False Peace

Often in a fantasy or a science fiction book, real world social issues are masked behind the curtains of a new world or mythical creatures. Readers of these books often miss the subtle message the author is sending sneakily. Audiences of fantasy and sci-fi books are mainly readers who are just there for the exciting story, not those who turn to books for wisdom. But wisdom is not in lack in fantasy books, its there to the ones who search for it. The science fiction book, City of Bones, the first book of the popular series, The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare, holds a few hidden social justice issues. The book revolves around a sixteen-year-old Clary Fray who discovers the supernatural world of the Shadowhunters; a race of half human and half angels whose sole purpose is to rid the world of demons. After her mother mysteriously vanishes, Clary begins to discover the truths about herself, her past, her mother, and the Shadow world. One impacting issue Cassandra Clare hints in this book is, “false peace” among people of different races. I believe the false peace between the characters described in this fantasy packed book can reflect the false peace among the people of the real world.

In City of Bones, Cassandra Clare portrays false peace between people through the struggle of superiority within the Downworlders (supernatural creatures) and the Shadowhunters. More specifically the struggle arises within different races of creatures. For example; in this book, like the stereotype; the vampires and the werewolves harbor hatred for each other. This hints at the raw scope of racism that still exists in the world. The antagonist Valentine strongly believes anyone with demon blood in their veins is evil and therefore should not have the right to own a life. The beliefs of the antagonist portray the discrimination of superiority on race feels over another in this world. It shows how one race might think the other cannot have the same rights as they do.  The Clave (Shadowhunter government) formed accords (laws) which had to be signed by Downworlders and Shadowhunters that called a truce among the creatures. This is similar to how our government has passed bills and amendments which called for equality. But in truth, these documents did not render us true peace but peace that only showed in the surface.

When Cassandra Clare used the term “false peace” she probably intended to thread her readers into thinking about if our world is truly in peace. The world is not in peace, in fact, it’s under a peace that exists on the surface, which is worse. People harbor opinions and emotions within them because it’s wrong or even illegal to express them. This only fuels their opinions or hatred. So below the surface everyone has a grudge against someone else. But what makes this dangerous is that not many are aware of this. To rise awareness of the falsity of what we know as peace Cassandra Clare most likely hid a message in her very unrealistic story for the world to know.   

Obsidian Mirror- Catherine Fisher: Social Issue

The world is dying because of our greed.

One of the social issues in the book Obsidian Mirror, by Catherine Fisher, is environmental pollution. Janus, the antagonist, is overusing the power of a mysterious time traveling mirror called the Chronoptika. The consequence of its power is the youth of the world. The book involves, Sarah, a supporting character, who goes back into the past to destroy the mirror, but meets a man, Oberon Venn, who is obsessive over the mirror’s power, and Jake, the protagonist, who needs the mirror to bring back his lost father. Sarah needs to destroy the mirror before it explodes and sucks in all matter of space.

Janus is abusing the environment by greedily using the Chronoptika to change the past to his favor to make himself powerful and rich similar to how people take advantage of the Earth’s resources. With each journey into the past, the Chronoptika became more brittle, sucking in matter and light into itself at a terrible rate. It came close to exploding and creating a black hole which could possibly suck in the entire universe. This event reflects off of the real environmental issues of the world. I think Janus’ greediness represents all people of the world. We as humans become greedy to achieve what they want, and they become unaware of how much it’s hurting the planet they live in. We clear out forests with healthy trees to build skyscrapers or luxurious oasis that is not in our ‘survival needs’ list. We pollute out water, air and land with the products we make that we don’t necessarily need. It has come to the point where global warming is occurring with the polar ice caps melting, and holes in our atmosphere have appeared which lets in harmful UV rays. We decide to achieve things for our luxury without thinking about the negative affects it may have on the world we live in.

We as humans take but not give, and this abuse of environmental resources is a social issue that we must take a social action against. Many social actions are already in full action, such as the process of recycling and conserving our waste. Many electric cars are being introduced in hopes of decreasing air pollution caused by the fuels released into the by the vehicle. Many harmful factors that we make have been banned, but the world is still far from its recovery. If all of us contribute in any way possible, from a small action as stopping ourselves from littering, to an action as big as saving a whole ocean from oil leaks, we can prevent the world from faltering.