>
>Did they really all "agree"? As you point out, Jessica didn't. How much
>choice did they have, given the B.G. control? Women getting co-opted into
>the power structures that oppress them is hardly unusual.
Look at it this way: You're being interrogated for information. You have
sombody holding a gun to your head. They'll shoot you unless you give them
the information they want. There's no doubt that they will. You still
have a choice whether to give them the information or not. It's not a
question of how much of a choice it is, the point is that you always have
some kind of choice, even if it's not a very good one. According to
Christianity, for example, either you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior,
get your sins forgiven and go to Heaven or you don't and go to Hell, no
matter how nice a person you were. It can appear as not much of a choice,
but it's still _a_ choice.
> Simply-put, the B.G. were seeking power and, according to
>> the prophecy, that power would come in the form of a man who could "go
>> where we cannot". What the B.G. wanted to do was control that man, and
>> they came very close to doing so. You can say it's sexist that the B.G.
>> couldn't control that man, but neither could the Tleilaxu or the Harkonnens
>> or the Emperor or the Fremen or the Mentats. Heck, even the Guild couldn't
>> control him. The only ones that had some measure of control over Paul, and
>> that only in that he would listen to them, were Chani and, perhaps, Jessica.
>>
>>I wouldn't argue that the BG's failure is sexist on Herbert's part. I'm
>not convinced Paul did listen to Jessica and Chani. I'm sure that
>he refused Jessica's
>counsel from very early on (his perogative as an individual) perceiving
>her as a danger to him (which could well have been true). Even if he did
>listen to them (I can't remember any specific
>incidences),
It must be remembered that listening and heeding are two different words.
I think Chani and Jessica, even if not heeded, did provide anchors for Paul
and had influence, perhaps a measure of control, that way.
>they would still be merely powers behind the throne.
Many of the B.G. were that way, operating behind the scenes while letting
the men think they (the men) were really in power.
-Sean
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:48 PDT