DUNE: Chapter Seven Thoughts ============================ And so we continue with the reading of *Dune.* The Opening Quote ----------------- This quote is listed as being a private circulation of the Bene Gesserit. That doesn't necessarily mean it's more reliable, but its purpose is likely different than Irulan's writings about the Muad'Dib. It's likely more of a situational analysis than indoctrination. With the Missionaria Protectiva, the Bene Gesserit seeded worlds with superstitions that they could use later if they found themselves in need of help. This ends up being used by Paul and Jessica to become religious figures for the Fremen, leading to the Jihad. If *Dune* is a warning against charismatic leaders, then, as I've mentioned before, it's not like the charismatic leader gained his power on his charisma alone. He's the product of Bene Gesserit breeding and Bene Gesserit and Mentat training. He was created to be a charismatic leader. so we still aren't talking about a warning to avoid giving power to a charismatic leader. It's a warning to not create them. Even that becomes moot if the Kwisatz Haderach acts acausally to create himself. Anyway, this opening quote just seems to be setting up the Missionaria Protectiva for Jessica's use, pointing to it being relevant for the chapter to follow. Jessica on Arrakis ------------------ When we make it to Arrakis, we aren't seeing it from Paul's eyes. The first character we go to is Jessica. There was an Old Empire when costs were less of a concern. My guess is this is a reference to the empire before the Butlerian Jihad, when computers could make space travel safe. The Atreides place their home here because the newer megalopolis of Carthag was to hard to purge of Harkonnen loyalists. The first thing that Jessica unpacks in a portrait of Leto's father and the head of the bull that killed him. Not since the day when the Duke’s buyers had taken her from the school had she felt this frightened and unsure of herself. Leto purchased Jessica, and she became his concubine. He never married. That's odd on several fronts. That Paul became his heir suggests it's not seen as a problem in the time of *Dune.* Still, one questions the world where girls are purchased from their schools. Also, Jessica having a child with Leto was part of the Bene Gesserit breeding program. Why did he have to buy her, then? Presumably, the Bene Gesserit decided who he would buy, whether he was aware of that or not. And, given that Jessica is Harkonnen, but they apparently don't want to merge Atreides and Harkonnen during that generation, I suppose it couldn't have been done through a political marriage. So, maybe that was the best way to do it. Still, not a sign of a great society. I'm not sure why I am surprised by this. She is described as a concubine after all. I guess I had just forgotten about it. He had become such a savage, driving person since the decision to bow to the Emperor’s command. --Lady Jessica, on why she was afraid of Duke Leto The decision to accept the fiefdom of Arrakis was a decision. They could have made a different choice. Given the change in Leto and the discussion in the last chapter, this is likely the more aggressive choice. We get physical descriptions of both Lady Jessica and Duke Leto here. This is chapter seven. Jessica was in chapter one. Interesting to delay this until now. But, then, it is in the context of lovers meeting. Their differences in how they view each other are relevant. Particularly, Leto's thoughts about Jessica bringing "regal beauty" back into the family. The "lay sisters" at the Bene Gesserit school has described Jessica as skinny. In context, this is supposed to be negative. It's a little weird that they would talk down Jessica like that if they wanted her to have a daughter with Duke Leto. I can think of two possibilities: * It was reverse psychology, the sisters knowing this would attract the Duke's attention more, * The sisterhood didn't originally plan on Leto pairing with Jessica, and, in general, they don't have tight control over the pairings in their breeding program. Given Jessica's decision to ignore the plan and have a son, it's likely the latter is at least partially true. It also seems like the more interesting option. The Bene Gesserit having to tinker subtly at the edges to get what they want rather than having a set plan that usually goes perfectly. It also tracks with the somewhat muted reaction when Jessica does bare a son. Jessica's skinniness is in contrast to her father's corpulence, though she shares the Harkonnen's generous lips. As none of the other Harkonnens we meet are as fat as the Baron, I'm not sure Jessica's skinniness is to be seen as unusual. Instead the Baron's size is more a sign of his corruption. The argument about the placement of the painting and the bull's head seems designed to show that Jessica is unwilling to use her abilities to win an argument with Leto. She could trick him if she wanted to, and she has to remind herself not to. Which seems a little weird given Jessica's searching for a way to save him. This suggests she could have tricked him into not accepting the Emperor's command. Why she didn't isn't said. My guess is it's because she loves him and doesn't want to do that to him, but there may also be some other reason that hasn't been said yet. Be thankful that I never married you, my dear. Then it’d be your duty to join me at table for every meal. --Duke Leto, trying to diffuse an argument with Jessica with a joke Ouch. We don't get what Jessica thinks about this, only that she doesn't let her expression change and she nods. That she has to keep her face immobile suggests it does hurt her. She was purchased by the Duke. To have married him would probably have freed her and increased her status in the society. Duke Leto isn't the most compassionate man, which fits with him being commanding with the servants later and with what the Reverend Mother says about his style of ruling. Leto believes "Shadout" means "well-dipper." The term for knife in the same language is "death-maker." Presumably there is some more prosaic term for well-dipper, too. Perhaps it's something close to Reverend Mother. Shadout Mapes is here to serve Lady Jessica. The Fremen have agreed to stop raiding outlying villages during a truce period. There is no formal alliance, but they will watch the Atreides and make a decision later. The Harkonnens kept how effective Fremen raids were from the Emperor. It seems likely if they hadn't, the Emperor would have a warning that the Fremen might be like the Sardaukar. That could have changed things substantially. It seems unlikely that the Emperor would have turned over an opportunity for a Sardaukar-like force to a family he thinks is already trying to overthrow him. “You must teach me someday how you do that,” he said, “the way you thrust your worries aside and turn to practical matters. It must be a Bene Gesserit thing.” “It’s a female thing,” she said. --Duke Leto and Lady Jessica I'm not entirely certain how seriously to take this. My guess is some. It is playful banter between lovers, but it's also has the ring to it of message. Given the final paragraph of the book, Herbert isn't afraid of making comments on the role of women in society. *Dune* does feature a monastic order of women running a breeding program and, apparently, selling their members as concubines to nobility. What exactly he's saying, I'm uncertain. Spice hunters are allowed to quit when the fief of Arrakis changes hands. This is part of the plot against House Atreides, but outside of that context what sense would it make for a bunch of them to leave? Spice only occurs on one planet. What else are they going to do with their skills? Why would CHOAM or the Spacing Guild allow that threat to spice production? It seems a very big gamble on everyone's part. But, then, that may be part of the idea. This sort of feudal structure Leads to that sort of risk to the production of important goods. Sure, screwing up spice production could lead to the collapse of space travel, but the Emperor has to deal with an upstart Duke. Though, if that were the case, you'd think that everyone would be less certain of the security of travel with the Spacing Guild. They both end the conversation not saying something that they want to. For both of them it is a wish for more time together. Shadout Mapes ------------- St. Augustine is remembered 10,000 years in the future. The specific quote Jessica thinks about is: The mind commands the body and it obeys. The mind orders itself and meets resistance. That seems to be from book VIII of *Confessions.* I've not read *Confessions,* nor am I likely to for this. Still, looking at the quote in context doesn't seem to bring any additional light to Jessica's use of it. Augustine seems to be pointing out that his inability to will himself to do some things suggests there are two wills, one good and one evil. That doesn't quite match how Jessica is using the quote, but it doesn't really conflict with it either. She suggests the problem is getting worse for herself, which maybe fits with earlier sections where she is afraid for Paul. Water is very precious here, but space flight is a thing. It's precious, but not precious enough to warrant going out and harvesting some comets? Though, the water that does exist is coming from somewhere. Maybe they are doing that. They just aren't doing it enough that the Fremen don't have to rely on stillsuits. Jessica's approach to Shadout Mapes is a mix of use of the superstitions planted by the Missionaria Protectiva and cold reading. The things she guesses of Mapes are all things that would have a high chance of being correct for any woman of Mapes age in that society: * She'd born children: Good bet of any traditional culture. * That she'd lost loved ones: You live long enough, and that happens to everyone. * That she's hidden in fear: Again, few people haven't done this at some point in their lives. * That she's done violence: Trickier, but Jessica knows Mapes has a knife, so it's a good bet she'd done something she would think of as violent. * That she'll do more violence: Again, she brought a knife into Jessica's presence, so it's likely that Mapes agrees that she'll do more violence in the future. The only real difference between Jessica and a stage psychic is Jessica has the backing of an organization that has been seeding civilizations with belief in her powers for millenia. But then, stage psychics are backed by the native beliefs of the audiences they work with, so it's really only a difference in scale and organization. There are worse things than dying, you know—even for an entire people. --Lady Jessica not playing around when threatening Shadout Mapes There is no strong disagreement that Mapes would've killed Jessica had she not convinced Mapes she was "the One." It seems likely then Jessica is correct about that. It's a rather high stakes game the Missionaria Protectiva sets up in these cultures for the Bene Gesserit who need the protection. The superstitions planted by the Missionaria Protectiva seem to drift over time or based on the culture they are seeded into. Otherwise Jessica wouldn't have to take so many chances in her answered. She'd know exactly what she needs to say to get the outcome she wants. I like this as it shows how even the deepest conditioning can lead to unexpected results over time. How much it fits with the problem of prescience, I'm uncertain. Jessica stumbles on exactly the right thing to say. Now, if the report in the appendix is to be believed, it may not have been even that accidental. Paul or Leto II could have been reaching out of the future to guide her unwittingly to the right words. The implications of that are interesting, but what it does to the message of the book... I'm not sure. Jessica bets that there is a superstition about sheathing a knife without drawing blood. Granted, I only looked on tvtropes.com, but that seems to not be true of any real culture. The problem with it is obvious. Blades must be drawn to maintain them. It would be dumb to have to cut yourself every time you oiled your blade, so any society that had such a rule would quickly see it ignored. It tends to be "warrior culture" shorthand, which is partially how it's used here, the the rest of the purpose being to highlight the linkage between blood and water for the Fremen. Looking beyond tvtropes.com isn't getting me much at the moment. The idea the blade must draw blood before it is sheathed is useful. It adds more threat to the act of drawing a weapon. It also has an echo in the gun safety rule: never point a gun at something you are not prepared to destroy. So while I don't doubt the idea had been around before *Dune,* I still have doubts that it's ever something that was actually practiced, especially in tribal societies before the advent of penicillin. The Missionaria Protectiva implants specific key phrases into the superstitions to help the Bene Gesserit identify which beliefs have been planted into the society. "The thing must take its course," is indicative of the belief that a Reverend Mother will come to free the people. From Jessica's reaction, that belief is reserved only for the worst places. I suppose it wouldn't work unless conditions are so bad the idea of a Reverend Mother freeing the people is believable. Seeding that on the paradice world of Caladan, for example, would like not take since the people don't feel like they need to be saved from something. That said, I think the history of U.S. politics show that many people will feel the need to be saved regardless of the situation they are in. Mapes enjoys that a bull killed the Old Duke. She isn't opposed to the death of the powerful, which we already got from her being willing to kill Lady Jessica if needed. Jessica feels a headlong rushing despite all the various people and processes trying to slow events down. This could be the pressure of the Kwisatz Haderach bringing about his own awakening, assuming the comments in the appendix about the manipulation of a higher dimensional being are to be taken seriously. It could just be her feeling the nearness of the death of Leto and her flight into the dessert. Jessica's thoughts go to her son when she's worried, and she continues to show a lack of self-control in matters regarding him. Maybe this makes her more useful/predictable for the future Kwisatz Haderach? Mapes pities Jessica for being the One. That seems fitting since the result of being a messiah tends to be martyrdom. Interesting that idea was propagated by the Missionaria Protectiva. Though, it might not be part of the superstition specifically. It just be the reaction of any reasonable person to the idea of a messiah. Sidebar: The Missionaria Protectiva and Presidential Politics ------------------------------------------------------------- There is some historic irony in Herbert's thanking of Nixon when compared to the Bene Gesserit of *Dune,* assuming I'm understanding things correctly. The Bene Gesserit plant superstitious in native populations, so they can make use of those superstitions to help them if they get in trouble in the future. While useful in the moment, it sets up the conditions that Paul and Jessica exploit on Arrakis. This leads to the Jihad, the coming of the God Emperor, and the restriction of Bene Gesserit power. It basically blows up in their face. There is a narrative of modern Republican politics that puts Nixon in a similar position as the Missionaria Protectiva. He embraces the Southern Strategy, feed into middle and lower class resentment of people of color, in order to become President and promote Republican policies. This turns into the blending of business and evangelical Christian values into the moral majority in the Reagan administration, continuing to feed into the resentment of Republican voters. This then blows up in their face with the election of Trump and the storming of the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Now, for as much as I've brought up Herbert's thanking of Nixon, it is a single quote that I've not heard in its full context, and it down sound like the sort of thing that could have been said off the cuff as a biting joke. It may not be a fair view on Herbert's actual beliefs. Character First Thoughts ------------------------ * Shadout Mapes: (This space left intentionally blank.) Conclusion ---------- The questions I have after chapter seven: * What are we to take away from Jessica being a slave to Leto? * How much does Herbert buy into the glorification of warrior cultures? * Is the Kwisatz Haderach acting anticausally to bring about its awakening.