Fremen are a direct parallel to... -- DUNE Novels Discussion Board

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

02/ 5/25 11:01:14 [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:06:42 05/03/04 Mon
Author: IDAHO
Subject: Fremen are a direct parallel to...
In reply to: AntiPaul 's message, "Before this disappears...what about the Fremen" on 10:06:01 05/02/04 Sun

I believe that the Fremen are a direct parallel to the bedouin desert tribes of Arabia and the Middle East which were portrayed in the classic film, Lawrence of Arabia.

In some respects, they are cruel and barbarous because the pragmatism of the desert requires that one must be so. For example, in Lawrence of Arabia, a guy falls off his camel while crossing the desert. When the column realizes they have lost a member, they say it is Allah's will because if they turn back to search for him, they would be endangering the rest of the column. So the guy is screwed.

Frank Herbert lifted practically everything about the Fremen from his knowledge of these people. I think there is sort of a respect in his writing for them in terms of the sort of "noble savage" ideal that is propogated in much of the literature of the 20th century. However, he also writes with a realism about them. In some ways they are intolerant of others and willing to exterminate those who do not fit their ideals. In both the faiths of the Fremen and the Muslim Extremists of the present day Middle East, their faiths say it is okay to kill someone who is not of that faith if they do not convert. Their beliefs, fomented by the crucible of colonial oppression, basically condones the conversion of the world to the "true faith" by conquest rather than any peaceable means.

And let's face it, violence does come easier to an oppressed people. There have only been two major instances of non-violent collective action that have accomplished the goal of political and social freedom, and those also met their share of violent resistance on the other side. Personally, I find the Fremen way of life, not clean, or pure, or cool because of their warrior-like ways, but a bit close minded, myopic, traditional, stuck in ancient ritual and customs that perpetuate a barbarity and cruel violence. Part of that opinion is my own experience of being a Western American and I fear an all too common perception based on the actions of a few terrorists from that region, but I think there are postive and negative aspects to any culture.

But I think the real tragedy in Dune, is that Paul uses these negative aspects of Fremen culture to perpetuate their violent tendencies and beliefs in order to suit his own desires of revenge and conquest. In his youth, Paul could have taken the steps to focus the Fremen energy in a non-violent way, and yet he does not. He uses it and uses his own myth of the messiah to start a Jihad and violent conquest of the entire galaxy. MAybe it is naive to say that he could have swayed the Fremen in any other direction, and it is naive because I can't see the future like PAul did, and perhaps he only saw salvation through this violence, but it seems to me that he went with the tide rather than against it. Rather than try to change it, he let it happen. I think he was horrified by this fact and that's why he eventually had to kill off "Maud'dib" so to speak.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

FH sources -- bloodsucker, 07:03:26 05/05/04 Wed
- Wow, there is life out there -- AntiPaul, 15:14:49 05/05/04 Wed