Meriem is a character in

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

's series of

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

novels, and the heroine of the fourth, ''

The Son of Tarzan ''The Son of Tarzan'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was written between January 21 and May 11, 1915, and first published in the magazine ' ...

''.

History

Born Jeanne Jacot, the daughter of French general Armand Jacot, Meriem is taken captive by Arabs as a child; they give her the name by which she is subsequently known. She is later rescued from her captors by Korak, son of Tarzan, with whom she afterwards lives in the jungle. She is beautiful, strong, athletic, brave, daring and sensitive. She will kill for food but not for sport. The emerging relationship between the two feral teenagers is described sensitively, as the embittered boy and the abused girl learn to live and love together, saving each other from various dangers and drawing to the happy ending in which Meriem marries Korak and is reunited with her father who reveals that she is a "princess in her own right". Meriem is an example of the "

Jungle Girl A jungle girl (so-called, but usually adult woman) is an archetype or stock character, often used in popular fiction, of a female adventurer, superhero or even a damsel in distress living in a jungle or rainforest setting. An alternate depiction i ...

" archetype, in that she lives in the forest, dressed in skins and scavenging for food, with Korak as her guide and protector. Unlike others of the type, she has a past (she is a kidnap victim) and a future—as the wife of a junior English aristocrat and heir to an African chieftaincy. The tenth Tarzan book, ''

Tarzan and the Ant Men ''Tarzan and the Ant Men'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the tenth in his series of twenty-four books about the jungle hero Tarzan. It was first published as a seven-part serial in the magazine '' Argosy All-Story Weekly'' ...

'', introduces her young son Jackie.

In Other Media

In the 1920 serial ''

'', Meriem was portrayed by

Mae Giraci Mae Georgia Giraci (January 22, 1910 – January 10, 2006), also known as May Giraci, May Garcia, May Geraci, May Giracci, May Giracia and Tina Rossi, was an American child actress who appeared in silent films between 1915 and 1929. Giraci was ...

as a young girl, and by

Nita Martan Nita Martan (1898–1986) was an American actress, dancer, and singer who was active in the silent and early sound eras. Martan was active in musical comedy productions in New York and in vaudeville. On Broadway, she portrayed Ro See in ''China ...

as an adult. The character has also appeared in the ''Tarzan'' newspaper strip and in comic books featuring Korak.

External links

Text of ''The Son of Tarzan'' at Project Gutenberg
Tarzan characters Literary characters introduced in 1916 Fantasy film characters Jungle girls Fictional French people Fictional viscounts and viscountesses Female characters in literature {{fantasy-char-stub