An Accumulation of Minutiae

"How much sand will the hand hold?" (260).
Frank Herbert's Dune (1965)



Points for Reflection

Frank Herbert's Dune (1965), pp. 206-323 / Part 1 of Week 2

  1. is Lady Jessica consistently successful at maintaining emotional balance?
  2. what military stratagem does the Baron employ when invading Arrakis?
  3. how do Fremen machinations compare with those of House Harkonnen and House Atreides? Do the Fremen emerge as moral paragons?
  4. what types of Bible passages do Gurney Halleck and Paul Atreides recall, and to what end?
  5. does darkness tend to obfuscate and confuse, or provide valuable opportunities for introspection?
  6. do Paul’s and Hawat’s enviable powers of deduction—their facility for thinking logically and sequentially—prove adequate to the task of solving all problems that face them?
  7. which of Herbert’s characters appear capable of transcending that “race consciousness” which puts people groups at odds with one another?
  8. is Paul the expected culmination of centuries of Bene Gesserit intrigue, or something else?
  9. those on both sides of the current conflict underestimate the Fremen.  What actions by this mysterious people upend the prejudicial assumptions of these other, supposedly more civilized groups?
  10. when Lady Jessica challenges Paul’s categorization of the Harkonnens as human, he responds with what revelation that erases her implied distinction?
  11. does the Baron treat Sardaukar soldiers with as much disdain as everyone else?


Frank Herbert's Dune (1965), pp. 324-407 / Part 2 of Week 2

  1. does Herbert configure Paul’s destiny as inexorable, a force that will run roughshod over everything in its path--or as something that can be dramatically altered by the smallest variables?
  2. how are socioeconomic status and Arrakis’ ecology intertwined?
  3. Liet-Kynes hallucinates his father’s voice as he approaches death. Does he appear to be recalling words spoken by his father, or to be putting his own ideas into his father’s mouth?  Or both?
  4. what hidden factor explains the surprising nitrogen-oxygen-CO? balance of Arrakis, a planet with no large areas of plant cover?
  5. Paul Atreides exercises enviable control over anxiety and fear, but does encounter situations where he finds it more difficult to control his fear than normal—even after spice has begun to change his body and mind.  Under what conditions does Paul prove most vulnerable to emotional tumult?
  6. is patience a virtue on Arrakis, or a dangerous luxury?
  7. does the novel support the Bene Gesserit notions that: 1) religion is created by humans and used to manipulate, and  2) destiny is something shaped solely by choreographing marital unions and mixing bloodlines?  Does the novel, that is, methodically undercut any notion of the supernatural?
  8. a Bene Gesserit axiom recalled by Paul observes that stress does not always strengthen those it stretches—that the mind’s movement towards growth or weakness depends on one’s training (333).  Which characters apparently have the training to benefit from the crucible that is Arrakis, and which do not?
  9. what facets of Fremen life appear superior to those of the great houses?
  10. the Fremen eagerly anticipate the Lisan al Gaib (“hidden tongue,” a term used to describe a longed-for, off-world prophet/messiah) and wonder if Paul Atreides is he.  Why, then, might the doomed Liet-Kynes conclude in his last moments that “No more terrible disaster could befall [the Fremen] than for them to fall in to the hands of a Hero” (359)?  And . . . does Paul’s own attitude towards this role align more with the Fremens’ perspective or Liet-Kynes’ dying epiphany?
  11. what sort of relationship with Lady Jessica does Stilgar seek?
  12. earlier, during the dinner hosted by his father, Paul recognized when a woman had been sent to seduce him, and successfully eluded her.  Does he exert the same self-discipline and control around Chani?  Why or why not?
  13. which of Paul Atreides’ traits and abilities most awe the Fremen?
  14. does Dune implicitly support the Bene Gesserit notion that religious truths and forms are merely a product of humans, or does it suggest some divine dimension that exists independent of humanity’s powers of creativity and manipulation?
  15. do the Fremen treat water more as a functional tool or as a transcendent substance deserving of reverence?  Is their storage of vast quantities of water impractical given its scarcity?
  16. why do Lady Jessica and Stilgar not slap Paul on the back, so to speak, following his dueling victory?
  17. though the Fremen laugh when Paul chooses his new name—the one he will be called openly—they appreciate his choice.  Why?
  18. does Paul’s spice-induced prescience contain a mystical element, or is it solely a function of cognitive faculties working at their height?
  19. does Paul’s prescience ever stumble?
  20. how might the jihad foreseen by Paul be avoided?
  21. whose abilities astound the Fremen more, those of Paul or of Jessica?
  22. in what way does Paul see his beloved mother as an enemy?
  23. what about Chani catches Paul’s attention?
  24. why might Herbert have waited till Liet-Kynes is dying to reveal the Fremen plan in detail?
  25. Lady Jessica assumes Stilgar’s self-control and wisdom can be traced back through his lineage.  Does the novel implicitly support the Bene Gesserit assumption that great character is a product of genes more than environment?
  26. why does the emperor’s decision to not take a beautiful woman as a concubine, one offered him by Count Fenring, so unsettle those in the Royal Creche?
  27. more coming soon . . .

 

abstract image of sun in distant, its rays penetrating a bluish landscape in the foreground
Le Soleil (1912)
Edvard Munch

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu