The Everlasting Man | Characters & Character Analysis

The Everlasting Man Important People

Cave-Man

The cave-man is man's supposed primitive ancestor. Very little—at least at the time of this book's writing in the early-20th century—is known about him. Indeed, it is not even certain that he lived in a cave: The mere fact that he sometimes went into a cave is no proof that he lived in one, any more than the fact that a Frenchman sometimes goes into a wine cellar is proof that he lives in one. The lack of evidence is troubling to the anthropologist, who, perhaps jealous of the expansive theories of other sciences, wishes to create one of his own. Somehow, then, the usual standards of science have been thrown to the side. It is completely common, for example, for a scientist to reason that the cave-men had no religion, merely from the fact that none of the three cave drawings that have been discovered show any religious symbol....
(read more)