats increase rescue chances. He votes for the lottery, draws last, and faints from fear when he thinks he has drawn the fatal coin, but it is not the 1875 piece.
- Wilson
A sailor who objects to disposing of the corpse, hinting at cannibalism. He becomes insane with hunger, attacks Clayton, and then leaps overboard.
Key passages
“Jane Porter had been the first of those in the lifeboat to awaken the morning after the wreck of the Lady Alice.”
Jane Porter was the first to wake up in the lifeboat after the Lady Alice sank.
Establishes the immediate aftermath of the shipwreck.
“It is better that we die together, then.”
Clayton argues that dying together is preferable to sacrificing one for the others.
Clayton's moral stance against the lottery.
“The 1875 piece was a hair thinner than the other coins, but neither Clayton nor Spider could have detected it without the aid of a micrometer.”
The 1875 coin was slightly thinner, but only Thuran's trained touch could tell the difference.
Reveals Thuran's manipulation of the lottery.