Like I said everyone gets something different out of a story. Herbert is the only one who knows which themes he was shooting for but even then he may have put themes in there he was unaware of. All I know is that when I read it I was struck by the fact that his characters were so powerful and yet so helpless. The environment seemed to me to be simply to make the world seem more real and to explain why there would be a mouse for him to name Paul after.

The wiki article also put forth claims that there was a sexist element to the story but I don't see that either.

For the record I tend to be under impressed with supposed experts on such issues. It is the analysis they do not the titles they put on their names that impresses me. When the issue touches on the political they bar gets even higher. I think some of these professors look a little to hard to find evidence to support their arguments.

I an not trying to be argumentative here I just really don’t see the theme but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.