Essay Questions

The novel makes many references to the exotic wildlife on the island, and it forms an important part of the imagery created by the author. There is also talk of there being a dangerous dragon at one end of the island. What is this, and how is its identity discovered?

Most of the wildlife that Bond hears about is beautiful, and real, and even it if is dangerous - for example, the centipede that is left in his bed and is highly poisonous - it is nonetheless a fundamental part of the key's ecosystem. The same cannot be said for the dragon. The dragon is a weapon designed by the evil Doctor No. It is an armored swamp buggy that has "arms" at the sides and is programmed to throw flames at passers by. It was created by No as a deterrent to anyone taking too close of a look at his property, or even at anyone idly wandering around the island, and is protecting his privacy by setting fire to all comers. It has gained the reputation of being a dragon because people are burned to death by flames that fly towards them from a giant figure, and locals believe this to be a dragon because they have no concept of any kind of machinery who could replicate this.

Aside from the fact he is truly evil, what prompts Dr No's interest in the capacity of the human body to withstand extreme pain?

Dr No is truly evil and is also a sadist, and so he enjoys inflicting gratuitous pain on others. However, he has also experienced his own ability to overcome pain and injury that medical professionals would have considered insurmountable. His assassination was ordered by a Chinese Tong whose members he had double crossed and the assassin had carried out his instructions by shooting Doctor No through the heart; at least, that is what they believed, but Doctor No has a rare condition called dextrocardia, which means that his heart is on the opposite side of the body from the norm. The bullet did not touch his heart but went through him completely. He withstood the pain of this injury and became fascinated by the pain that the human body could withstand, wanting to test its limits, and to see if in fact it had any limits at all, or whether the limits depended on the courage and the will of the person in pain to survive it. The assault course he has designed for Bond is filled with sadistic and potentially deadly threats, but Bond overcomes them all, proving No's point that it all depends on the individual as to how much pain they can withstand and survive.

There is far less weaponry, particularly gun, violence in this book than is typical in most of Fleming's Bond novels, yet there are just as many attempts on Bond's life. How does the setting of the book impact this, and what are some of the "weapons" Doctor No uses against Bond?

The only real machinery weapon in this book is the armored "dragon" buggy, which throws flames and therefor sets people, and property, on fire. The majority of the other weapons used by Doctor No are at his immediate disposal because he uses elements from the natural world around him in order to attempt to neutralize Bond.

On Bond's arrival he finds a basket filled with beautiful fruit, grown on the island, in his hotel room, which looks delicious and inviting, but is actually poisoned. There is also another attempt to poison him in his hotel room when a centipede that is native to Jamaica, and is very poisonous, is placed in his bed.

During his ordeal in the obstacle course set up by Doctor No, Bond has a battle against a giant squid, one of the most deadly creatures in the ocean, and rather than using firearms against it, Bond fabricates weapons from objects he has found along the way. Similarly, large poisonous spiders are also set against him; these are also native to the key, and are deadly. Bond is not the only person who is being attacked by the indigenous species; Honeychile was intended to be the victim of the pincers of an "army" of crabs, but they were not the weapons that No had hoped, and she is able to escape from them. Throughout, Fleming uses the ecology of the island against Bond, the evil Doctor No having already worked out how to use his surroundings and his local's knowledge of them to arm himself without having to resort to traditional arms at all.