In Brave New World, the children are brainwashed from the moment they are conceived to fit into a category of Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, and Epsilon. Everything they do is controlled. They don't even have the freedom to choose what their future career would be or how much oxygen they can intake. When they are born, their life is already chosen for them right from the start.
Coincidentally, this practice is very much similar to the culture of some parts of modern-day India. The caste system, as it is called, is a predestined social structure that divides India's population into different groups: brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras. At the top of the social hierarchy were brahmins, who were priests or scholars, and at the bottom were the shudras or serfs. Later on, a fifth category known as the untouchables were added to be below the shudras in social status. Born into these groups, Indians were not able to climb the social ladder. Whatever they were born with is what they will be when they die.
Brave New World and the Indian caste system share this aspect in common. This practice seems be unjust and tyrannical. It causes social instability for the people from the lower level of status would not be pleased with what they have. Although they are taught to love what they are, it still is envious to see how others from a higher position in the social ladder live their life while you suffer for no reason and without the chance of an escape from it. This is why this system will never work and why modern-day India is on its way to abolish this practice. Are they headed towards the right path? Or will this lead to an even more social tension in India?
Even if India completely eradicates the caste system on paper, it will forever exist. It is just one of those ideas that are fixed into the brains of the people following this system. The untouchables category has already been eradicated but these higher status people will refuse to accept them into society. It will always be like that because the people who run the country of India are of the high position, usually. There will always be some sort of discrimination against those of the lower class, and though they will not be called the "lower class" they will still be known as being a part of it. These people will just not change. Why? The main reason is because there is an abundance of diversity in India which leads to a variety of believes. India is still a third-world country and yes at some point it will grow out of it, but there is just such a huge population there that it will make it incredible difficult to let go of such jobs that the lower caste have to do.
ReplyDeleteFor the rest of the world, the Indian caste system is a horrific display of discrimination but for Indians who know the history of India and know how India will progress, it is an understood statement that this discrimination will always exist.
When I last visited India in December of 2010, I was at the age where I actually understood everything. Everyday when I would go out and walk around, the social divisions were evident. Since I was at an age to understand it all, I was horrified at what kind of jobs the lower caste were equipped with. Being an Indian, it really does hurt to see these divisions among my own people; especially when you grow up in society where people are supposedly "equal".
Speaking from what I hear in my household, the Indian news and from what I have seen, I really do hope that enough of the massive Indian population comes to their senses about all this, and realizes that what is happening is not okay.