Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dune, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Violence
Free Will and Fate
Environment and Human Culture
Human Cognitive Advances
Summary
Analysis
The epigraph from Princess Irulan’s text “A Child’s History of Muad’Dib” shares that by the time Muad’Dib was 15 years old, “he had already learned silence.”
Princess Irulan’s comment affirms that Paul Atreides was an extraordinary child, making him seem fated for greatness.
Themes
Paul Atreides is fighting to keep control of the ornithopter in the middle of the sandstorm. His newly heightened awareness is constantly calculating different factors that interweave throughout the storm. He finds that he starts to be able to “see” through the storm, realizing that he must find the correct wind vortex to ride the ornithopter out of danger. Risking Jessica’s life alongside his own, he drives the ship into a vortex as his mother screams loudly. Paul’s risk has paid off, as the vortex spits the ornithopter out of the dying storm. No enemy ships are seen in pursuit.
The danger of Paul’s flying maneuver is so great that for the first time in the narrative, Jessica loses her self-control and screams in terror. Paul’s commitment to taking extreme risks to survive rather than fall into “stagnation” pays off as they are able to land, heavily but uninjured.
Themes
Paul sets the damaged ship down clumsily on a piece of sand, and he and Jessica race for the safety of nearby rocks, knowing that a sandworm will be attracted to the sound of the ship landing. A sandworm “bigger than a Guild spaceship” quickly appears and devours the ornithopter. Paul and Jessica are awed by its size, and Paul is satisfied that there is now no trace of their vessel for enemy trips to spy.
Once again, the narrator describes the harsh Arrakeen ecology as equally dangerous as the ruthless Harkonnen forces. Paul’s satisfaction at the sandworm’s actions demonstrate his commitment to practicalities for survival, rather than concern in the face of danger.
Themes
Paul and Jessica know that they must travel by night and rest in the heat of the day. The fugitives find their way through a channel in the rocks; it is difficult and slow terrain. Although Jessica tires, Paul relentlessly pushes them onward. They come to a sheer cliff and see that there is almost four kilometers of dangerous open sand to cross in front of them. They must find a way to safely traverse the sand without attracting any worms. Jessica suggests a break for food and rest beforehand. Paul questions how his mother feels, to which she stiffly replies that the pregnancy is not impacting her physical capabilities. Jessica realizes that she fears her son’s new strangeness and what he may see in the future.
Paul is strict in his pragmatic desire to push Jessica to her physical limit in order to try to ensure their survival. Jessica, always Paul’s fiercest champion, feels a rift in their relationship that grows from her son’s new powerful talents of foresight.
Themes
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To cross the open desert safely, Paul and Jessica agree that they will set off a spring-loaded clapping device called a thumper in the rocks. The thumper’s rhythmic sound will attract sandworms and keep them busy for some time, as the worms cannot surface through rock. Meanwhile, the two will cross the open sand using non-rhythmic walking patterns to mimic natural desert sounds, thereby hopefully avoiding the notice of any sandworms not occupied by the thumper.
Paul’s intuitive imitation of Fremen practices—distracting sandworms using thumpers and moving erratically across open sands—once more supports his identity as their prophesized Mahdi.
Themes
Paul and Jessica climb down from the cliff to spend the approaching daylight hours resting in shade near the desert floor. However, during their descent Jessica is totally buried in a landslide of sand. Paul must calm his fear and use his manifold cognitive abilities to locate his mother and free her from the dangerous shifting sand. He succeeds, but their pack with most of their precious supplies has been lost under the sand. Paul despairs, believing the two are now doomed to death, but Jessica is optimistic that they can salvage the situation.
Paul’s intense fear in this situation, despite his lack of fear in other dangerous circumstances, demonstrates his love for his mother. He again uses Bene Gesserit training to calm himself, gaining self-control and executing a complex plan at impressive speed to rescue Jessica.
Themes
With Jessica’s optimism boosting his spirit, Paul comes up with a creative plan to recover the pack. He uses his paracompass power pack and compass dish, a few mouthfuls of water, and a nearby spice patch to create a green foam that he spreads to hold back the slope’s sliding sands. While managing the foam and sand, he directs his mother where to dig and at what angles. Just as the foam runs out, the weary Jessica uncovers one of the pack’s straps. She cannot uncover it any further without the slope of sand burying her. With Paul’s help, she allows herself to be mostly buried by rushing sand while still keeping of the pack. He then digs her out of the settled sand, all the way down to the pack. With great physical effort and risk they have retrieved the pack.
Once more, Jessica encourages her son, and her support encourages Paul to try—and succeed—in rescuing the vital pack. He again proves his Mentat skills by quickly forming an inventive plan to make use of limited supplies to shift great loads of sand. Jessica’s courage in allowing herself to be re-buried in the sand reveals her total trust in Paul, despite her earlier fear at his strange new behaviors.
Themes
Paul moves to set up the tent for the day and finds anchor holes in the rock, revealing that others have camped here before. After erecting the tent, he scans the landscapes for any sign of life. Seeing scrawny saguaro trees in the distance, he tells Jessica that he thinks there must be Fremen nearby. To him, this “has the feeling of a Fremen place.”
Paul’s instinct for Fremen ways gives the pair hope that they are close to possible aid. The sign of distant vegetation is a marker that Fremen have been planting in the area to further their efforts in slowly but steadily alter the Arrakeen climate.
Themes
Jessica wonders if there are Fremen nearby, and if they will be friendly on approach. Although Liet-Kynes promised the Fremen would help Paul and Jessica, she has now felt the hardships of the desert firsthand and can understand why people would kill to reclaim a body’s water. Jessica reflects on the difference between this arid planet and the Atreides home planet Caladan, where lush jungles and deltas are bordered by oceans.
While Paul seems excited and confident in the face of the desert’s challenges, Jessica is exhausted and dispirited. Realizing the intensity of her growing thirst for water, she thinks longingly of their comfortable life on Caladan. The extreme differences between the Caladan and Arrakis serves to heighten the extremities of the severe Arrakeen landscapes and illustrate how the Fremen became such a hardy people.
Themes
Paul and Jessica hear a hissing sound. It grows in volume until they see a huge sandworm pass by them in nearby dunes. The creature has an “uncaring majesty” and twists through the sand to create a huge burrowing, driving mound. When it has moved beyond sight and hearing, Jessica tells Paul that they should practice his lessons, as he panicked earlier in the day and would benefit from learning about the body’s prana-musculature. The young Duke suppresses his flare of anger at her suggestion and works on his training as she suggests.
The narrator’s description of the sandworm’s “uncaring majesty” suggests that the creature is awesome in size and beautiful in its absolute confidence in surviving its harsh environment. Feeling inspired after viewing the sandworm, Paul controls his frustrations at Jessica by accepting her advice that he needs to continue his Bene Gesserit training.
Themes
