Dune

This study will examine the interrelationship between social organization and the environment on the planet Arrakis in Frank Herbert's science-fiction novel, Dune. The study will explore how the society of the Fremen operates in order to fit into the hostile ecological realities of the planet, which is entirely a desert environment. The basis argument of the study will be that the survival of the Fremen on the planet, and their creation and maintenance of their society and social organization, depends on an ability to adapt to that environment, rather than control it forcefully by making it something other than it is. The harshness of the environment on Arrakis and the delicate balance of its ecology require that the Fremen, both before and after the coming of Paul to the planet, always heed that delicate balance lest they destroy the planet and themselves. In part, this deliberate, careful and conscious adaptability is what the author is saying is necessary to survive in any environment.

The book's story involves the coming to Arrakis of Paul Atreides, a boy who has been raised on another planet, Caladan, which has plenty of water. Paul has been trained to be a Duke of the Imperium, a vast empire with planets throughout the galaxy. It is not a galaxy of peace or security, however, but instead is run on fear and strict laws. It is also economically dependent on a spice which grows on Arrakis and nowhere else. Paul is the hero of the novel, but he is a warning from the auth

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ng human population, the Fremen. What a challenge! What a tool they could be! Fremen: an ecological and geological force of almost unlimited potential (493). We see, then, that to any individual the real or potential social organization of the planet was determined or should be determined by that individual's view of the purpose of the planet, its population, its ecological resources, and its social organization. For the Harkonnen, social organization was properly comprised of the military-controlled enclaves whose purpose was focused on the income derived from the melange. The Fremen were seen as harmless nomads posing no threat to that crop or that income. From Kynes point of view, the expansion of social organization---through manipulation of genetics and the ecology ---was necessary in order to use the power of the planet to he fullest, just as any "machine" should be used to maximum efficiency. From the point of view of Paul, once he has fled into the desert to hide among the Fremen, and then to lead them, the social organization had to include the Fremen as well, not to make the "machine" more efficient and powerful for its own sake, but to eventually take over the Empire. The rigid class structure which served as the h

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