The essay examines and explores the two stereotypical depictions of the Africannatives in Tarzan of the Apes and The Return of Tarzan: the black African savage and theblack African submissive. The reader identification available for readers who are not whitemales [other] is also explored, with main focus on the African American reader. The essaydraws on both African-American and Reader-Response criticism to examine and understandhow readers who are not white, Western men might identify with the text.The essay examines the two depictions of the natives, in particular how theirphysical attributes are treated as equivalent to their personas, which establishes the degree ofreader identification. The essay aims to prove that the identification provided for many nonwhitemale readers, particularly African Americans, is narrowed because of the stereotypicalrepresentation of the characters, as the natives are mainly described as a group rather thanindividuals whilst also being used as a contrast to flatter whiteness.