Spear and Fang is a 1925 short story by Robert E. Howard. It follows a "cro-magnon" girl named A-aea who is kidnapped by a brutish neanderthal man.
Tropes:
- Artistic License Palaeontology: At no point has it ever been thought by scientists that neanderthals had fangs.
- Asshole Victim: Ka-nanu is an entitled rapist who gets ripped apart by a neanderthal.
- Attempted Rape: Poor A-aea experiences this twice: First from Ka-nanu and then from the neanderthal.
- Clash of Evolutionary Levels: The classic "neanderthals vs cro-magnons" conflict is at the centre of the story.
- Corporal Punishment: As an unmated woman, A-aea would be publicly whipped if discovered near the cave of an unattached man.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: The savagery of primitive society is emphasized. A-aea has few rights as a woman in her tribe.
- Frazetta Man: Neanderthals are called "man-apes" and are portrayed as bestial creatures with no language or social structure. It hasn't aged well.
- Handsome Heroic Caveman: A-aea's love interest Ga-nor is "not unpleasing to the eye". The heroic part comes when he saves her from the neanderthal.
- Mars Needs Women: A "man-ape" abducting a human woman for sexual purposes.
- Mighty Whitey: In keeping with the theories of the time, the "cro-magnon" are described as white-skinned and blond-haired. The white supremacist Howard would likely have been dismayed to learn that early modern Europeans were actually dark-skinned people from Africa.
- Misplaced Wildlife: At one point the neanderthal encounters a python, an animal neanderthals never shared space with.
- Noble Savage: Ga-nor is more noble and civilized than the rest of his tribe.
- Prehistoric Monster: Neanderthals are more feared than mammoths or tigers.
- Would Hurt a Child: A-aea is horrified to realize that the piece of meat the neanderthal offers her is the arm of a human child.
