The Juxtaposing Setting Prevalent in Dune Amber Wright 12th Grade

In Frank Herbert’s novel Dune, the juxtaposition between the nature of his character’s surroundings and the nature of their internal thoughts heightens the angst his readers feel towards the characters. This is especially true in the chapter that begins on page 381. Herbert’s use of an omniscient narrator to portray Jessica’s exact thoughts towards her children imposes her sense of anxiety on his readers; which is then heightened by the fact that his readers do not have a complex setting to distract themselves. Through his use of an omniscient narrator and lack of elaborate setting in this chapter, Herbert forces his readers to dwell in Jessica’s angst ridden thoughts.

The first moment in which Herbert highlights the juxtaposition between Jessica’s sense of nervousness and her pleasant surroundings is in the very commencement of the chapter. The omniscient narrator provides readers with the depiction of Jessica’s resting chamber by stating; “It was a pleasant chamber… this place had rugs on the floor, soft cushions, a low coffee table near at hand, multicolored hangings on the walls, and soft yellow glowglobes overhead (381).” This provides us with the allusion that Jessica could be perfectly content. But then readers are...