Prescience, Genetic Memory, and Personal Identity in Frank Herbert's Dune Trilogy
"Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain"(Herbert, Dune 68).
–Bene Gesserit Proverb
Ben Bova begins his liner notes on Frank Herbert Reads his God Emperor of Dune (Excerpts) by stating that "All truly great art shares this characteristic: the more you study it, the more it reveals" (Herbert). Although it refers specifically to the fourth book in the Dune Chronicles, his statement also applies to the trilogy that precedes it–Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune. Herbert's "polyphonic" work contains themes on so many levels (ecology, politics, war, philosophy, religion, and technology, just to name a few), that it soon becomes difficult to separate one from the other. The topic of human awareness, however, takes on a specific tone and special level of importance above all the others. Whether looking at the Bene Gesserit sisterhood and their political intrigues and planning, or the Mentat's historical role as the human computer 1 , filing away and analyzing countless bits of data, human awareness somehow always becomes a focus. Even in the economics of the work, where the "coin of the realm," the spice melange, is able not only to extend human life, but also to open up both past and future to the properly prepared mind, does this theme become evident.
With all of his attention on the awareness of humanity, however, Herbert had more common and more difficult questions on his mind. By creating a character, Paul Atreides, who is able to see not only into the future, but also into the past lives that made up his long list of ancestors, the questions of personal and societal identity are brought forward. These powers, which Herbert refers to as "prescience" and "genetic memory," respectively, give Paul so much knowledge that he is no longer able to function as an individual. He finds himself limited to certain actions because he knows the outcomes. Once on top of the mountain, so to speak, he can no longer see where he stands. In turn, Paul's son Leto II and daughter Ghanima, as well as his sister Alia, are also forced to deal with the issues of such knowledge in the entirely different light of "Abomination," a condition that befalls those whose inherited memories are unearthed before they are born.
There have been several different Supreme Court cases over the years that have been influential to most everybody who is aware of them. For example, the case of Roe vs. Wade was and still is immensely influential and is the cause of pro-life/pro-choice debates. Another important case was Marbury vs. Madison, which was the first Supreme Court case to ever declare that a law passed by Congress was unconstitutional. Even though those two cases were a couple of the most important and influential in American history nothing compares to the influence that the case of Gideon vs. Wainwright has provided, in my opinion. This case was tremendously important to the way that law enforcement is to be carried out in that it forced detectives and FBI’s and the like to “do their homework” before declaring someone guilty of a crime. Although this case was very influential on the way police forces carry out their duties, I think the case was mostly important in that it forced all courts in the U.S. to have a greater recognition of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution and the story of the victim involved in this case.
When Elijah realizes that Oglivy can no longer remember his dreams, a divide grows between them. Readers develop sympathy for Elijah since he loses one of the few comforts he has in his “disorder”. Furthermore, the reference of specific tragedies adds to the story such as Mount Vesuvius, the Bubonic Plague, Tropical Storm Vita. By specifically mentioning a range of past events, all imbued with tragedy whether it be a natural disaster or an infectious disease, readers can glimpse the scope of what Elijah deals with and how difficult it can be to witness such events. Finally, Russel effectively employs the use of flashbacks to add to the story rather than draw away from it.
ames are one of the first identifiers a person is given, and yet as infants they are given no choice in this identifier that will be with them for the rest of their lives. In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon the use of the biblical names Hagar and Pilate serve as a means to show the importance of defining the path of one’s life for one's self, as supposed to letting one's name define it for them. Through juxtaposition and parallels, Morrison teaches a universal lesson of the importance of self definition.
Who you are as a person is based on genetics but also on experiences. Biology of the brain has an influence on personality, however, culture and environment heavily influence personality traits from the beginning of one’s life and experiences continue to do so throughout adulthood. In “The Poisonwood Bible” sisters, Leah, Adah and Ruth May were all raised by Orleanna and Nathan Price—a Christian Baptist preacher from Georgia and were given the same experiences, yet all three girls remain completely different from one another. From living in the United States to becoming full time missionaries in the Congo, the three girls grow and develop into different directions in terms of their faith. In “The Poisonwood Bible”, Barbara Kingsolver displays the differences and affects that Christianity has on Christians in Western society verse living in the Congo through the lives of the
Born into the Okimasis clan of the Cree First Nations tribe, Jeremiah and Gabriel share a host of similarities and differences. One thing the two brothers have in common is the magnitude of sexual abuse they receive while attending residential school. Jeremiah is noticeably traumatized by the events that occur, as he locks his memories in a "chamber deep inside his mind." (80) In contrast, Gabriel seems to accept the abuse he receives, as he imagines himself falling "down on his knees," clinging to his vision of seeing "God the Father, sitting large and naked in his black leather armchair." (83) Another ...
Following a vivid dream in which Aylmer surgically removes Georgiana’s birthmark, Aylmer assures Georgiana with extreme faith in himself that he can heal their woes by removing the birthmark. The birthmark serves as a symbol for the uncleanliness of the sin that could be in her; not that she has been terribly unrighteous, but the birthmark, like sin, is an imperfection that he wishes to purify. I think the birthmark is a part of Georgiana that Aylmer cannot understand or explain, so he condemns it as sinful. It is possible that Aylmer may feel that what man cannot fathom is not of good nature. The idea that man associates evil with things he does not understand shows the close-mindedness that humans continue to carry through to the next generations through socialization. It could be a defense mechanism that we use to avoid physical or social harm. The shape of the birthmark also adds to its sin-like nature due to the negative co...
Steinbeck uses the biblical story of Cain and Abel in East of Eden to show us that we do not have set fate. Steinbeck uses the Hebrew word “timshel”, which means “thou mayest”, to suggest that man has the ability to choose good or evil. “Timshel” affects the characters in East of Eden such as Cal and Aron and their choice of overcoming good or evil. Steinbeck sees this novel as his most important work, and he uses it as a way to state his personal ideas concerning mankind:“The free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.”(Steinbeck,132). Steinbeck shows God has given humans free will and their ability to choose good or evil, if they so decide. He portrays the “C” characters to be connected to Cain, such as Charles and Cal and the “A” characters to be connected to Abel, such as Aron and Adam.
Somewhere around the beginning of the seventeenth century, the perception of the nature of childhood -- its duration, its perceived purpose, its requirements, its quality -- changed rather significantly in the Eurocentric world, a period Valerie Suransky identifies as a watershed for the modern notion of childhood (1982, p. 6). Actually, two things seemed to have happened: first, the idea of childhood as a separate developmental stage began to arise; second, the idea of who was deserving of childhood also began to broaden. The pattern was similar in Europe and America, with some minor variations which resulted from geography, religion, etc., but the differences are inconsequential. Generally speaking, the factors which influenced this change are the view of the nature of humankind, the development of industry, urbanization, parents themselves, and the women's movement.
To answer the question of whether a person can persist through time, it is important to consider what is meant by a ‘person’. This consideration seems trivial at first, and if one were to take the physicalist route, it would be – a person persists through time by existing as the same human animal. However, it is in fact a lot harder to pinpoint what the ‘self’ actually consists of if we were to take the psychological route and consider the voice inside our heads, the voice that thinks and experiences and suffers. What is this mysterious immaterial phenomenon that we hold to be our personal identity? And what makes it the same entity as the one yesterday? Although these questions don’t have an explicit answer yet, in this essay I will attempt to give an insight on how they could be answered, offering a psychological
For example, after the murder of his best friend, Paul begins to have these sharp, sudden panic attacks. It is also discovered that the main source of his distress is his family’s murder when he was a child, especially of his father, whose death he blames himself for. Paul convinces himself throughout the movie that he has been cured while leaving the underlying cause unexamined and unresolved. Ben realizes the underlying problem when he was invited to lunch at Paul’s favorite restaurant, but told that it’s the restaurant where his father got murdered at, right before his eyes, when Paul was a child. Ben instantly believes he could help Paul after all. The death of his family and father, for Paul it was misplaced guilt on
All throughout the novel Paul makes a lot of choices and all those choices have a
describes Adam and Eve's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. By giving George
What is memory and how its work. It is usually link with the ‘thinking of again’ or ‘recalling to the mind’ of a thing learned or memorized before. Definitions of this sort imply conscious awareness in the remembered that they are recollecting something of the past. For instance, we may remember our first day of school or some information like who is the president of the country. Basically, this is just tiny part of our capacity when we check out the full human memory capabilities.
The conflict of this story is shown with Paul trying to deal with his father’s death in the Portrait of an Invisible Man, and his divorce in The Book of Memory. As Paul received the sudden news of his father’s death, he was taken back by the fact he actually passed away. Paul then made the trip with his wife to clear out his father’s possessions from the house, so they could pu...
validate this thought, it is upon "...a road less travelled" in the lines of "The Mending Wall"