Dune by Frank Herbert
Dune by Frank HerbertThe theme of a struggle for order among great houses is what gives the main character of Dune, by Frank Herbert his motives. Paul Atreides must retain his seat on the throne in place of his father Leto Atreides, but all hope of regaining his rightful position is hindered by his sworn enemy the Harkkonen empire. Many things can hinder the struggle for order in society. To maintain order many people must often give their lives. People live in society and keep in order, but chaos always lurks in the shadows.
In the distant future Paul Atreides is removed from his tropical paradise on a planet called Calladan; Paul has to move to a mining desert planet that is called Arrakis. On this planet a drug called Spice is mined from the sand. It is at this time the most powerful and addictive drug known. Pauls father duke Leto knows the danger of moving to such a place but he also sees the profit, which ultimately causes his demise. They now live in a barren wasteland, far removed from their pervious home. The true desolation of this planet is shown by the quote ”Everywhere you look here you deal with the lack of water!”(60). For Paul this means another problem, but soon he finds that his adaptation to this planet means much more.
Paul has more importance to the entire human race than he or anyone else estimates. Despite the fact that he is still a young boy he has the greatest importance. He has a special gift that lets him to see into places that no other person can see in the past, present
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and future. His mother, a member of a group of women called the Bene Geserit, powerful women who have special talents in mind control and seeing how people are thinking by their tones and actions suspects this first and brings Paul to one of her superiors called the Reverend Mother. The Reverend Mother overlooks him at this time. When she questions him and gives him a pain endurance test called the gom jabbar, which shows his self control and that he has some special talent. He still goes on being unnoticed by the important people of the society. He soon makes himself noticed by everyone because of his skills. Paul is a strong person of power and talent. His only hope is that he doesn’t end up using his talents to cause the bloody Jihad, which he has visions of with his talent.
Paul realizes his talent and he knows that he can do many things with it. He doesn’t want to end up using them for evil or to cause chaos. He lives for morality and love, and will go to anything to save these things by preventing the jihad. When the Emperor of the entire galaxy comes to Paul’s home planet to take it over Paul sees his chance. He attacks the emperor with a force of strong native people called freemen. These freemen are adapted to the brutal climate and are strong fighters. Paul captures the Emperor and takes his position so that Paul’s people will not form the jihad.
Paul’s ability to see the all present is the reason for all of this. He understands what may happen, what is happening at any given place, and all that happened before. He knows from the beginning that he has a gift that can control the fate of the universe. He “could still see the bloody swords and fanatic legions”(309). But Paul knows that he can never let this happen.
Paul must defeat many obstacles to increase his awareness of the present and to defeat the emperor. The first thing that he has to overcome is the gom jabbar, if he removes his had he will be killed by the reverend mother. He attacks this threat to his life with total self control, despite the pain that the device causes. It is at this time that Paul finds out that his mother and the Reverend mother are trying to find out if Paul is the Kwisatz haderach, or the one is everywhere at once, this refers to Paul’s special gift, which is overlooked at this time. This is when Paul realizes his terrible purpose, which is to cause havoc in the universe, but Paul feels that this must be prevented at any cost. His main goal is to prevent the bloody jihad at any cost.
The battle for Arrakis is the biggest event that can control the path that Paul and his people take. He sees this with his sense and knows what he must do. He has to take over the Emperors position. When he defeats Feyd- Rautha in a battle to the death he knows that his mission to keep order is accomplished. He keeps him self fully aware of everything going on around him and keeps quiet unlike the arrogant Rautha who attempts to taunt Paul. Paul knows what he must do and he follows through with it till the end, stabbing Feyd with his own poison needle. Paul is not only special in his mind ability, but also in his abilities as a strong fighter. Paul is able to eliminate the chance of the jihad.
Paul faces many problems in his quest to prevent the Jihad. When his father is betrayed by Dr. Yeuh and gets killed, Paul finds himself in a dangerous position as the new duke. His families arch enemies the Harkonnens who were the previous owners of Arrakis is now his most venomous adversary. Paul and his mother the lady Jessica find themselves stranded in a barren desert infested with enormous man eating worms. He finds himself with the native people called the Fremen. They take him in and show him how they survive in the desert. He must defeat a grown Fremen named Jamis who challenges Paul in a fight to the death. Paul wins and the Fremen begin to respect Paul for his fighting ability. Paul has to overcome many other conflicts that are deep within him. His awareness shows him many things that Paul does not wish to see, such as the fact that he has Harrkonen roots. He also sees the many different roads of life that can lead to the Jihad, he also has trouble with the fact that he cannot see every thing in the future and he is scared of it because of the potential dangers he would soon be facing. Paul’s only true conflict is the bloody jihad. He always knows that anything he can do may spark the jihad.
“The other path held long patches of gray obscurity except for peaks of violence. He had seen a warrior religion there, a fire spreading across the universe with the Atreides green and black banner waving at the head of fanatic legions.”(199)
Written in the third person omniscient, Dune shows true ability of Paul Atreidas, it also shows the weight on his shoulders to maintain order in his universe. This lets the reader see the true fire inside Paul to do what he can to control his destiny. Time for Paul is hardly existent. He can see to the far reaches of the past and future. The most obvious element of the writer’s technique is the use of maxims from a book written in the future. These maxims show the lessons learned by Paul and explain things that happen in the book. These occur before each section. One example is the quote “When law and duty are united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual”(408).
The most important thing in the technique for the writing of Dune, is the use of the omniscient point of view. This point of view shows just how special Paul is. The mysterious mood of this book lets pulls the reader into the trouble of the protagonist. It shows the wonder of his power and the struggle of how to maintain order inside of him. All of the things Paul can see are not told in the book, and many of the faces of the land in which he lives are not revealed either. One of the strong symbols of the novel is the worms, known as makers by the fremen. These animals cause great destruction but also have a hand in the creation of the spice and transportation of the fremen. They are a symbol of the danger that maintaining wealth creates, as well as the fact that things that are respected yet feared could be used by people. Also the title of the book helps to create a feeling in the literature. It could show the bareness of the planet, or that Paul’s life was a high and important point in time for mankind in the book. People will take any risk to maintain their society. But some event can always destroy it.