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 “Muad’Dib: Conversations” finds Muad’Dib ruminating on life on Caladan. The paradisiacal Atreides home planet was so geared for ease of human life that the humans living there “went soft” and lost their edge.
Gurney Halleck meets with Staban Tuek, son of Esmar Tuek, who now leads the Arrakis spice smuggling rings. Tuek is uncertain whether his father was killed by Harkonnen men or the traitor from House Atreides. He offers Halleck and his surviving Atreides soldiers—a group of 74 in total—sanctuary with the smugglers, but will not help Halleck fight back against House Harkonnen. In fact, Tuek says that if Halleck wants sanctuary he cannot raise a hand against the Harkonnens. It is too dangerous for the smugglers to risk open warfare, although Tuek reveals he hates the Harkonnens fiercely as well.
Like Jessica and Paul, Halleck is seeking a safe haven on Arrakis to escape the continuing Harkonnen searches for surviving Atreides soldiers. Tuek’s intense hatred toward House Harkonnen plays into the cyclical acts of familial and political violence that dominate the Imperium’s history.
Themes
Gurney Halleck and Staban Tuek discuss many topics. Halleck is inclined to believe that Lady Jessica is the House Atreides traitor, because the weapons master trusts Thufir Hawat’s Mentat logic. However, Tuek thinks that they are holding the wrong person accountable for the betrayal. Tuek tells Halleck that the Harkonnens think Jessica and Paul are dead and confirms that Duke Leto has been killed. He also confirms that the Harkonnens have captured Hawat. The Baron Harkonnen has put Count Glossu Rabban—known to the Arrakeen populace as “Beast Rabban”—in charge of Arrakis. Halleck starts at this news, revealing that he has a score to settle with Rabban to revenge the Count’s previous injuries to Halleck’s family.
Halleck also plays into the theme of inevitable cyclical violence when he reveals that he wants to kill Rabban to avenge his murdered family.
Themes
Halleck considers joining up with Fremen instead of the smugglers. Tuek sways him toward the latter as in this moment the smuggler reminds him of Duke Leto in the days of Calaban, courageous and decisive. Then Tuek goes on to claim that the smugglers are “civilized” while the Fremen are merely a few “ragged bands.” He states that if Halleck joins the Fremen, it will be for a life of being hunted by the Sardaukar, who even now look for Fremen to eliminate from Arrakis. Finally, Halleck accepts Tuek’s offer of sanctuary. The smuggler hopes that Halleck will convince his men to stay also, as the smugglers would benefit from increased fighting power in their line of work. Halleck’s men can work out their passage off Arrakis by serving with the smugglers.
Tuek’s criticism of the Fremen as “ragged” and uncivilized plays into the colonial Western notion of urban refinement versus indigenous primitivism. Halleck and Tuek come to an arrangement of mutual benefit—the smugglers will hide the Atreides men if they help protect the smugglers’ during their dangerous work.
Themes
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Halleck returns to his men, where he finds one of the wounded, Mattai, is close to dying. Mattai requests his favorite song from Halleck on the baliset and passes away listening to the baliset’s tune that is accompanied by a soldier’s singing the lyrics of “My Woman.” Halleck thinks sadly that his group now numbers only 73.
Halleck’s previous musical role of entertainer becomes one of comfort, demonstrating the narrative’s move from its relatively safe early scenes to ongoing and absolute danger.
Themes
