Frank Herbert's Dune

After reading the first chapter I have formulated some predictions for the future of the content in The Cather in the Rye. Holden Caulfield starts this novel by sharing details about himself and his life so far. As this narrative continues I forecast that we will see him grow into a mature person. Also, the story may follow his relationships grow with not only Mr. Spencer, but with new friends and possibly a girlfriend. If Holden gets a girlfriend I foresee Selma Thurmer become his new girlfriend, since she was mentioned in a good way at the beginning of this novel. Once I was done reading The Cather in the Rye I realized my predictions were wrong. Rather than following him through a journey of growing into a more mature version of himself.

In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the main character and narrator Holden Caulfeild walks many different paths of life. He jumps around different aspects of his life throughout the book, showing the reader many different sides to himself. This theme is presented through the author’s technique in crafting the characterization and symbolism. J.D. Salinger develops a puzzle of a personality for Holden throughout the book, to show the complexity and multitude of sides to Holden’s character.

When writing the introduction to Fahrenheit 451, author Neil Gaiman stated that “ideas--written ideas--are special. They are the way we transmit our stories and our thoughts from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history”. Gaiman is absolutely correct; especially because what he is saying heavily applies to books. Books are a critical aspect in shaping humanity as a whole, they create and share a network of creative ideas, history, and overall entertainment; to lose books would be like losing patches of humankind’s history. Creativity, history, feelings and thoughts: all of the aspects that make us human...gone. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury illustrates the story of a man named Guy Montag, who struggles to live in a futuristic dystopian society where censorship through book burning is prominent. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses multiple motifs to emphasize a certain idea or convey a message to the reader better. A motif is a recurring subject, theme, idea, or even a physical object that appears in literature. Ray Bradbury’s hostile tone towards technology gives meaning to the reader by depicting the message that technology has the power to completely detach people from their genuine emotions, as well as urge readers to not get too attached to technology because it separates them from relationships in real life.

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s view on life reverses. Two characters the influence the main character Guy Montag are the old lady whose house and books were burnt down and Mildred. The old lady was caught preserving books in her home. Firemen including Montag were ordered to burn the books. The old lady refused to leave her books, so she too was burned. She bravely gave an allusion as her last words, “Play the man,’ she said, ‘Master Ridley.’ Something, something, something” (F451 37). Beatty the fire chief who ordered to burn the books replied, ”We shall this day light such a candle, by God`s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out” (F451 37). Montag gave this incident a lot of thought. The more thought he gave it; the more he questioned why the old lady loved those books so much she would die for them. Montag, like most of his society has never read an illegal book, so he is unable to relate to the old woman. But, he feels the urge to find out why these books are so sacred. After reading he begins to realize society is a twisted lie do to the controlling government. Montag’s wife influenced him to stop and question their way of living. Mildred’s common life style shows unhappiness to Montag. In her corrupted mind her family is the television, not Montag. Montag sees this depression and emptiness in Mildred and begins to question the way society has made her. After Mildred attempts suicide Montag tries to prevent him from

Moreover, the dominant theme within Frank Herbert’s Dune is the theme of ecology. Not only did Herbert focus on environmental ecology but, he also included social, political, economic, and language ecologies. The term “ecology” deputes one of the basic divisions of biology (Logan 51). Ecology is the study of the structure and dynamics of the biological processes that compose and sustain the earth’s ecosystem (Logan 52). Within the ecology article, Logan orates the basic premises of an ecological interpretation which include that all forms of life exist in co-dependent relationships, nature is lively rather than still, stability of nature depends on assortment, and nature is fragile and limited. Pardot Kynes was an Imperial planetologist within

Although there are many differences in the way a utopia is achieved and ultimately the way it falls apart, the peace and harmony desired for a utopia is the same.

1984 is a cautionary tale, where Orwell is warning the society of possible government takeover. This novel caution people to keep in mind the actions that government is taking. The reason behind this novel was World War II. It’s not a secret that post world war era looked very socialist in order to avoid future wars. Nations like Soviet Union and different European Nations practiced socialism to avoid future uprisings against the government. To some extent his warnings actually turned out to be the truth in the example of totalitarian socialist North Korea.

The feverishness and amusement will not stop there that recently Mr. Abrams has reassured impatient fans around the world that one of the most anticipated sci-fi video game adaptation, Half-Life, is still under development and has not been abandoned. Half-Life is based on the critically acclaimed Valve’s video games Half-Life and Portal, which is about the protagonist Chell is forced by a homicidal computer, GLaDOS to run through increasingly absurd and deadly

"Dune" by Frank Herbert was the first book in the "Dune" saga. 21,000 years in the future, humanity has moved out to many planets deemed able to support human life.

Dune, the science fiction twin of “Lord of the Rings”, an epic unrivaled in it scope since it was published in 1965. The book combines politics, religion, science fiction, and familial relations. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is are the Fremen the native residents of Arrakis, fanatical fighters who are able to overcome even the Sardaukar, the Emperor’s private troops who are feared throughout the galaxy for never having been defeated. Shaped by centuries of persecution, and by the impossible climate of Arrakis, they have become the pinnacle of what humanity can achieve physically. Herbert shows the theme of greatness coming from adversity throughout the book, with the Fremen, the Sardaukar, and Paul.

The book had affected the narrator to a great extent. At first he did not care for the book, until the stranger selling Bibles said “the number of pages in this book is literally infinite. No page is the first page; no page is the last”. This intrigued the narrator’s mind. After he had bought the book, he began investigating. He noted down things in the book. He began losing sleep from the investigation and when he actually got sleep, his dreams were about the book. As it states in the short story, “At night, during the rare intervals spared me by insomnia, I dreamed of the book”. He had grown an obsession with the book, which altered his lifestyle and forced him to hide the book in the library.

Herbert’s past work would be shadowed by what was coming next. The origins of the novel Dune began in 1959. Herbert worked on an assignment asking him to write an article about sand dunes in Florence, Oregon. The government was trying to stop the spread of the dunes over the coastline. He became very involved with the project and ended up with a mass of information. Herbert never handed in the article, but it served as the seed for the ideas that created Dune. He stated about the incident:

There are a variety of political and religious concepts throughout the Dune novels that varies so much through the novels which makes it a complex and cogitative science fiction series. The Dune novels are popular with many fans and partly this is due because of its political and religious structures. This essay will be focussing primarily on the first four Dune novels written by Frank Herbert.

​After reading the expository part of Dune by Frank Herbert, I got concerned about the

To my knowledge, I have never read or seen that many horror comics that involve women taking the lead over the typical male. Just like in Vampirella, it had some horror in it, but was more focused on being sexual and outlandish. One particular comic book series I was quite fond of was The Sandman by award-winning writer Neil Gaiman. What really got my attention was the character Death; the sister of the main protagonist Sandman. Death is both the lord and personification of all death and life, but she is the complete opposite of what people see her image as, an image of a skeleton with scythe and a scary black robe. We do not know the true image of death, but why depict a woman? Why not just a figure of a skeleton? Is it too complicated to show Death as a skeleton figure or a mere shadow, like in the film The Frighteners? It is not scary and I find it sexist to have an image of a dark and strange figure be a woman. This is similar to the Infinity Gauntlet storyline published by Marvel where Thanos, the main antagonist, is on a quest to please Death herself in order to win over her heart and cause destruction all over the galaxy. Again, another personification of death is portrayed as a female, seeming to signify that women are far more ferocious and scary than men are. I always had an image of a woman when I think of death when I was little. How woman are seen in horror comics, they are shown either as being the damsel in distress, or being death itself, but not