In my book, Hurricane Gold by Charlie Higson, their are many social issues. If you are not looking closely, you would think that these problems are not important to the plot, but they should still be acknowledged, because Higson meant for them to be. I think they relate to the time period of this story.
13 year old James Bond is somewhere in Mexico, and so far I have noticed a lot of racist comments towards Mexicans. In one part, James is pretending to act Mexican, and his recently tanned skin helped disguise him. One American gangster says with relish : "All Mexicans care about are greenbacks. So long as we pay him, he's one happy greaser." Garcia, a friend of James Bond who is Mexican, seemed to shrink ten sizes when the gangster said that. In this book, there are a lot of power issues. It seems like a lot of the rich, white people seem to think that are better than the Mexicans, and I think that there was still discrimination during this time. The Mexicans, including Garcia, never really did anything except move away and sulk. What else could they do? At this time, nobody really thought to defend themselves, because it was just a natural part of life. The racist people knew this too, and it made them feel even more superior to their servants. The only possible solution was in the hands of James Bond. James didn't not believe in racism, so he was the one person that could teach the servants that they were not lesser beings.
Another issue is money. Money is a HUGE thing when it comes to the antagonists. In any James Bond book, people will kill for money. Why? Because money is power. And that's what all the antagonists want: power. Usually, the enemy uses money to buy missiles or bombs, or anything that will kill. This brings us back to our status problem. People with more money tend to think they are better than others. They use that money to make other people think that they are powerful, and no one will touch them. When money is involved with James Bond, people get greedy and that is how others end up dead. It causes wars and challenges and even apocalypses. Money is where conflict starts. The only possible solutions are to take all the money from all the bad people, and then this will stop happening. But that is physically impossible for James Bond, and that is why there is a plot. Because what already happened will happen again. In one part, two rival gangsters are fighting for a huge amount of money (200,000,000 dollars), and they duel for it. When one kills the other, he says, "It was over before it began, for money only goes to the strong. You were never brave enough to take a life."
Another issue is money. Money is a HUGE thing when it comes to the antagonists. In any James Bond book, people will kill for money. Why? Because money is power. And that's what all the antagonists want: power. Usually, the enemy uses money to buy missiles or bombs, or anything that will kill. This brings us back to our status problem. People with more money tend to think they are better than others. They use that money to make other people think that they are powerful, and no one will touch them. When money is involved with James Bond, people get greedy and that is how others end up dead. It causes wars and challenges and even apocalypses. Money is where conflict starts. The only possible solutions are to take all the money from all the bad people, and then this will stop happening. But that is physically impossible for James Bond, and that is why there is a plot. Because what already happened will happen again. In one part, two rival gangsters are fighting for a huge amount of money (200,000,000 dollars), and they duel for it. When one kills the other, he says, "It was over before it began, for money only goes to the strong. You were never brave enough to take a life."
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