Dune
Frank Herbert's classic masterpiece Dune is probably the best known novel in the science fiction scene. The story revolves around the main character Paul Atreides who gets involved in the main conflict of the novel. Paul's father decides to move from their home planet Caladan to the desert planet of Akkaris and take over one of the former Harkonnen houses and call it under their name, House Atreides. Like a trap it was only a matter of time before the Harkonnens repossessed the house again. It took only one traitor for Paul's father, the Duke, to become a prisoner of the Harkonnens. Once the Harkonnens reclaimed their rule of the house Paul and his pregnant mother, the Lady Jessica, fled into the desert of Akkaris to hopefully find help. Paul and his mother soon run into a Fremen tribe and end up joining them with hope to overcome the Harkonnen rule. They adopted many of their customs with Paul eventually become their accepted leader. Paul even mated with a Fremen girl named Chani whom he had a son with. Paul is given the name Muad'dib named after a mouse that lives in the desert. With Paul as their leader the Fremen slowly start to crush the Harkonnen Empire with deaths of their men stacking up to thousands. Paul realizes that he
soon will have to face the Emperor but waits for the perfect time to attack. His strategy works and the Fremen quickly regain control of Dune's capitol Arrakeen. In order for the Harkonnens and the Emperor to surrender Paul must face his cousin Feyd-Rautha in combat to the death. Paul gallantly wins and now has control over the planet Akkaris. A motif that appears in the novel was when Paul Atreides took a massive dose of drugs produced by the worms causing a permanent change in him, which gave him full vision of the future. This full vision of the future develops through the plot by Paul using his power to see into the future and help him succeed during his long quest to find water and rivers for his town. At the end of the story the motif disappears by this quote, "Paul felt his link with the vision shatter. His mind cowered, overwhelmed by infinite possibilities. His lost vision became like the wind, blowing where it willed." This quote shows Paul losing his power to see the future and this is when Paul leaves his town to parish as a good man. The quote also shows that the motif is symbolic, which displays his ability to see the full view of the future. The viewing of the future symbolizes the Paul Atreides life. At the beginning of the story he gains this power to see into the future and at the end of the story he loses this power, which tells the readers that it is the end of his life, by him walking out into the desert to parish and die. In the quote, "his lost vision became like a wind", which the wind symbolizes the change in his life, from having the power to see into the future, and to losing the power and dying. I believe Paul Atreides was not always heroic because he used people just to help him in a situation that he could not face on his own. An example of Paul using someone is when he met Chani while she was massaging his legs. Chani said, "You've said many times she's your contact with our enemies, that you can read their plans through her actions." Paul used Chani to get the plans of his enemies so he could be a step ahead of them. There were still some qualities though that made Paul very heroic. Paul fled into the desert with his pregnant mother and took care of her, and treated her as if she was his own wife. He also fought his way to acceptance by the Fremen or "desert people", and even learned to control and ride the sand "worms". The worms that Paul rode on his quest for leadership symbolize a heros ability to control an object, such as a worm. The worms were also an important transportation source for the Fremen, so when Paul was able to control one it made him look even greater. Paul Atreides had many qualities of a hero both physical and mental. The physical qualities that Paul had were his tone muscles, scars from past experiences, slender body, and the Fremen trait of glowing blue eyes. These qualities help symbolize honor and virtue he was to his father by getting revenge and helping his family. His special power of having a full vision of the future occurred by taking a massive dose of drugs. This power makes him seem very special and sets him apart from others. The mental qualities that Paul had were the past experiences o
Some common words found in the essay are:
Frank Herbert, Paul Atreides, Paul Chani, Lady Jessica, Atreides Muad'dib, Fremen Paul's, Harkonnen Empire, frank herbert, Harkonnens Emperor, Emperor Looking, Herbert Terrible, paul atreides, power future, paul's father, lost vision, lost vision wind, vision wind, infinite possibilities lost, vision shatter, vision future, shatter mind, paul link, wind blowing willed, possibilities lost vision, paul link vision,
Approximate Word count = 2145
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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