Social Issues in Fiction

     In the Chronicles of Narnia series there are several social issues that are translated into a fantasy version, but that when they are analysed come down to the same thing. One of these is in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where the evil queen turns anyone who dares defy her to stone. This represents what happens in some dictator-run governments where anyone who thinks differently from the leader is put in jail or otherwise punished. It is also like WWII, when anyone who was a different religion or who was against Hitler were severely punished, and often killed. These kinds of problems, although happening less, are still occurring in today's world, although many people are trying to stop the tyrants.

     In another book, once again fantasy, The Divide, there are several neighborhoods which are pretty much split up in poor vs. rich, dangerous vs. safer areas. Unfortunately, this is a problem in the real world, which I suppose could be called class systems. Having neighborhoods, or even countries, that are classified like this can make people less or more likely to live there. If someone knows there is a very poor country that doesn't have basic survival materials, they probably won't live there, but someone who can't live anywhere else will, where they will most likely stay in those conditions. This is one problem shown in The Divide.

   One last book which has social justice problems is The People of Sparks. In this book, people who have lived underground for centuries and are running out of supplies make it to the surface, and ask for shelter in a small village. Suspicions start to become apparent against them, resulting in an almost war. This isn't exactly racism, because technically both peoples are human, but the fact that they come from underground makes them different, which somehow, in the minds of the villagers, makes them more suspicious and likely to create trouble. This is also kind of like what happened when people fought because they came from different countries, or like when immigrants who came to the US were treated less well.