Tyler Anderson

Communication Studies Capstone

Dr. Bednar

3/25/2021

The Constitutive Rhetoric of Alliance within Dune

The focus of this project is how constitutive rhetoric works within the alliance between the Atreides and the Fremen in Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction epic novel Dune. I specifically examine the alliance between the Atreides and the indigenous Fremen, two major factions in the novel. I argue that the Atreides faction uses constitutive rhetoric to gain a power foothold over their allies during the creation of the alliance by inscribing the Fremen to a narrative where they are subordinate to the Atreides. To examine this in this paper I will take excerpts from the book that describe specific plot points and perform a close reading, situating the different speakers in the positions of constitutive rhetoric, also conducting a postcolonial analysis to point out where elements of the alliances contain a structural power imbalance inherent to the colonial relationship between the two peoples.

Alliances, in and outside of Dune, depend on constitutive rhetoric to call into being a unified whole comprised of two separate groups. That is, an alliance can only be an alliance if the two (or more) groups aligning with each other are defined as both separate by themselves and as comprising a larger alliance made from the alignment of the two (or more) groups. But in situations of power imbalance, such as that between colonizer and colonized, this alliance can be a pretense for domination, benefiting one group and subjugating the other. This is accomplished in Dune when Paul places himself as the more powerful of the two in the alliance, essentially above the Fremen, and thus in control of the way the alliance will be called into being rhetorically and of the narrative to which the new audience will be inscribed. The example of

Paul Atreides and the Fremen shows us the coalition and inevitable subjugation that is the signature of alliance in an imbalanced relationship of power. Paul uses constitutive rhetoric to form an alliance with the Fremen, but places himself higher on the hierarchical imperial ladder than the Fremen within the alliance and uses the subordinate group for his own aims.

My methodology in this project will be to take excerpts of my research object, the themes within Dune that describe the alliance between the Atreides and the Fremen, and perform a close reading and analysis of them. I will especially be looking at the elements of constitutive rhetoric, the hailing, identification, and creation of a new group that follows, and also at the tropes and themes that can be analyzed from a postcolonial perspective. Thus, my method of analysis is a close reading, and my theoretical framework is that of constitutive rhetoric, primarily using the theories of White and Charland. My research will add to the existing scholarly conversations surrounding this field by giving a firm topic through which to examine the constitutive rhetoric of alliance, something I have not found extensive work covering, and by showing the dynamic of power imbalance that can exist in these scenarios using a postcolonial lens. I will conduct the analysis using not only the work of the original theorists but by looking at and incorporating elements of the other contemporary work I have researched that takes different approaches to research objects containing constitutive rhetoric, both historical examples and ones in current media. I will delineate what subject positions each of the characters falls into in the excerpts I will examine, and explain the repercussions of that.

Dune: An Overview

Dune is lauded by many as “the most important [science fiction] novel” and paved the way for “essentially every epic-scale SF and fantasy series to follow” (SFF180). It is one of the most widely translated science fiction books and has sold nearly 20 million copies, as well as being the “first [science fiction] novel ever to hit #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list” (Dunenovels.com, SFF180). It was not only awarded a Hugo after it was published in 1965 but also honored with the first ever Nebula award, now a hallmark of science fiction accolades

(Hugo.com). Dune was Frank Herbert’s opus, and he was still producing content set in the universe of Dune until his death in 1986 (Dunenovels.com). He was influenced by the pulp science fiction authors of his time as well as the foundational authors of science and speculative fiction such as H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Jules Verne (Dunenovels.com). But

Herbert would surpass even their legacy with his impact on the genre, without which we wouldn’t have major franchises like George Lucas’ Star Wars- whose earliest drafts described a

“desert planet, an evil emperor, and a boy with a galactic destiny” and “included warring noble houses and a princess guarding a shipment of something called ‘aura spice’”- clear references to

Herbert’s landmark work (Guardian). Herbert and colleagues thought that the overlap was so obvious that they formed a tongue in cheek organization named the “We’re Too Big to Sue

George Lucas Society (Guardian).”

In the book, the protagonist Paul Atreides makes an alliance with the indigenous peoples of the desert planet of Arrakis (also known as Dune), a colony he inherits by his ducal rights before being violently expelled by the Harkonnens, another powerful family in the intergalactic colonial system who assassinate his father and take control of the planet. Prior to this attack,

Paul’s father and advisors established an initial relationship with the indigenous group, called the

Fremen, with the intent to use them as a fighting force. After Paul is driven into the desert, he encounters these indigenous peoples, and follows through with his father’s earlier plan to form an alliance with the Fremen. Eventually Paul becomes a kind of spiritual leader for them, as they believe that he is their messiah. This is accomplished primarily by the work of the clandestine

Bene Gesserit, a secret order Paul’s mother belongs to, who planted the seeds of a prophecy foretelling a messiah on Arrakis centuries ago. In the event that one of their agents was to find herself stranded on the planet, she could manipulate the local population by using elements of the messianic legend.

Though Paul himself is a victim of the colonial system, as the family that has usurped him conspired with the Emperor to strip the Atreides of their holdings, Paul Atreides still represents colonial cultural power as the rightful heir to the planet with powerful connections that ultimately aid him in usurping the Emperor and taking his place as the ultimate symbol of that power. He accomplishes this by forging an alliance with the Fremen that ultimately subsumes them under his self-serving goals, using constitutive rhetoric to create an audience of shared identity that simultaneously valorizes and devalues the Fremen. Paul also controls the planet that serves as the only source of the most valuable resource in the universe, the “spice melange,” which facilitates space travel and serves as a metaphysical allegory for the way oil works in our world. Paul recognizes its value and uses it as a bargaining chip as he wages intergalactic war in much the same way as he uses the Fremen as agents of his own agenda. In the use of their alliance for conquest and the exploitation of Fremen resources in the aim of further domination, Paul Atreides manipulates the alliance and exemplifies the subjugation aspect of alliance between a colonizer and the colonized.

Related Work on Dune

“Dune landed right at the time that science fiction and the world at large were on the cusp of radical change,” one reviewer writes, where “among the issues engaging public consciousness were environmentalism and the wisdom, or lack thereof, of exploiting Earth’s natural resources with no thought to long term consequences. When these concerns peaked for the first time in the early ’70s with the first major ‘energy crisis,’ Frank Herbert, whose story here is fundamentally all about such short-sighted exploitation, found himself something of a guru among the young, politically motivated, and eco-aware” (SFF180). Because of this, Dune is considered by many to be an early example of ecological fiction, and much of the critical conversation surrounding the novel explores the impact and implications of the world of Arrakis.

Past engaging with the fledgling environmental movement, Herbert subverts traditional elements of storytelling as well. Paul Atredies is a protagonist who has everything torn away from him, and in his connection with the indigenous Fremen he opens his eyes to a way of life that is radically different from the one he knew. But though Paul fills the role of the “Chosen

One/White Savior archetype”, Herbert chooses not to paint him as a hero as the trope is traditionally treated, but instead chooses to “bury him”, exposing over time the inherent flaws and biases that absolute corrupting power brings about (SFF180).

Herbert borrows heavily from Islamic culture to weave Fremen religious beliefs into the narrative. Paul is called “Mahdi'' by the Fremen, the “name of the Islamic savior”, and the name that he is allowed to choose among the Fremen is “Muad’Dib” (SFF180). The Fremen are protecting a resource that they do not have a use for, but that is coveted by every other spacefaring power as the resource (the spice) is a kind of psychedelic substance that can be used to facilitate space travel. This fuel for transportation is an allegory for the oil reserves in the

Middle East (SFF180). Contemporary critique of Dune remarks on its continuing relevance through time, with the subsequent oil crisis and conflict in the Middle East. “Books read differently as the world reforms itself around them,” writes Hari Kunzru (Guardian). “Paul

Atreides is a young white man who fulfils a persistent colonial fantasy, that of becoming a God- king to a tribal people. Herbert’s portrayal of the Fremen… owes much to TE Lawrence’s enthusiastic portrayals of the Bedouin of Arabia.”

Dune has been analyzed on an academic level from countless perspectives and disciplines. One such study by historian Lorenzo DiTommaso examines the themes of “history and historical effect” within the novel (DiTommaso 311). His claim is that the plot of Dune represents Frank Herbert’s belief that history is a “linear and progressive process”, the effects of which are not “predictable” but “understandable” (DiTommaso 311). He also makes the claim that according to Herbert “humans are inherently inequal” in an imperial system, evidenced by the “diminished value” hierarchical structures impose on individuals (DiTommaso 311). He argues that “socio-political rank” plays a major role in the outcome of strategy employed by the characters and that Paul, in his revolt against the empire that puts himself on the throne, shows he “worked within the historical techno-military system” that he was fighting against

(DiTommaso 314). “Paul does not escape from the system when he becomes the prophet,”

DiTommaso says in reference to Paul’s eventual mastery of the ability to use the spice to its fullest extent (DiTommaso 316). He underlines the “similarity between the ways in which Leto,

(later, Paul) and the Imperium operate”, saying that Paul and his enemies even use the same method of military conquest, with Paul exploiting the Fremen to fill his ranks (DiTommaso 321).

DiTommaso concludes that Paul is “essentially bound to the strictures of the Imperium in thought and deed” (DiTommaso 321).

This article is particularly damning in driving home the point that Paul Atreides uses the rhetorical and militaristic techniques of the colonizing power that he is fighting, and ultimately represents a colonizing power himself operating within the imperial system. This supports my claim that Paul Atreides is using the power imbalance inherent in alliance between colonizer and colonized to compel the Fremen to fight with him and placing himself higher on the hierarchical ladder within that alliance. Within the imperial system, colonizers operate with an advantage in power that Paul and his antagonists both use to fight against each other, regardless of Paul’s prophet-like relationship with the indigenous group. When he is using constitutive rhetoric to create an alliance between himself and the indigenous group, he is employing the power he has as a colonizing force and placing himself above the Fremen.

Science Fiction and Communication Studies

Giving more background to the relationship between science fiction and the social sciences, “A History of Social Science Fiction” makes the claim that the genre has suffused into

“a variety of disparate theoretical discourses (Gerlach and Hamilton 161).” The “fruitful and ongoing encounter” between science fiction and disciplines like communication studies yields a deeper understanding of both the fiction itself and the theories it engages as both “explore social worlds (Gerlach and Hamilton 162).” Contemporary scholars have begun to treat the genre as “a broader phenomenon of and within the social,” a “force involved in the construction of the modern or postmodern world-view” in the same way that non-fictional rhetoric is examined

(Gerlach and Hamilton 163). The genre has earned this attention, as its influence has spread to

“scientific agendas” and “spawned cultural developments” around the globe, serving as a “set of cultural practices influencing our vision of the future (Gerlach and Hamilton 163-164).” Similar to academic scholars, science fiction authors employ “the categories of critical social analysis” to construct worlds that twist or exaggerate current issues in society, sometimes only displacing them to another planet to provide stark criticism of social elements (Gerlach and Hamilton 164).

This summary of the connections between communication studies and science fiction helps to underline the value of Dune as a research object, but also gives a background for the importance of the genre in social sciences. These theorists posit that the creation of a science fiction narrative is in itself a methodology for examining a specific issue in the same way an article might serve an academic. They explain this by saying that sf writers are essentially exploring theories about society when they write, and these theories provide a commentary on elements of non-fictional society. “Any truly accomplished… sf engages in social critique (Gerlach and

Hamilton 164).”

Expanding the scope of my research past Dune itself, other work on populations within science fiction will help me dissect the research object and understand the genre. Hannah

Gunderman’s examination of the protagonist/antagonist binary on the show Star Trek explores similar themes to my project. She argues that in making a clear protagonist and antagonist early on, science fiction narratives often “position the viewer on a particular side of the story, rendering it difficult to fully consider the Other’s actions and motivations (Gunderman 51).” She takes an antagonist of the series and attempts to “de-villainize” them, with the aim of examining real world reconciliation. She claims that portrayals of contemporary conflicts often fall into a protagonist/antagonist binary as well due to media bias towards one’s own country. She goes on to claim that “science fiction’s representations of aliens”, or in the case of Dune, indigenous humans, “provides commentary on geopolitical notions of borders: aliens force us to consider the critical fact that the story of the alien is always the story of borders (Gunderman 54).” Building on this, she confronts the idea of the enemy in these narratives, saying that “many narratives and systems of power that define the identity of the Other”, whereas she defines a “multifaceted, dynamic Other through a process blurring the Protagonist/Antagonist Binary through a process of de-villainizing (Gunderman 56).” She ends her article with an appeal to “empathize with the actions of an individual or group considered to be a “real-life antagonist,” whose identity is often shaped by international geopolitics (Gunderman 59).”

This research is not relevant only from the perspective of another scholar’s analysis of a science fiction narrative, but also ties into my research on the Fremen. She makes an appeal to consider both perspectives of a fictional conflict, which can help us to better understand real world conflicts, which is helpful not only because I am comparing a fictional scenario to situations in real life but also because understanding how constitutive rhetoric is negatively affecting the Fremen is an issue of perspective. Though not villains themselves they become the arm of Paul Atreides who uses them to fight an intergalactic war with many casualties. They become “shaped by international geopolitics”, much like the antagonists in Gunderman’s study

(Gunderman 59).

Constitutive Rhetoric

Relevant to an understanding of constitutive rhetoric is Burke’s theory of “identification,” exemplified most accurately in his example of “the politician who, addressing an audience of farmers, says, ‘I was a farm boy myself’ (Burke xiv).” His theory states simply that to achieve identification one must establish commonality, and convince the audience that they share it.

Though other theorists depart from Burke’s emphasis on “persuasion,” his concept of identification is connected heavily with the idea that “you persuade a man only insofar as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying your ways with his (Burke 55).”

The original use of the term “constitutive rhetoric” came from James Boyd White, explaining it as rhetoric that brings into existence a collective identity. In a piece concerning

“legal rhetoric” he describes the “socially constitutive nature” of rhetoric (White 690). In this courtroom example, he states “every time one speaks as a lawyer, one establishes for the moment a character- an ethical identity, or what the Greeks called an ethos- for oneself, for one’s audience, and for those one talks about, and in addition one proposes a relation among the characters one defines (White 690).” He calls the analysis of this phenomenon “constitutive rhetoric,” “the study of the ways we constitute ourselves as individuals, as communities, and as cultures, whenever we speak (White 690).” This “art of constituting culture and community” can be both directed at calling exterior audiences into being or placing oneself within a group (White

692). He continues to say that “the establishment of comprehensible relations and shared meanings, the making of the kind of community that enables people to say ‘we’ about what they do and claim consistent meanings for it… is the province of what I call constitutive rhetoric

(White 693).” This theory is central to my analysis of Dune. In his delineation of “all language activity that goes into the constitution of actual human cultures and communities,” White is describing exactly the conditions of alliance- one placing oneself and others in a group using language (White 695).

After White’s inception of the term, the most defining work on constitutive rhetoric is that of Maurice Charland. Responding to earlier theories, he states that Burke created the idea that “audiences would embody a discourse,” laying the foundation of constitutive rhetoric

(Charland 133). He refers to “the constitution of the subject” as the “key process in the production of ideology,” and goes on to describe how the narrative of people in Quebec

“attempt[ing] to call into being a peuple Quebecois” is a site in which to examine constitutive rhetoric at work (Charland 133, 134). He refutes the persuasive aspect of the theory, saying that

“a subject is not persuaded” in this case to support the cause, but that this belief is “inherent to the subject position” “because of… a series of narrative ideological effects (Charland 134).” Out of the issue a “national identity for a new type of political subject was born” that was always “an instance of constitutive rhetoric, for it calls its audience into being (Charland 134).” In this case the constitutive rhetoric takes the “narrative form,” promoting a story in which one is interpellated as “quebecois” which is “a term antithetical to canadien (Charland 135).” He speaks of the “boundary” of who is “includ[ed] and exclu[ded],” a part of the theory that is crucial to my analysis of Dune (Charland 137). The alliance lays the groundwork for who exactly belongs within it and who is not, described here as a boundary. The alliance “becomes real only through rhetoric,” held together only by the words of its creation (Charland 137). The alliance is like the

“people” Charland describes as being “a fiction which comes to be when individuals accept living in a political myth,” or in this case the myth of the alliance, one that is “constitutive of those seduced by it (Charland 138).” The Atreides, in creating the alliance, engage in the

“process of constituting a collective subject,” the first “ideological effect of constitutive rhetoric,” creating a “collective agent” acting together as an individual (Charland 140). Also especially important in framing the alliance as constituted rhetorically is his idea that the “logic of constitutive rhetoric must necessitate action in the material world,” which gives the constituted group their “power,” in this case a call to arms (Charland 141, 143). Applying

Charland’s framework to Dune, we can say that the Fremen-Atreides alliance “insert[s] narratized subjects-as-agents into the world,” facing down what concludes the narrative of constitutive rhetoric, which is “identifying a threat to its very existence as a narrative (Charland

143, 146).”

Contemporary Work on Constitutive Rhetoric

An important piece of work that displays how communication scholars use constitutive rhetoric is Putman’s article examining the constitutive rhetoric of Ancestry.com. He makes the claim that “consumers are interpellated and constituted by the ideological and narrative features presented through DNA-oriented claims regarding ancestral heritage” by the marketing released by the organization (Putman). The audience called into being is one that places consumers as

“objective carriers of DNA,” which promotes “the notion that ethnicity and race are biological phenomena… rather than socially and rhetorically constructed (Putman).” Their advertisements make “use of identification (rather than persuasion)” to sell their idea and ideology (Putman).

“Subjects are inscribed into ideology through narrative,” bringing about a “coherent unified identity. When the interpellated subject recognizes and acknowledges themselves in rhetoric, they participate in the narrative, thus identifying with a collective subjectivity (Putman).”

Putman’s methodology was to analyze 17 of the site’s commercials, which all followed the structure of “constitut[ing] collective subjects through the ideological discourse of DNA,” then

“authoriz[ing] identification with a genetic ancestry narrative… to form a collective identity,” and lastly “call[ing] consumers to act” and purchase their product (Putman).

Looking at constitutive rhetoric and its presence in history, Matthew Hoye researches

“rhetorical action through the ancient period to the mid-17th century” in the “relationship between rhetorical action and constitutive politics (Hoye).” He lays out the “ancient conception of rhetoric as constitutive politics,” giving the definition of “constitutive politics” as “the politics related to the construction of a polity’s political identity (Hoye).” “Constitutive rhetoric,” he claims, holds “power” in its ability to “destabiliz[e] the constituted order (Hoye).” He looks at how renowned rhetoricians of the past had a certain type of allure that allowed them, when addressing audiences in the aim of achieving some kind of consensus, to “transcend political norms” and “constitute new political orders,” achieved by “embod[ying] constitutive rhetoric” in their forms of address (Hoye). The last contemporary scholar whose work gives a backing to my methodology is Mills’ description of the effects of constitutive rhetoric in early discourse surrounding “pirates” as the

“common enemy of all (Mills 106).” He describes the “sovereign” and “the pirate” as not being

“subject positions given in nature,” thus they are “delimited in language (Mills 107).” His claim that though “piracy and sovereignty represent fundamentally opposed subjectivities with regard to the law,” the “constitutive rhetorics of piracy and sovereignty are one and the same (mills 107-

108).” He explains this by saying that the constitution of sovereignty “requires negative identification to be grounded ontologically,” “predicated upon the simultaneous existence of its opposite, the anti-sovereign: the pirate (Mills 108).” He explores something he believes Charland overlooked, which are the “negative dimensions of constitutive rhetoric,” the exclusion to what is included, saying that the boundaries of these dimensions are “constantly rearticulated to maintain the specificity and solidity” of the constituted identity (Mills).

Post-Colonial Theory

The themes I am analyzing within Dune are directly related to postcolonial theory and prompt a deeper investigation into racialized tropes. Raka Shome’s work on the

“internationalizing” of culture studies provides data to look at postcolonial theory as a whole

(Shome 695). The “insular and ethnocentric” description she gives of the current state of her academic field points to one of the issues in contemporary science fiction, which at the time of

Herbert’s work was a much greater issue. The positioning of ideas in favor of the Western academic power is present both in and outside of Dune. The novel is situated thusly as it is the work of a white American man borrowing phrases and cultural specifics from the Middle East, and in the interior of Dune we have a white man entering the desert region of Arrakis to ultimately lead a group of presumably brown skinned indigenous people, the Fremen. As the research I’ve done supports, Frank Herbert was conscious and in dialogue with people of the cultures he used in his book, taking a step in the direction of the “process of cultural translation that scholars or students in the West are hardly ever asked to engage in,” but still his place of privilege allowed him to appropriate elements of Arabic myth and society without discrimination

(Shome 700). The “continued hegemony of English” is present here in the mixing of Arabic words and phrases interpreted, sometimes incorrectly, by a non-native speaker and woven back into the text (Shome 707). Much like in culture studies, American science fiction writers are

“positioned far more differently” to non-English speaking counterparts, especially in 1965, an era for the genre where the “geo-political and historical inequities that inform the global landscape and its intellectual traffic” were only beginning to be confronted (Shome 708).

In analyzing the portrayal of the Fremen, Edward Said’s analysis of Orientalism gives context for the narratives surrounding othered races and regions. Orientalism, or “the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient” by “making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for culminating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” plays into an analysis of Dune when trying to understand the commodification of simplified Arabic tropes within the novel

(Said 11). “The orient was almost a European invention,” he claims, saying that for a European, the most important takeaway “was a European representation of the Orient and its contemporary fate, both of which had a privileged communal significance for the journalist and his French readers (Said 9).” Reading Dune, one is left with a kind of “production” of Middle Eastern and

Arabic culture, not quite accurate and composed of a privileged Western perspective, in the same way that “European culture was able to… produce the Orient (Said 11).” The identity of the fictional Fremen translates Arabic words and beliefs, giving the culture an “intelligibility and identity” created not through an accurate depiction but through how it is “identified by the West

(Said 48).

To understand Paul Atreides’ role in the novel, defining and recognizing the white savior trope is necessary. The white savior is a “border crossing, white messianic figure,” states

Matthew Hughey in his analysis of the trope within film (Hughey 18). One characteristic is “the white interloper’s intrusion on a nonwhite culture that is, or soon will be, under assault,” a category in which the Fremen can certainly be put (Hughey 28). He goes on to say that “the white savior could be a part of an invading or colonizing military force”- the Atreides- “or a capitalist seeking riches and resources”- the spice melange, Arrakis’ precious resource (Hughey

28). White savior texts also include a “dimension of explicit religious and spiritual metaphors,” in Dune’s case, drawn from the Islamic belief system (Hughey 41).

Analysis of Dune

The structure of my analysis in this paper is to look at where in Dune the subject positions of the two factions of the alliance are constituted. I will then examine the scenes which establish the parameters of the alliance, namely the Duke’s first contact with the group and

Paul’s eventual use of the tribes as an army, then pointing out which elements of his imperialist plan work towards the aims of his individual power. I will dissect this example using the work of communication scholars, most importantly Maurice Charland’s work on the constitutive rhetoric of the peuple Quebecois. I will use this work to show how the discourses within Dune construct a new audience similarly to how the peuple are brought into being in Canada, in the form of an alliance versus Charland’s seceding state. Using this, I will show how the constitutive rhetoric used in these examples is based on the motivations of the colonial power and ultimately works against the Fremen even as (or maybe exactly because) they are claimed to be aligned with the Atreides. Lastly I will look at some of the ways that Dune resists this analysis, and how the themes in the text support my argument.

On Arrakis, the Atreides and their enemies represent “ideological state apparatuses” under the greater “repressive” system of the Galactic Empire (Althusser 96). The factions’ ideology “recruits subjects among the individuals” in the novel, an important step in the process of constituting the eventual audience of the alliance. These “ISAs” operate through ideology, serving as fractured parts of the imperial whole that use non-violent methods to perpetuate that ideology through complicity (Althusser 96). Althusser states that one such ISA is the “political

ISA (the political system, including different parties)” (Althusser 96-97). The political ISA is represented within Dune by the different factions and families such as the Atreides and their enemies, the Harkonnens (“families” too fall under the category of ISA). They exist among a

“plurality of [ISAs],” such as the Fremen themselves (Althusser 96). Gradually, as the plot of the novel progresses and Paul Atreides seizes more power and begins to usurp the current imperial regime, this paradigm begins to fall apart. But in Dune, and in the alliance represented in these discourses, we see ideology “unif[ying] diversity” beneath “the ruling ideology, which is the ideology of the ruling class” (Althusser 98).

The first act of Dune lays out the definitions of the two separate groups, the Fremen and the Atreides, which is an important step towards eventually constituting them as a unified whole.

One of the first mentions of the Fremen is during a conversation between two of the major antagonists in the novel, the Baron Harkonnen and his lieutenant Piter. They already suspect the formation of this alliance between the Atreides faction and the Fremen, saying that after their planned assault, the Duke “may attempt to flee to the new Fremen scum along the desert’s edge”

(Herbert 31-32). But they underestimate the population and power of the indigenous group, something that the Atreides realize, saying that “by first approximation analysis,” there are

“many, many more of [the Fremen] than the Imperium suspects (Herbert 49).” In the beginning the Fremen are treated as “renegade people from the desert,” one of the “two general separations” of the planet’s population (Herbert 49, 61). The early description of the group establishes them as a definite other to the Atreides, mingled with racialized comments about their supposed barbarity: “‘The Fremen must be brave to live at the edge of that desert.’ ‘By all accounts,’ Yueh said. ‘They compose poems to their knives. Their women are as fierce as the men. Even Fremen children are violent and dangerous.’ (Herbert 62).”

In this dialogue from one of Paul’s teachers, he also reinforces their imperial caste system, saying “you’ll not be permitted to mingle with them” to his student (Herbert 62).” Even then, Paul is thinking of the angle that ultimately leads him to seek out the Fremen, saying “what a people to win as allies!” to himself (Herbert 62). On arrival to Arrakis, Paul’s father sends an emissary to the indigenous group, tasked with introducing their faction and aims. Some of the message is in the man himself, the Duke saying that “if we’re lucky, they may judge us by him:

Duncan, the moral (Herbert 72).” This initiates a truce period, where Paul’s mother Jessica’s queries about whether “the Fremen [would] be our allies,” which is answered with “there’s nothing definite,” though they “promise to stop raiding [the] outlying villages (Herbert 81).” As they learn more about the group, the Duke states that “the Fremen appear more and more to be the allies we need (Herbert 136).” Their strategy becomes more defined as tensions rise, with the

Duke claiming that he needs “five full battalions of Fremen troops (Herbert 145).” “It was sea power and air power on Caladan,” he remarks, thinking of their home world, “here, it’s desert power. The Fremen are the key (Herbert 329).” This first part of the novel is laying the groundwork for the constitution of the eventual alliance between the two factions. Though they might not be familiar with the cultural practices of the Fremen, the Atreides are establishing that there are two distinct groups- themselves and the Fremen- and setting in motion the process of constituting them as aligned in an allied whole.

Going back to Maurice Charland’s examination of the calling into being of the peuple

Quebecois, we see a cohesive definition of constitutive rhetoric outlined that will help to understand how this works in the context of my research object. He refers to “the constitution of the subject” as the “key process in the production of ideology,” and goes on to describe how the narrative of people in Quebec “attempt[ing] to call into being a peuple Quebecois” is a site in which to examine constitutive rhetoric at work (Charland 133, 134).

Dune as a site of analysis allows us to see the creation of the subject, in this case from two groups working together under one ideology, the alliance. However, in this case and in every case of constitutive rhetoric, it matters who is doing the calling into being of a collective. The

“narrative” here that those in the alliance will be inscribed into is the idea that an alliance between the two groups is necessary and mutually beneficial—even inevitable--and that both groups will fall under the ideology of the colonial system by forming their alliance. An important element of this narrative process in Charland’s example was the “rhetorical document” of the

“white paper”, a manifesto which delineated what the peuple were constituted of and what it was

“antithetical” to (Charland 135). This manifesto gives a “history” and a “motive” to the subjects called into being, which Charland refers to as the group’s “narrative (Charland 140).”

These discourses in Dune lay out the parameters of the two groups and the final subject they will become in a similar fashion. The Atreides acknowledge that they need the help of the

Fremen, and in doing so establish that in the alliance the two groups will coexist simultaneously and represent a working whole in the eventual alliance. Charland also states that “the very nature of a collective identity, and the nature of its boundary, of who is a member of the collectivity,

[is] problematic (Charland 135).” By this he means that the idea of collective identity can always be problematized by the creation of boundaries within the collective. In the case of the peuple

Quebecois, the collective of “Canadian” was problematized by the seceding Quebecois who claimed that they and others in their region were “not really Canadians” in the parlance of the white paper (Charland 135).

In the alliance in Dune, the boundaries within the collective are very specific- in these discourses we see the Atreides setting the boundary on where their faction begins and ends

(“you’ll not be permitted to mingle with them”) and the fact that the Fremen are a disparate group that (though they may fight together) are “not really” Atreides (Charland 135, Herbert 62).

It’s as if, in Charland’s example, the Canadian people had been the ones to define the peuple

Quebecois instead of the Quebecois themselves.

But that is exactly why I am also studying this through a postcolonial lens, because the alliance here is constituted through the eyes and language of the colonial power from the beginning. At the end of this stage in the novel, the two factions are rhetorically situated as being separate and having a mutual interest in forming an alliance, constituting a new whole. The stage is set for the new subject to be called into being. Themes already emerge that indicate the rhetoric surrounding the constitution of the alliance is problematized by the imperialist goals of the Atreides. The issues begin in the constitutive rhetoric of the alliance because the “narrative” on which constitutive rhetoric is based contains inherent power imbalances that put the Atreides above the Fremen. One of the first observations the Atreides make of the Fremen is that the “class system

[is] not rigidly guarded on Arrakis”, leaving the “people who lived at the desert edge without

[caste system] to command them (Herbert 5-6).” The fact that they are outside of the imperial system makes them vulnerable to the colonial forces who might wish to use them for a certain aim, in this case as an army. Much like in Edward Said’s Orientalism, the Atreides develop an approach to dealing with the Fremen that becomes a “corporate institution for dealing with the

Orient,” seeing the people as a type of commodity by viewing them through how they can help them maintain dominance over the planet, and how many battalions they can offer the Duke’s forces (Said 11). These early negotiations concerning the Fremen enact a kind of “orientalism” towards the indigenous group, as the Atreides are “making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, [and] ruling over it (Said 11).” The Atreides approach the Fremen by acknowledging them for their potential as a conscripted army, saying

“we have there the potential of a corps as strong and deadly as the [enemy force]. It’ll require patience to exploit them secretly and wealth to equip them properly. But the Fremen are there

(Herbert 71).” Thus, when the “subjects within narratives” are called into being, the role for the

Fremen within that narrative is clearly defined. As the boundaries of who belongs where are laid out, the purposes of each group are made clear as well- the Atreides in charge of the alliance, the

Fremen to serve as a military force to enact the will of the Atreides. As the constituting of the alliance is set in motion, this paradigm stays inherent in the colonial power’s rhetoric, thus creating an imbalance power relationship in the eventual collective identity.

As the conflict in the novel continues, the alliance between the Atreides and the Fremen becomes firmly established. This is accomplished in two separate scenes, one in which Paul’s father, the Duke, makes a pact with the Fremen, and another after the Atreides forces are destroyed and the Duke is killed, where Paul goes to the Fremen to enlist them in his army for the impending final battle. In the first of these scenes, an alliance is being made with the symbol of the “crysknife,” a sacred weapon to the Fremen (Herbert 149). “It is said that the Duke Leto

Atreides rules with the consent of the governed,” the Fremen tells him, “thus I must tell you the way it is with us: a certain responsibility falls on those who have seen a crysknife… They are ours. They may never leave Arrakis without our consent (Herbert 149).” The Duke extends the tenuous alliance, responding “I am indeed indebted to you. And I always pay my debts. If it is your custom that this knife remain sheathed here, then it is so ordered- by me. And if there is any other way we may honor the man who died in our service, you have but to name it,” referencing a Fremen soldier who died in a mission for the Duke (Herbert 150). Replying to this, the Fremen emissary, Stilgar, spits on the table, inciting the crowd. Duncan, the Atreides lieutenant who has spent time among the Fremen, recognizes this as an offering for peace, as water is precious on

Arrakis and giving the body’s moisture voluntarily is of the highest signs of respect. “We accept the spirit in which it is given,” the man responds, and spits on the table as well (Herbert 150).

Impressed, the Fremen then requests that Duncan “accept a dual allegiance,” in service to both factions, making him both “Fremen and soldier of the Atreides,” saying symbolically that “your water is ours” and “[Duncan] keeps the crysknife… as a mark of his allegiance to us (Herbert

150).”

This is an important step in the first processes of the alliance. Duncan’s “water” belongs to the Fremen, a metaphor for his allegiance, forming a “bond between us” in Stilgar’s words

(Herbert 150). It is important here to understand that the impetus for the alliance is made clear, that the Atreides make a “promissory commitment” for aid, a “siding in a vendetta” against the enemy Harkonnens (Herbert 339). “We both fight Harkonnens… should we not share the problems and ways of meeting the battle issue (Herbert 140)?” Here another “bond of water” is formed in the discussion of tactics against the enemy, to the response “let our tribes be joined”- a clear distinction made in the dialogue “are we buying help?” and “not buying… we’ve joined these people” in an alliance (Herbert 346).

Here we see the second part of constitutive rhetoric, the calling into being of the new audience formed by the rhetoric of the alliance, in this case steeped in the symbolism of the cultural rituals of the Fremen. The alliance is a “people,” “exist[ing] only through an ideological discourse that constitutes them (Charland 139).” Between the Duke and the Fremen representative a pact is made, an alliance between the two groups, accomplished in the ceremony and in the discussion of what exactly they are fighting against, i.e. the Harkonnens, their mutual enemy. We see the new audience emerge in this dialogue, composed of both groups in the

“join[ing]” of the peoples (Herbert 346). This joining “implicitly asserts the existence of a collective subject (Charland 139).

Responding to earlier theories, Maurice Charland states that Kenneth Burke created the idea that “audiences would embody a discourse,” laying the foundation of constitutive rhetoric

(Charland 133). The discourse between the two groups is creating an alliance embodied by that same discourse, without which it would not exist. These subjects are not being convinced or won over by one another, because in constitutive rhetoric “a subject is not persuaded” into being a new audience, but instead belonging to the new group is “inherent to the subject position”

“because of… a series of narrative ideological effects (Charland 134).” The narrative that encapsulates the subject position the two groups are placed into is the alliance itself. The alliance is like the “people” Charland describes as being “a fiction which comes to be when individuals accept living in a political myth,” or in this case the myth of the alliance, one that is “constitutive of those seduced by it (Charland 138).” The Atreides, in creating the alliance, engage in the

“process of constituting a collective subject,” the first “ideological effect of constitutive rhetoric,” creating a “collective agent” acting together as an individual (Charland 140). Also especially important in framing the alliance as constituted rhetorically is his idea that the “logic of constitutive rhetoric must necessitate action in the material world,” which gives the constituted group their “power,” in this case a call to arms (Charland 141, 143). When the

Atreides and Fremen discuss the military need to mobilize against their enemies, they are laying the groundwork for the “action” necessary to take in the “material world,” one that is urgent for both groups with an impending attack (Charland 141). The Fremen are a “subject within [a] narrative,” one which “position[s]” and “constrain[s]” them such that they are focussed now on the aims of the alliance into which they are constituted (Charland 140).

The ambush on the Duke disrupts the alliance, with most of the major players in the conflict being killed, including the Duke himself and Duncan, his lieutenant. Driven into the desert, Paul establishes contact with the Fremen again, and picks up the alliance once more. He promises to “teach [the Fremen] my way of battle (Herbert 457). There is another bond made, the

“tribe’s word-bond,” an alliance formed now with Paul specifically after the first alliance fell.

Paul and his mother “must move swiftly” to “secure [their] place among” the Fremen, with the aim of using them in their plan to win back control of the planet. He takes a new name that is a blend of the two cultures, “Paul Muad’dib,” maintaining that “[he is] an Atreides” as well as being adopted into the protection of this new group.

It is also at this time that the Fremen start to develop their belief that Paul is their messiah, the “Lisan al-Gaib,” and Paul’s prophetic ability allows him to sense the impending religiously motivated intergalactic war “in their words (Herbert 567).” This falls into the plan of the Bene Jesserit, the secret group Paul’s mother belongs to, who implanted the messiah legend in the Fremen centuries ago. The Fremen begin to realize Paul’s plan to “unite the tribes under him,” to mixed reactions (Herbert 648). Some realize that he will “call out Stilgar” their leader and “assume command of the tribes,” subverting the original alliance. Paul calms them, reminding them that “we work together” after being confronted by Stilgar (Herbert 654). But internally he knows that he “cannot back down,” saying to himself, “I must hold control over these people (Herbert 657).” The religiously motivated fervor leads to increasing support for

Paul, Stilgar eventually calling him out with “[my] companion… him I would never doubt… but you are Paul Muad’dib, the Atreides Duke” solidifying Paul as representing the colonial power

(Herbert 658).

Ultimately Paul does take the reins of control, asking the gathered fighters “What’s our goal?” which he answers with “to unseat [the Harkonnens], and remake our world into a place where we may raise families in happiness amidst an abundance of water (Herbert 693).” His speech continues, “this was my father’s ducal signet… I swore never to wear it again until I was ready to lead my troops over all of Arrakis and claim it as my rightful fief.” The speech ends with: “Who rules here?” which he answers with “I rule here! I rule on every square inch of

Arrakis! This is my ducal fief whether the Emperor says yea or nay (Herbert 694)!” He makes the Fremen leader Stilgar swear fealty to him in the ceremony of his culture, asking him to

“kneel” and “take this knife from the hands of [the] Duke” and to “dedicate this blade to the cause of my Duke and his enemies for as long as our blood shall flow (Herbert 696).” He ends,

“Stilgar leads this tribe… let no man mistake that. He commands with my voice. What he tells you, it is as though I told you (Herbert 696).” As Paul now represents the leader of the Atreides faction after the death of his father, the seeds of the power imbalance planted in the very beginning of the “narrative” of the constitutive rhetoric comes to fruition under him (Charland 139). He represents the duality of the alliance itself when he takes the name “Paul Muad’dib,” like the alliance the name is half comprised of

Atreides and half of Fremen. This shows how as leader of the alliance part of him belongs to each faction, described by Charland in saying that “various contradictory subject positions can simultaneously exist within a culture, we can live within many texts (Charland 142).” He takes power over the “collective agent” of the Fremen, uniting the tribes not just in the aim of defeating the enemy, but also to place them under himself.

Paul effectively inserts the Fremen as “narratized subjects-as-agents into the world,” against what he outlines as the “threat to [their] very existence as a narrative,” narrative in this case again indicating the narrative that the alliance is both necessary and given the impetus to act

(Charland 143, 146). He is giving them, like in the case of the peuple Quebecois, “sovereignty as the ultimate point that must be reached in order to attain narrative closure and liberat[ion],” but that sovereignty comes at the cost of being subordinate to the Atreides (Charland 144). The

“control” of these subjects-as-agents falls to Paul (Herbert 657).

Power Imbalance within Alliance

It is here that the power imbalance of the narrative becomes most evident. The ending of

Paul’s speech is the final confirmation that he holds power over the group that his faction’s rhetoric has constituted, and that the narrative of the collective is to promote him as their leader.

The Fremen, in the alliance, have a “new identity [that] transcends the limitations of [their] individual body and will,” inscribing them to the will of the Atreides (Charland 139). Their

“freedom” within the narrative is “an illusion,” which Charland calls the “third ideological effect of constitutive rhetoric (Charland 141). The alliance works towards the aim of putting him back in the seat of colonial power over the planet, in the process subjugating the indigenous group.

This imbalanced colonial narrative on which the alliance is constructed is important to understand. It is not simply an indoctrination that the Fremen are forced into believing, but a narrative that is told to both the Fremen and the Atreides factions. In the weaving of this narrative into both the colonizing and colonized groups, it not only places the power in the hands of Paul Atreides, but gives him a justified foundation for that power. As opposed to a forced indoctrination which the colonizing group fabricates, this is a narrative that both groups view through the same frame and wholeheartedly believe. The Fremen and those in Paul’s faction view the alliance from his point of view.

To understand Paul Atreides’ role as leader of this alliance, defining and recognizing the white savior trope is necessary. The white savior is a “border crossing, white messianic figure,” states Matthew Hughey in his analysis of the trope within film (Hughey 18). One characteristic is

“the white interloper’s intrusion on a nonwhite culture that is, or soon will be, under assault,” a category in which the Fremen can certainly be put (Hughey 28). He goes on to say that “the white savior could be a part of an invading or colonizing military force”- the Atreides- “or a capitalist seeking riches and resources”- the spice melange, Arrakis’ precious resource (Hughey

28). White savior texts also include a “dimension of explicit religious and spiritual metaphors,” in Dune’s case, drawn from the Islamic belief system (Hughey 41). As a white savior in this novel, Paul not only “intrudes'' on the nonwhite culture but also reconstitutes its relationship with his own colonial power, so that they take part in the narrative of the constitutive rhetoric which inscribes them into the ideology that Paul is their superior, and that they are to carry out his will not just in the aim of defeating a mutual enemy but because he has power over them. The result of this is a changed Fremen who are a kind of “production” of their relationship with the

Atreides, their motives altered and their culture changed in the same way that “European culture was able to … produce the Orient (Said 11).” The identity of the Fremen is given a new

“intelligibility and identity” with a power structure and collective identity defined in terms of their subordination to Paul Atreides (Said 11).

How Dune Resists this Analysis

Dune resists this analysis in the context of Paul becoming a religious messiah for the

Fremen, their Lisan al-Gaib, a Christ-like figure of prophecy. As the motivations of the characters are open to interpretation, a counterargument to my analysis could be that because some of the Fremen, and eventually all of them, follow Paul freely, that there is no inherent subjugation in his inscribing them into a narrative where they are constituted as being beneath him as a leader. But it is acknowledged in the novel that the religious prophecy was in fact planted centuries ago by a secret order which Paul’s mother, Jessica, belongs to. The legend of the messiah that the Fremen believe Paul represents is in fact a “protective legend” that members of her order placed on the planet, and she remarks that “it’ll help, and that’s what it was meant to do (Herbert 88, 459).” So is Paul a religious figure which the Fremen follow freely, or is he manipulating the group into believing he is the legitimate messiah?

It may not matter. However justified his religious power might be, the nature of the alliance and the power imbalance on which it is founded are very real effects that are implemented before Paul realizes his position within the Fremen. Even with this fact aside, Paul uses his power as a religious figure to manipulate the Fremen with “propaganda… flooded into sietch and village,” even against the advice of his mother who believes that “religion and politics” should not “travel in the same cart (Herbert 619).” She accuses Paul of this manipulation, saying that he will “never cease indoctrinating,” to which Paul replies “religion unifies our forces. It’s our mystique (Herbert 620).” Despite the legitimacy or illegitimacy of his role as spiritual guide for the indigenous group, once he realizes the opportunity to gain power he capitalizes on the manipulation of the Fremen. He uses the population’s spiritual beliefs to serve his own aims, acknowledging that his status is a useful tool in achieving this.

Conclusion

Dune contains multitudes. It is a cherished tale of adventure, as well as a complex galacto-political thriller. As a work of ecological fiction it is unparalleled, and in its subversion of the traditional science fiction hero’s journey it provides a striking critique of absolute power.

Paul Atreides’ rise to power depends on his ability to navigate a foreign world and make use of the populations who might be sympathetic to his cause, an easily recognizable trope. My critique of Herbert’s novel focuses on a point of Paul’s story that is an archetype in other fiction and off the page as well: the subordination of an indigenous group justified by the ‘right’ another group has to rule over them. The Atreides faction encodes this into the core of the alliance that they use constitutive rhetoric to call into being in the novel. This pervading narrative that the Fremen carry out the will of the Atreides is the basis for the alliance itself.

This project not only outlines the framework of how the rhetoric of alliance is constitutive rhetoric, but also uses Dune as an example of where this rhetoric is used to conquer.

Though in Dune it is the colonizer/colonized paradigm where we see this play out, a group can be constituted as subordinate to another in any situation of power imbalance. My work shows that not only is Frank Herbert’s novel a wealth of productive analysis for many disciplines but that constitutive rhetoric is inherently rhetoric of power, and that the calling into being of a collective is not always for the benefit of those involved. Works Cited

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