Genre
Adventure Fiction, Spy Fiction
Setting and Context
A small key off of the coast of Jamaica, during the "cold war"
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is the author and he tells the story from James Bond's point of view.
Tone and Mood
Dangerous and tense
Protagonist and Antagonist
Bond is the protagonist, while Doctor No is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
The most striking conflict is between Bond and a deadly giant squid which is held captive by No to be used as a weapon. Bond is able to make weapons out of some objects he finds around him and ultimately kills the squid.
Climax
Bond and Honeychile escape using the dune buggy dragon previously owned by Doctor No.
Foreshadowing
The fact that there is a basket of poisoned fruit in his hotel room and a poisonous caterpillar in his hotel bed on his arrival foreshadows the threat that Bond is under and also underlines that the only goal of Doctor No is to kill him as quickly as possible.
Understatement
Dr No is described as evil but this is an understatement because he is also a genius with no conscience and no problem with allying himself with anyone at all as long as it is to his benefit.
Allusions
Bond alludes to the Audobon Society which has protected the spoonbills on the island, and whose representatives were mysteriously killed in a plane crash on Dr No's airstrip.
Imagery
The imagery in the novel is based around the natural wildlife of the island, and paints a picture for the reader of a place where there are beautiful native birds, blue waters and sandy beaches. The imagery also highlights the fact that in this beauty there is also danger depending on the way in which one views the wildlife. The imagery is sometimes more reminiscent of a travel guide book than a spy novel.
Paradox
The Chinese Tong would have killed Dr No if not for the fact that his heart is on the wrong side of his body, which offers a strange paradox in that the thing that has been life-threatening his whole life was actually the thing that saved him from his assassin.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between Fleming's friends in real life and the peripheral characters he adds to the novel, for example, Bond's Scottish 'Treasure is his own housekeeper Mrs Maxwell.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
It is implied that the dragon buggy is attacking Bond but it cannot do so since this would require it to think for itself which, in 1958, was not something that mechanized objects were able to do.
