As the novel progresses, Paul gains the ability to see different paths ahead of him. He even questions whether or not this ability to see everything is a good or bad thing. Despite these questions about his ability, he makes decisions based on them. Do you feel that the decisions Paul made, using his visions, were good or bad? Give an example. Would you all want to be able to have these same type of visions in your life?
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(Pictured at left: the author of this post, preparing to propose marriage.) Okay, today we're going to talk villains. Everyone loves a good bad guy; without one, a story lacks vitality. Good needs something over which to triumph, and someone has to make sure that the course of true love never runs too smooth.
Villains can be fun, and they can be infuriating. And, as Thomas C. Foster points out in How to Read Novels..., they can actually carry a story pretty much on their own. One of his best examples is that of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, whose Humbert Humbert, while charming and occasionally sympathetic, is an absolutely abhorrent human being (of course, he has Clare Quilty to divert some of the blame). A well-executed, three-dimensional scoundrel is a beautiful thing. He or she complicates a story and richens it immeasurably. How well do you feel that Herbert handles this crucial aspect of the story in Dune? Does he give his antagonists the shading and complexity they deserve, or do you feel that they lack nuance? Beyond that, who's your all-time favorite villain of film, literature, etc., and why? What makes them unique, and why do you find them particularly compelling? Discuss amongst yourselves. I'm feeling particularly wicked now; I've got a lot of mustache-twirling and cackling to do. Where are my top hat and cape?! One of the things I love about Dune is that there are so many really good quotes that you can pull from it. Even though it was written in 1965, the material can easily be applied to our lives today. One of my favorite quotes is from the beginning of the book. The Reverend Mother says that, "once men turned their thinking over to machines in hopes that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them" (11). I can't help but see our reliance on technology and the people that create it in this. I mean you can go to a restaurant and see tons of people on their smart phones instead of having actual conversations with each other, or if you don't know something you can google it on your phone. The tablet is another piece of technology that has really changed our lives. It's another thing that I'll see at restaurants. What's funny is that most are on Facebook. We've become enslaved to technology. I wonder if we, as a society, could give it all up. What do the rest of you think about this quote? What is one of your favorite quotes and why? I can't wait to see what you guys have to say. So, being brilliant AP students, you're all well aware by now that an author approaches his or her work very deliberately - you're not likely to come across much in a novel that was not deposited there with great care. This can mean a line of dialogue, a bit of foreshadowing that will pay off later on, or even a green jellybean which, consumed carelessly by a villain, symbolizes the innocent nature of childhood and its eventual, inevitable mastication in the maw of a cynical, unfeeling world. Stuff like that.
This also applies when it comes to characters. In chapter 6 of How to Read Novels Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster addresses the role of minor characters in fiction. Unlike their more fleshed-out counterparts, the major characters, minor characters are "two-dimensional cardboard cutouts rather than fully-developed, complete persons" (84). They are there, like everything else, to serve a purpose. This can mean supplying much-needed exposition, helping to develop a theme...all that heavy lifting with which our major characters need not be bothered. And because we see them less and they are more devices than people, minor characters are more sketches - suggestions, if you will - than full-on folks in whom we can feel totally invested. So, what say you? Do you agree with Foster's assessment? Can you think of any minor characters in fiction that break his rule and appear as three-dimensional, fully realized people instead of cardboard cutouts? Can you think of a minor character in Dune and determine its basic function? And, lastly, do you think that there's something to be said for characters who are less than fully defined, characters for whom the reader must supply the details? I eagerly await your replies and hope they will supply me with all the backstory and nuance that major characters such as yourselves deserve. I just got asked a great question. For assignment number 1 (the journal), it needs to be single spaced. If you choose to double space, then each portion must be one page in length instead of half a page.
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