Is Movement Possible Between the Castes?

In Brave New World everyone is happy to be in their respective class and they do not feel any desire to be higher. They seem to have a distaste for the lower classes as is evidenced when Lenina continually makes comments about the fact that she is so glad to not be a Gamma or other lower caste. This is also very telling of the conditioning that very few people of the society think of wanting to be higher than their given class and that they look down upon the lower classes. Yet in Indian society the lower classes could physically move up to a higher class or become more accepted by changing their habits to be more like the higher castes. While it is certainly possible for an Untouchable or Dalit as they are also known, to move up and receive a higher position it is not easy at all for them. The most famous case of a Dalit gaining power was the Republic of India’s tenth President, Kocheril Raman Narayanan, who can be seen in the above picture. He was also the first Dalit to be ranked first in the University of Travancore class. Yet for an Untouchable to move from their class is a very hard and arduous journey. “There is a great deal of powerful anecdotal evidence to the effect that any rising prosperity of Untouchables is usually greeted with hostility from caste Hindus. Of course, social envy is scarcely an unusual emotion. What is significant about such feeling relative to Untouchables is that they remain a peculiarly vulnerable people and as such are more easily damaged and deterred from activities that promote their own welfare” (Mendelsohn 71). There is a lot of evidence to show that even when they attain a certain level of power and seem to finally be breaking free from their Untouchable status that an invisible hand drags them back. A present day example of this would be the treatment of Slumdog Millionaire character Rubina Ali who was paid a very low sum of money compared to what would be expected for her to be paid. If this was not bad enough it is reported that her father tried to sell her to an undercover newspaper reporter. This shows that even while she was a very important actor in a world acclaimed movie that she will never able to truly escape her roots as an Untouchable. This is truly saddening because everyone deserves the right to better themselves and the Untouchables are not even given this basic right.

Examining the Castes by Color

First let me explain the classes before we examine the colors associated with each caste. The top three classes are considered twice-born and because of this are accorded a much higher place in society then the other two classes. The highest class in Indian society is the class of Brahmins, which are the teachers and priests. The next class is the Ksatriyas who are the warriors and rulers. The third class that is twice-born is the Vaisyas who are merchants, artisans, farmers and more. After the twice-born classes there are the Sudras who are laborers. They are still above the lowest caste of Untouchables who are the polluted laborers.
The colors associated with each class explain what they are expected to do very well. The Brahmin, who are the teachers and priests of this society are classified with the color white. White symbolizes purity and the power to develop knowledge in those looking to learn. Priests and teachers fulfill these two roles very well and the color designated to them fits this profile. The Ksatriyas, who are the warriors and rulers have the color red as their color. This fits very well because red is a powerful color and one associated with battle, the two requirements to be in this class. The Vaisyas, who are farmers, artisans and merchants are connected with the color brown. Brown fits these occupations very well since farmers work with the dirt, artisans must understand color, and merchants are trying to sell their wares. The Sudras who are not twice-born, are the designated laborers of the Indian caste system. They have been given the color of black to represent them which shows their place in the caste because black is not a color that people usually desire. The Untouchables who do the polluted labor are so far below the caste that they are not even given a color. Not having a color is far worse then having a bad color because at least a bad color shows they took the time to find a color for the class. The fact that they could not give the Untouchables shows their rank and how much thought is spent by the higher castes on them.
From the hyperlink embedded in the word classes Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. explains the colors in a different way. “Associated with each varn.a there is a traditional color. These sound suspiciously like skin colors; and indeed, there is an expectation in India that higher caste people will have lighter skin—although there are plenty of exceptions( especially in the South of India)” (www.friesian.com/caste.htm). There is a connection between the skin colors expected from the Indian castes and the fact that the different classes of Brave New World are expected to wear certain colors. For example in Chapter Two the students being brought around by the Director of Hatcheries, were shown a group of babies dressed in khaki. Even at this very young age the Delta’s were being programmed to identify with the color of khaki and see it as their specific color.

Caste System Pyramid

After much searching I was finally able to find a caste system pyramid that shows all five parts of the caste system. Most pyramids that show the Indian caste system do not include the Untouchables. The omission of the Untouchables in most of the caste system pyramids is very similar to how the Untouchables are not considered to be a full part of Indian society. Another detail that is able to be seen from the pyramid is how the Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaishya castes are twice-born groups. The caste of Sudra and Untouchables are not twice-born groups as evidenced by the caste pyramid. The designation of the Sudra and Untouchables not being twice-born groups is just another way that the three higher classes subjugate the lower classes. There is a very strong connection between this and the way the Alpha’s and Beta’s create the Delta’s, Gamma’s and Epsilons to be weaker, of smaller stature and less intelligent. While in India culture they do not purposely make the lower castes weaker, they are forced to know that they are less than the higher castes all their lives. This way they never try and break free from the caste system that has controlled them for so long.

Untouchables and the Epsilons

The Untouchables and the Epsilons have one major similarity, and that is the fact that both of them occupy the lowest level of their particular caste system. The title "Untouchable" refers to around 150 million Indians at the very bottom of Indian society (Mendelsohn 1). Epsilons are the lowest of the five castes in Brave New World, and not only are they modified before their birth to be Epsilons they are also preprogrammed to love jobs and lives that Epsilons are expected to do. “Dalit” is an Indian word used to describe the Untouchables, this word is from the Marathi language of western India, and is derived from Sanskrit. In an 1831 dictionary the word was defined as “ground” or “broken or reduced to pieces generally” (Mendelsohn 3-4). This word was originally used to oppress the lower castes and the denotation came to be the same as its connotation. Epsilons like the Untouchables are at the very bottom or ground level of their respective caste system. Untouchables were seen as dirty to the higher castes, much like how the Alphas, Betas and the other castes looked down upon the Epsilons. The one major difference was that Untouchables desired to not be Untouchables, yet due to methods used during the decanting process, Epsilons would never hope to be better than Epsilons. This is truly saddening because it takes away from their goals of attainment and makes them happy with a life that was engineered for them.

Annotated Bibliography

After reading the novel, I decided to write my paper comparing the caste system shown in Brave New World with the caste system of India. There were a lot more similarities between the two than I had originally known, and my research taught me about their culture in ways I never would have expected.

Dirks, Nicholas B. Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern
India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.

Excellent source with helpful introduction of caste as a whole, useful index. 357 pages.
Dirk's text highlights the various levels of caste and explains why the caste system lasted so long in India and why it had so much sway on the Indian people. Cites how the kings who were knights were at the top of the caste groups. Also mentions how originally the Brahman were the next caste after the kings. Explains how Brahmans received more respect because of the caste they were in. In chapter nine the book even discusses the studies done to show the physical differences between the castes. In Brave New World, they intentionally give the lower castes worse treatment so that they stay in their place.


Mendelsohn, Oliver. The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the
State in Modern India. Cambridge: University Press, 1998.

Very good source with information concerning all aspects of the untouchables, glossary and bibliography helpful. 289 pages.
Mendelsohn's text discusses the lowest caste of India's society, the untouchables. This caste was the Indian equivalent to the Epsilons. The text also covers the affect the British and the other castes had on the role of being an untouchable. This correlates with how the Alphas and Betas are responsible for the weaknesses expressed by the Epsilons. Chapter four discusses the public policy and the prevention of discrimination. This is different then the Epsilons case since they have been conditioned to desire they lives they lead.

Mukerji, Dhan Gopal. Caste and Outcast. Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 2002.

Excellent source with personal information on being a member of a caste, introduction helps to explain the way Mukerji lived. 275 pages.
Mukerji's text discusses his life and what he went through coming to the United States. This text shows the more personal view into the life of a Indian who had became used to a caste system, and entering into our culture was unsure of himself. He was very influential in transmitting the beliefs and thoughts of Indians to the United States. When he speaks of the initiation into the American culture, this is much like how John the Savage was not sure of how to act when taken off the reservation. The personal aspects of the story allowed me to make stronger connections between the Indian castes and the specific members of each caste in Brave New World.

Nussbaum, Martha C. The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence,
And India’s Future. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007.

Very good source that explains the lack of democracy in India and how it became like this, index helps to tie together many of the details. 403 pages.
Nussbaum's text explains the lack of democracy seen in India between the castes. This is very similar to the differences in attainment, the wealth and even the soma distributed to the various classes in Brave New World. The text also discusses the lack of democracy in India, where as in Brave New World there is no democracy. People have been conditioned to love their society, yet Mustapha Mond is still a dictator. The people of India have no voice in this society, just like only Mustapha Mond and the other world controllers is able to choose what books are read by the public. This is very similar to how the British controlled all of the Indian society and worked to subjugate all Indians under the caste system.

Shah, Ghanshyam. Caste and Democratic Politics in India. London: Anthem
Press, 2003.

Very good source with strong bibliography, and helpful notes at the end. 363 pages.
Ghanshyam's text helps to outline the influences of democracy, or the lack thereof, and caste in how the Indian people interact with one another. This brought to mind the Cyprus experiment from Brave New World, this is where they populated one island completely with Alphas. The way the caste system is explained in this text seems to show that the British and the higher caste Indians believed the best way to control and make the Indians more productive was to force certain castes to have certain expectations in life. This is much like how the decanting process works on all of the castes of Brave New World.