I learned a lot about how a man should act from those books, but it was only after reading them again later in life that I realized how deftly Edgar Rice Burroughs had woven fundamental truths, social satire and outright prophetic pronouncements into a cliff hanger swashbuckling pulp fiction Sci-Fi story.
Before World War One he foresaw the advent of ‘air power’ in advanced warfare. During World War One he laughed at people who called it ‘The War to End Wars’ through the mouth of a Martian woman. Before the abject failure of Communism during the 20th Century and the Khmer Rouge he portrayed the natural instinct of State Collectives to fight against the family bond and how universal ownership would lead to universal misery. Before the Moon landing he talked about how John Carter, an earthling, would make fantastic leaps under the lower gravity and air pressure of Mars. Before Environmentalism and OPEC he spoke of people fighting for limited resources on a dying planet. Before Martin Luther King gave his speech Burroughs showed that John Carter judged someone by the content of their character not the color of their skin, even if it was green or purple.
Here are 6 lessons with quotes from the book that I learned from reading the Martian stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs...
1) Be kind to animals.
John Carter’s greatest advantage over the Green Martians was that the fearsome Martian hound “Woola” they set to watch over him soon became his devoted pet.
“I had developed considerable affection for Woola and Sola (a green Martian), for the normal earthly man must have some outlet for his natural affections, and so I decided upon an appeal to a like instinct in this great brute, sure that I would not be disappointed.”
Then later he remarked…
“I had at least two friends on Mars; a young woman who watched over me with motherly solicitude, and a dumb brute which, as I later came to know, held in its poor ugly carcass more love, more loyalty, more gratitude than could have been found in the entire five million green Martians who roved the deserted cities and dead sea bottoms of Mars.”
He got the fierce war mounts of the Tharks to follow him like puppies, and the Tharks, although they thought gentleness a weakness, were so impressed that they adopted his methods of training much to their benefit, and John Carter was rewarded with a leg band from the Thark chieftain’s own leg because of the military advantage the Tharks saw in having loyal and responsive mounts.
2) What is inside is important, what is outside isn’t.
“This much, Tars Tarkas, you may do for me in return for the friendship that, I must confess, I feel for you.” *John Carter
“Friendship? There is no such thing, John Carter.” *Tars Tarkus
“I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there is no other mortal upon Barsoom (Mars) who would have done what you have for me. I think I have learned that there is such a thing as friendship, my friend.” *Tars Tarkus
“Twenty-two years before I had been cast, naked and a stranger, into this strange and savage world. The hand of every race and nation was raised in continual strife and warring against the men of every other land and color. Today, by the might of my sword and the loyalty of the friends my sword had made for me, black man and white, red man and green rubbed shoulders in peace and good-fellowship. All the nations of Barsoom were not yet as one, but a great stride forward toward that goal had been taken, and now if I could but cement the fierce yellow race into this solidarity of nations I should feel that I had rounded out a great lifework, and repaid to Mars at least a portion of the immense debt of gratitude I owed her for having given me my Dejah Thoris.” *John Carter
3) Communism sucks.
The Tharks owned property communally and were raised communally. Raising your own child or mating for love was punishable by death.
“Why, oh why will you not learn to live in amity with your fellows, must you ever go on down the ages to your final extinction but little above the plane of the dumb brutes that serve you! A people without written language, without art, without homes, without love; the victim of eons of the horrible community idea. Owning everything in common, even to your women and children, has resulted in your owning nothing in common. You hate each other as you hate all else except yourselves. Come back to the ways of our common ancestors, come back to the light of kindliness and fellowship. The way is open to you, you will find the hands of the red men stretched out to aid you. Together we may do still more to regenerate our dying planet.” *Dejah Thoris
4) Take care of the planet.
Mars was an ancient and dying planet. Life existed only because the red Martians built atmosphere plants and great worldwide canals from water pumped from the southern ice cap to irrigate the planet.
5) Women are awesome.
“They make the powder, the cartridges, the firearms; in fact everything of value is produced by the females. In time of actual warfare they form a part of the reserves, and when the necessity arises fight with even greater intelligence and ferocity than the men.” *John Carter
“Tell me of your mother,” I said. “Tell me all you can of the years that I have been robbed by a relentless fate of her dear companionship.”
“Your stature, your manner, the terrible ferocity of your swordsmanship,” said the boy, “are as my mother has described them to me a thousand times—but even with such evidence I could scarce credit the truth of what seemed so improbable to me, however much I desired it to be true. Do you know what thing it was that convinced me more than all the others?”
“What, my boy?” I asked.
“Your first words to me—they were of my mother. None else but the man who loved her as she has told me my father did would have thought first of her.”
“For long years, my son, I can scarce recall a moment that the radiant vision of your mother's face has not been ever before me. Tell me of her.”
6) Never give up hope.
“I still live.” John Carter
“I am afraid that it is hopeless”
“I may answer that in the famous words of John Carter: ‘I still live!’”
“The blind philosophy of absolute courage, but yet futile”
“It served him well many a time, for it gave him the will to attempt the impossible and to succeed. We still live, Nur An; do not forget that- we still live.” *Hadron of Hastur
“Give a Thark his head and one hand, and he may yet prevail.” *TarsTarkus
I read my first ERB books in the mid 1960’s, read them all.
BTW most of these ERB John Carter books are free for the Kindle from Amazon, my 18 year old son devours them, they have all the classic values missing from todays society.
Well done Sir. Great post, and most excellent quotes.