Essay/Term paper: Dune

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Culture

Dune


This book all started with the family Atreides landing on plant Arrakis,
commonly known as Dune. The planet Dune was the centre of the universe due to
its immense amounts of spice. This spice is greatly needed for all planets as
fuel and for raw materials. The family Atreides were asked by Emperor himself
to go and mine the spice on the planet. Their greatest enemy the Harkonnen's,
were also on Dune. These two families mining the precious spice on the same
plant would lead to great troubles and wars.
Soon after that, I was introduced to a very brave and insightful young
man. The young man is Paul Atreides. Paul is medium height with short, black
hair. His mother Jessica is a Bene Gesserit that means she knows the "weirding
way." This means Jessica is trained to kill and is also trained as a mind
reader. She is very tall and beautiful and is always concerned with the actions
of Paul, the future ruler of the galaxy.
Jessica's teacher, the Reverend Mother heard of Paul and thought that he
might be the great leader that the prophets told of. The Reverend Mother came
to Dune and tested Paul to see if this was so. Paul underwent great pain and
suffering but passed the tests with the highest reverence. Duke Leto, Paul's
father now came into the picture. He was the leader of the Atreides Family. He
seemed very established and perceptive. The Atreides family represented good
and honesty while their enemies, the Harkonnen's, were ruthless killers.
The Harkonnen home planet, Gedi Prime was very desolate and dark. It
represented the immorality and darkness within the Harkonnens. Their leader
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was very obese and inhuman. He killed his own slaves
for fun and hated the Atreides with a passion. He hated their peaceful and
honest ways. Most of all he despised their coming to Dune. This Harkonnen
leader appeared the typical tyrant leader. Vladimir Harkonnen's most trusted
solider Feyd-Rautha was also like him except his physical appearance was that of
ideal shape and form.
Back at the Atreides base more characters are introduced to me. They
are Duncan Idaho who was the personal trainer for Paul Atreides, Dr. Yeuh who
was a good friend of the Duke and later was found out to be a traitor, and
Thufir Hawat the security officer of the base. All these men seemed greatly
trusted in the Atreides family. They taught Paul much about fighting and
protecting himself from his enemies. These men along with Paul's mother and
father helped prepare him for the coming hardships ahead. A group of people
named the Fremen also were presented. They were people who lived in the desert
within the forbidden zone. The forbidden zone was where no one would ever
travel. It was said that there are huge masses of Fremen there along with giant
sandworms reaching a length of four hundred and fifty meters. The Fremen
harvested spice, lived in the cities and in underground cities. Their eyes were
bright blue on blue due to the saturation of the spice which changed their
colour.
The beginning of this book was very interesting and told me much about
each characters background and personality. I knew there was something special
about Paul and his mother right from the start just by how the author described
them. The family Atreides was very strong and even feared by the Emperor himself
because he knew that Paul was the prophet who was destined to stop all violence,
hunger, spice mining, armies and fighting. He was to bring a new era along with
his leadership. This frightened the Emperor that forced him to act against the
Atreides family.
The Harkonnen's seemed a bit too uninteresting and average to me. They
were evil and hated all that was good. The author should of added a bit more "
spice" to their characters. This would of made the story more enjoyable.
Otherwise, this science fiction novel is like it says on the cover, "A world
beyond your experience, beyond your imagination."
The emperor sent the Atreides to Dune for one purpose only. Their
destruction. He joined forces with the Harkonnens and attacked the Atreides.
The Harkonnen spy, Dr. Yeuh turned off the defence's of the base that resulted
in the defeat of the Atreides. All were killed except Jessica, Paul and Duncan
Idaho. They managed to escape in a spice mining ship deep into the desert, in
the middle of the forbidden zone.
The forbidden zone was very desolate and all you could see was sand
dunes and rock piles. This place was to be inhabited by the Fremen. Paul and
Jessica were amazed when they found an underground cavern that had thousands of
Fremen in it. These Fremen looked strong and experienced. Their bright blue
eyes stood out like the moon at night. I knew that these Fremen would play a
big part in the book. It was said that a man would come to lead them out of the
caves and they thought this was Paul by how he knew their traditions.
Paul began to grow more powerful with each passing day. This part was
very interesting because I was shown how Paul has grown and how his dreams were
coming to reality. The Fremen also developed because they seemed amused, but
simultaneously fearful of Jessica and Paul. These two knew the weirding way and
the Fremen wanted to learn it in preparation for battle.
Paul and Jessica started to teach the Fremen the "weirding way" so they
could help fight against the Harkonnens and the Emperor. Paul now is also
showing sings of a mature and experienced man.
The novel now is progressing at a very fast pace because Paul and
Jessica are training the Fremen, planning their revenge on the Harkonnens and
their growth as characters in the novel. Although I knew that Paul was going to
defeat the Harkonnens without finishing the book, the plot still was very
captivating. I liked how the author described the feelings and pictures of
different scenes. He really went into depth about the emotions of the character
like whenever Jessica thinks about how Paul is maturing at an astonishing speed.
Paul Atreides started to gain more power and fear throughout the planet. The
Emperor knew Paul would soon be unstoppable so he must try to stop him. By the
author making the Emperor fear Paul Atreides, it shows that even one of the most
powerful and influential man in the universe is afraid of him. This shows that
if the Emperor is afraid of Paul then many more would also be. Paul has already
won half the battle by putting fear into the hearts of his enemies.
After all the Fremen were trained and ready for battle, they call upon
their most powerful friend; the sandworms of Dune. These massive creatures live
throughout all the sand dunes. The sandworms were very well described and added
imagination and originality in the book. The worms combined with the Fremen's
training would prove to be an unstoppable match. Sandworms were used as a form
of transportation for Paul's army. Since they are so large, many people could
fit onto them. Armies would be crushed by their weight and would have great
disadvantages from the ground which was a great advantage to the Fremen. No
force could stop or even match their extraordinary power and all would be
punished for the unfair deaths of the Atreides family. Blood would soon flow
and Paul's revenge would be fulfilled.
To call upon the sandworms, a special tool named a thumper would be used.
These machines would send large vibrations into the ground. Since sandworms
can sense vibrations easily and are attracted to them, they would come. Once
they have arrived, ropes are thrown onto the sandworms and the men climb on top
of it. By making the sandworms sensitive to sounds and vibrations, people other
then the Fremen are fearful to walk deep into the desert because they know the
worms hear everything. This is a natural protection for the Fremen because the
Harkonnens will never travel into the forbidden zone to attack.
The final battle was approaching. All of Paul's men were ready and
riding to meet the Harkonnen's and the Emperors legions of soldiers. Once at
the battle field, the giant worms spread open their mouths to stop enemy fire
and Paul's men got the first attack. Much excitement and fighting were
happening here so this part was worth reading the story. Much detail was put
into the final fighting scene that made things more vivid and real. There were
feelings of tension and fear. So much was happening in so little time. This
final battle scene was the climax of the story. All of Paul's dreams and
training paid off by their victory over the Harkonnens. Now he can rebuild the
empire to be what he was destined to make it. Once victory was achieved, Paul
made rain clouds appear and rain poured onto the dry sands. All were amazed by
his powers and no on ever questioned him or his decisions again. Paul was now
the almighty ruler.
In making a story get the readers appreciation the author must provide
the following essentials;
* Creativity
* Action and adventure
* Love and romance
* Strong story line (opening, body and closing)
The author Frank Herbert provided all these that made the story
interesting to me. Frank Herbert's imagination made the sandworms become lively
and the mystic powers of Paul come into perspective. Paul fell on love with a
beautiful young Fremen woman. This added romance made Paul work harder to free
Arrakis of the wicked Harkonnens. Much extra background information given
through the book made me understand the characters and their emotions with more
comprehension. There were many themes in "Dune' such as "you shall get your
just deserves." This means that what you have done to others shall be done
back to you in full. The Harkonnens army combined with the Emperors attacked
and beat the Atreides. Paul in turn strikes back with brute force that many
have not seen throughout their existence. The Harkonnens and the Emperor were
annihilated and Paul's vengeance was paid. I must say that this science fiction
book did create a sense of reality meaning that this situation could happen in
the future. A boy or girl born in the future who is destined to be the almighty
ruler. He/she will guide us out of depression and into a new era of peace and
prosperity. Their may be truth to this story and one day a fight between good
and evil may come to reality.
Dune is the typical `Good guys vs. Bad guys' theme. The Atreides are at
war with the Harkonnens and the good always win (as you already know.) Although
this plot is really used too much Frank Herbert did an excellent job to disguise
this fact. He blended this into a great story line of action packed adventure
and dreams of the future.