Text Review – Dune

I decided to do my text review assignment on a famous sci-fi novel called Dune by Frank Herbert. As some of you may know, this book has recently become a blockbuster movie released in the last month starring a loaded cast with Timothy Chalamet, Zendaya, and several others. After watching the movie, I decided I wanted to read the book to find out the rest of the story as the movie ends just after the first portion of the novel. Throughout the story, Paul Atreides is the heir to his family’s throne and is an intelligent and gifted teenager born into a destiny that he does not yet understand. Paul’s father, Leto, is given the most dangerous yet profitable planet in the universe in order to “mine spice,” which is needed for intergalactic space travel and is the most expensive resource in the universe. The planet is called Arrakis, home to the Fremen who are known to be incredibly dangerous and are the only inhabitants that can navigate the vast dunes of the planet. House Atreides is taking over the planet from their arch nemesis, the Harkonnens who leave the planet sabotaged with bad equipment and end up re-invading the planet and slaughtering about all of House Atreides except for Paul and his mother who are forced to flee to cross the Dune and work with the Fremen. I found that this book ties into our course because it deals with different races, cultures, and clans clashing in a power struggle. Relating to a beginning concept from our course known as “othering,” all of these different races and clans view each other as practically scum. All they each want to do is dominate the other and act in their own interest. This is where Paul comes in as acting as the heir of House Atreides, but has another roll as the profit for The Fremen. Paul is able to cross the “othering” barrier between the two different societies and helps fight against the Harkonenns.

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