Despite being a science fiction retelling of Cinderella, Cinder does a great job incorporating issues that parallel real-world social conflicts. Science fiction has historically proven to be a genre in which authors can indirectly explore and offer commentary on the cultural or societal problems that we face in real life. Upon closer examination, a reader can certainly draw comparisons between the events that happen in Cinder and events that are occurring (or have recently occurred) in the real world.

Let's start with a fairly straightforward comparison. While the upcoming wedding between Levana and Kai isn't romantically driven, it still results in a media circus. The fame that already existed around both Levana and Kai is heightened to astronomical proportions once a royal wedding becomes a possibility. This is easily compared to our own celebrity culture, in which famous couples have their images splashed across all kinds of social media and tabloids. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were planning their royal wedding, for example, it seemed as if it was the only thing that news media could pay attention to.

While racism isn't explicitly mentioned in the world of Cinder, some of the book's key themes revolve around prejudice and discrimination. In the world of Cinder, cyborgs (like the protagonist, Cinder) are treated as second-class citizens. Because they are seen as "other," cyborgs have fewer legal rights than humans and are generally mistreated and feared by the rest of the population. A parallel can certainly be drawn between this discrimination and the racism that exists in our own society. For example, consider the violence that Black individuals experience disproportionately in encounters with police, as evidenced by George Floyd's recent death.

A third event in Cinder that mirrors real life is the Letumosis pandemic. In the novel, Letumosis is a deadly virus that has spread across the globe, leading to the death of millions. To protect themselves from this disease, citizens physically distance themselves from people infected with the virus, and the government has implemented strict quarantine procedures for those who are infected. Of course, the fictional Letumosis plague and the efforts to combat it have an obvious parallel in the recent, real-life COVID-19 pandemic.