[Okay, so somehow this didn't drop last week when it was supposed to. Blerg! Sorry!
I'll have more tomorrow.]
A lot of things happen TO Paul Atreides. He has visions. He's forced to undergo a test--which itself is about doing nothing. He moves to Arrakis. He's attacked. He's attacked again, along with his entire people. He's taken to be dumped into the desert with his mother. He and his mother are confronted by the Fremen. He's forced to fight for his mother's life.
Reactive protagonists are a problem. We learn who a protagonist is by the choices they make and the desires they chase. If you're always just reacting, they start to seem passive and purposeless.
Except that doesn't happen in DUNE. I see three reasons why it doesn't.
First: Paul actually has goals. He wants to save Johnny Knoxville Duncan Idaho. And more than that he wants to get out into that desert so he can meet his lady friend and his destiny. He may not succeed at getting what he wants until the third act, but he's not just hanging out.
And once we get to the third act, he absolutely locks in. He's the one that charts their course in the desert to the Fremen and then insists they stay.
Second: His reactions actually reveal elements of character. Reactivity is not always bad; the way a character reacts is itself a choice. So we learn of the strength of his will when he's tested. We learn of his physical skill when he spots and stops the needle bugs. We learn of his care for Morley Safer Duncan Idaho by virtue of his reaction to the dream he had about him dying.
Third: The story plants seeds for us about Paul, aka Chani. Over the course of the story Paul repeatedly sees Chani in visions. And even as it motivates him, it also very clearly tells us, this is where we're headed. That is to say, it creates a direction and momentum for the story that we internalize. We're going to get pulled along his tale, just by virtue of it that seed having been planted. Story Seeds Create a Sense of Direction.
Each of these things is key in its own way, but the thing that most stands out to me is that Paul really does have goals, such that once we get to Act Three he is now in charge of his own life. It's really satisfying to have a character that has been trying to become something and get somewhere finally achieve that.
