ABSTRACT
The Caste System in India has been often analyzed for a sociological understanding of its consequences on social institutions. However, as one tries to look at the structure of this social system, there seems to be a dystopian pattern of ascribed hierarchy. In fact, history has shown that such hierarchies exist in numerous places at numerous times. So, does that mean that these hierarchical systems also a common theme in literature? The answer is yes.
Both ‘Brave New World’ written by Huxley, and Orwell’s ‘1984’, would ring a loud bell. This is because they parallel the Indian caste system, a traditional social hierarchy that has historically divided the Hindu community into four classes called varnas.
Observing the Indian caste system through the dystopian lenses of ‘Brave New World’ and ‘1984’ gives an insightful perspective on the impact of hierarchial social structures and on top of that exemplifies of a literary engagement with life. By comparing these fictional worlds to the real-world caste system, we gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and injustices inherent in such systems and the importance of striving for a more equitable society.
Theme: Fiction’s Reality: Literary Engagements with Life
Introduction
There has been a continuous debate of sociological analysis in regard to the Caste system that exists within India and its impact on social institutions. Many of these findings have been useful in practice for legal systems (For example, Article 17: Abolition of Untouchability, and others). Nonetheless, the structure of this social system appears more dystopian as one attempts to take a closer look. A system of graded individuals is not unique to India. Such hierarchies, it turns out, have historically existed in many different places and times. This begs the question – are such hierarchical systems a common theme in literature? Surely, literature must have addressed these dystopian patterns. The answer actually is yes, there are two major novels representing the engagement that the literature shows towards real life.
The novel ‘Brave New World’ is a well-revered work of fiction, written by Aldous Huxley, set around a world that is dystopian in nature and founded on two major principles, ‘social cohesion’ and ‘pleasure’. In this world, the government does everything it can to end individuality as they think it is counterintuitive to social stability. This futuristic world tries to make itself perfect by restricting individualism and creating a hierarchy on the basis of intelligence. And, of course, this hierarchy has been established at birth.
1984 on the other hand, presents a different yet somewhat perspective into totalitarian social control that uses both propaganda and repression in order to sustain its hierarchies. Government surveillance procedures ensure that all citizens behave in a manner that is loyal and subservient. There is also the notion of ‘doublethink’ and language manipulation to control thought. The ‘Big Brother’ uses the tools of fear and punishment to repress rebellion. This includes tactics like social ostracism, violence, and economic sanctions.
Both these novels ring a loud bell. This is because they somewhat parallel the social system we have been witnessing in India for centuries. The Indian caste system refers to a customary social hierarchy that has served to traditionally segment the Hindu community into four classes called varnas: ‘Brahmins’, ‘Kshatriyas’, ‘Vaishyas’, and ‘Shudras’. Below these varnas stands an Avarna of the community of ‘Dalits’ who have, since times immemorial, remained the victims of acute social discrimination and exclusion.
Though very different, ‘Brave New World’ and ‘1984’ illustrate methods of social control with parallels to the Indian caste system. Such analysis would be very enlightening with respect to the pattern of the Indian caste system through the dystopian lenses of ‘Brave New World’. It would really offer literary engagements with life to contrast these novels with our social reality. Comparing these fictional worlds against the caste system in reality would help us better understand the difficulties and unfairness associated with such systems and why we need to work toward a much more just world. Let us get deeper into this analysis.
Talcott Parsons, an American sociologist, used a term called ‘Ascription’ in his contemporary sociological works. It can be understood as to be individual quirks and qualities like status, sex or occupation that are ascribed to one at birth. He claimed in his theory of pattern variables that a traditional society has an ascription model, in which the status the individuals possess is based on their birth. It is then that society becomes modern and obtains an achievement model merit based. However, modernization, or turning ‘modern’, has still not got rid of the ascription mindset. We still hear and see incidents of both implicit and explicit casteism.
Above, four basic varnas are mentioned that comprise the castes of Indian society. The system, with very limited ways to achieve what Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, called caste mobility, determines a person’s status in society, career path, and unfortunately even marriage prospects. Curiously enough, Huxley’s Brave New World is divided into five main classes: epsilon, delta, gamma, beta, and alpha. These classes are physiologically designed and socially conditioned from birth to fit into specific responsibilities within society. For example, the lowest-ranked workers are referred to as Epsilons while what appears to be the intellectual elite are referred to as Alphas. Both classes have been socialized since birth to accept their place in society without question.
The ways in which these classes start to get socialized from birth can be equated with the 4 processes of socialization as described by Ruth Hartley. These, although, were developed for the purpose of gendered socialization, but can definitely be applied to castes and classes such as:
- Manipulation: In Brave New World, manipulation begins at birth itself, where social, physiological and even genetic conditioning of individuals is manipulated just to make sure they fit into their ascribed class. For example, Epsilons are deprived of oxygen during development in order to purposefully limit their potential intellectual capability so that they become suited for physical ‘lowly’ labour.
- Conditioning in Huxley: It ‘canalizes’ the socialization of each class toward predetermined roles in society. For instance, Alphas immediately get channelled right into intellectual and leadership roles, while Epsilons are channelled into repetitive, labour-intensive tasks. Such canalization ensures that classes remain within set boundaries.
- Verbal Appellation: In the Brave New World, it is observed that the language used reinforces class distinctions with the help of verbal appellations. These appellations are repeatedly used to reinforce identity and expectations of each class, making them internalize that identity.
- Activity Exposure: People of Brave New World are exposed at a tender age to activities in tandem with their class. Alphas work on their intellectual tasks, while Epsilons are exposed to repetitive labour work. Such exposure to really class-specific activities right from birth makes sure that people are well-equipped for their later roles in life and accept them without resistance.
More than that, the above-mentioned concept of ascription and lack of social mobility are probably two of the most evident similarities between the dystopian societies portrayed in Brave New World, 1984, and the system of castes.
In the orthodox Indian society mostly seen in remote areas, a person’s birth almost predetermines his social and economic roles and a caste is attached to him. This type of social in-group inequality has endured through so many hundreds of years because of this historical lack of opportunities for those born into lower castes to end up rising in society. We should remember, however, that this notion of predestination or as we have categorized in this essay, ‘ascription’, is exaggerated in ‘Brave New World’. People are genetically made to belong to a specific class from birth, and their social functions are predetermined. For instance, in the novel, Lenina Crowne is only a beta conditioned to perform her functions as a hatchery worker without ever bringing into question the system. Everyone is conditioned to believe and feel that his or her place in society is natural and desirable; hence, it is hard, if not unimaginable, to climb up the social ladder.
Similar means are also observed in 1984 in order to sustain the rigid class system that is backed by a pattern of repression, observation, and propaganda. The top of the social order is the ‘Inner Party’ and at the bottom are the Outer Party and the so-called proles, all enforced by the Party under the command of Big Brother. Social mobility is practically nil, and whoever attempts to raise any question about the status quo is certainly not spared.
This is illustrated and conveyed through the protagonist Winston Smith, where in his desire to dismantle the oppressive government could only, by all means be snuffed out by the authority of the Party. Control mechanisms, as well as conditioning, is a must in the implementation of social hierarchies to ensure that members assume their prescribed place in it. This is the control that has been employed in the Indian caste system through cultural and religious conditioning. Hindu religious texts, such as the Manusmriti, have been conveniently interpreted in order to legitimize the caste system due to the perceived important role that karma and dharma play in determining an individual’s caste. This religious justification has, in turn, made it hard to attack the system since one might suspect that to question one’s own caste is to dispute God’s holy will.
Under an effectively designed social hierarchy, psychological conditioning, genetic engineering, and use of narcotics—soma—that keep men quiet and content, social control has been affected in Brave New World. People often undergo ‘hypnopaedic indoctrination’ from the moment they are born, which instils cultural norms and values in their subconscious mind. An often-cited example is one is taught that ‘everyone belongs to everyone else’ so as to foster social cohesion and inhibit individualism. While the caste system depends on religious and cultural conditioning for its perpetuation and the avoidance of rebellion, consumption of soma provides for a more absolute immediate suppression of any notions of dissatisfaction or insurrection.
The means for social control was a lot more overt and severe in 1984. The party uses methods of propaganda, constant surveillance, and manipulation of the mind and language. One of the prime principles in play that the party uses to keep in power is the ideology of English Socialism—ingsoc. Through its help, the party asserts to the people that it is never wrong and therefore any attempt to question its action becomes a threat to the common good. This ideology works as a very strong tool in justifying all those cruelties that the Party inflicts. It is instilled in their minds that the current social setup is fundamentally right. This can be seen in orthodox Indian in-groups, where speaking against casteism is seen as a threat to the entire Hindu religion.
Further, a really central concept that it relies on in this manipulation mentioned above is doublethink: the ability of the populace to believe two contradictory concepts simultaneously, in such a way as to excuse the inconsistency or even make it seem rational. An example of such contradictory slogans is ‘Freedom is Slavery’ and ‘War is Peace’—all oxymorons of themselves but believed, due to the level of commitment engendered in adherents to the ideology of the party. Such an ideology manipulation to legitimize inequality is not something unique to Orwell’s fictional world but to real and fictional authoritarians throughout history.
Equally, in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and the caste system of reality, there is deep conflict between personal potential and social stability at the expense of human rights and personal freedoms. Mostly, they easily descend into sacrificing personal freedom for social order. In particular, the caste system precludes personal aspiration because individuals are consigned to specific roles from the moment of birth, guess in the lowest castes. In such rigid social structures, access to economic and educational opportunities is limited for the lower castes and the circle of social exclusion and poverty is conserved. In so doing, the system not only places inequality in the forefront, but also chokes the development of individual potential in the name of protecting the social structure.
However, the dystopian futures of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell are mainly connected in one thematic premise: the repression of individuality. This is no less than what is witnessed in the Indian caste system. In the caste system, an individual’s caste identification often supplants the individual’s identity. Deviation from these roles is discouraged and even punished, and personal goals and interests come way above one’s caste obligations. Thus, the practice of endogamy, which bars marriage out of the caste and further underlines the caste borders by restricting personal choice, is a clear case in point of this suppression of individuality.
In the novel Brave New World, individualism is systematically repressed as it is seen as a threat to social order. The culture promotes no individual expression but rather homogeneity and social cohesion. Notice how Bernard Marx is an Alpha Plus, but an iconoclastic misfit. Bernard is a man whose feelings of inadequacy denied him any sense of belonging within the elite society to which, symbolically, his very important membership card identified him. His feelings of current unsatisfactoriness within the present status quo and the want of being different inside himself are a danger. This eventually gains him exile to an island to which other nonconformists are also exiled. The lack of individualism in Brave New World is a reflection of how one’s caste system could block an individual from personal development and always focus on group identity rather than the individual’s.
The mandates of individual state suppression were taken to the greatest lengths in 1984. The Party seeks not only to regulate the thoughts of its subjects but also their thoughts. The concept of ‘thoughtcrime’ means that even entertaining the idea of opposition to the Party is punishable by death. Winston is fighting to reclaim his individuality within a society that actively stifles independent thought and also uses many measures to actively discourage it. The final capture and reeducation by the thought Police forcefully remind all the readers of the impotence of opposing a system that seeks to extirpate any traces of personal individuality.
Ideology and propaganda, thus, are most often ironclad ways of rationalizing inequality; whether the caste system or the dystopian worlds presented in Brave New World and 1984. Within the caste system, religious ideologies provide justification for inequities; underlying notions of intrinsic superiority or inferiority of various castes are most powerful. The concept of karma provides justification for the social hierarchy and status quo, where a person’s deeds in a past life determine their caste and, therefore, current inequality. This justification of the unequal has separated society and given greater impetus for legitimizing prejudice against Dalits and other lower-caste members.
The concept that each class is physiologically suited for its function, and that such a divide is necessary for the stability and happiness of society, becomes the justification for inequality within Brave New World. The propaganda from the government apparently informs everyone that nobody is unhappy in their role, and questioning such a sentiment will disrupt the stability of society. In attempting to justify social stability, one of the World Controllers, Mustapha Mond, states that it is unavoidable to achieve such stability without sacrificing one’s freedom and individuality. This remarkable defense of inequality mirrors the sorts of justifications of the caste system that have allowed it to endure as a social glue.
An injustice in 1984 is further sustained by an ideology of Ingsoc, which declared the idea that the Party class can never wrong and that any resistance to it will be hazardous for the common good. The people are then indoctrinated to internalize the social order. The ‘doublethink’ within the people’s capacity enables them to rid themselves of the obvious contradictions that are in the Party’s propaganda, like mentioned above ‘Freedom is Slavery’ or ‘War is Peace.’ Fictional and real authoritarian regimes tend to rely on a shifting ideology in order to justify their notions of inequality.
One of the key issues that come out in the two dystopian worlds created in Brave New World and 1984 and the caste system is the consideration of individual potential versus social stability. Human rights and personal freedom are mostly caliper into submission by the insistent priority of social stability, in place of the potential of people. The potential of an individual is limited by the system to predetermined roles, especially by those of people of lower castes. This is illustrated by the lower castes’ limited room for any chance of economic and educational growth, which ultimately brings a conveyor belt of social exclusion and poverty.
Human freedom and human potential in Brave New World are compromised for social stability. In our current world, so conditioned around these ideals associated with liberalism, the world by Huxley seems unjust. However, a key part of the novel talks about how people are actually happy with their status! This, unlike 1984, shows how the compromise of individuality may actually work. This, however, asks the readers whether is it really right to compromise for social cohesion in exchange for the knowledge of your true potential?
It is due to the strict class system and society that everything works in harmony, but, in the process, paid for by biting down on originality and creativity, not to mention human satisfaction. Brought up outside of the World State, John- the Savage symbolizes the potential of the human race that is curtailed within the dystopian order. He meets a sad end due to the inability of balancing his needs for originality with what society expects of him, which in the end underscores the great price paid for repression of human potential in the name of social order.
In George Orwell’s ‘1984’, human potential is suppressed since the Party lays an unyielding clutch on power. That held significantly suppressed personal development and self-expression through total control over everything, even ideas and opinions. Propaganda, monitoring, and falsification of historical records were just a few tools this totalitarian government used to keep its people in line and incapable of thinking for themselves.
Smith represents the fight for self-realization in the face of a society that values complete uniformity. His secret love affair with Julia was a futile effort to regain his selfhood and humanness. In the affair, Winston had shared moments of real passion and autonomy with Julia that were so much unlike the dehumanized atmosphere that the Party had cultivated. This rebellion against the ruling status quo is not, however, long-lived. By the incessant monitoring of the Party, in the shape of thought police and the merciless re-education methods applied by the Ministry of Love, Winston’s spirits and chance of becoming special are finally quashed.
The dystopian society depicted in 1984 serves to remind readers of the perils one exposes oneself to when trading potential with societal control and stability. Aside from highlighting man’s potential value and individual freedom, Orwell’s story also highlights the dehumanizing effect of totalitarianism and the fact that valid social stability should not be given up in the name of individual growth and autonomy.
Religion and philosophy primarily support the dystopian societies of Brave New World and 1984 and the caste system. The segregation of castes has always been reinforced by Hindu religious texts and customs, and understandably, the system has thus been difficult to abolish. The social order has its roots in karma and dharma, and the lower castes are told that their status in society is somehow a direct result of their actions in previous lives. This fear of losing this life to death and suffering that is supposedly prevented by the Hindu laws and regulations is scary combination. This theological reason has made a difficult time for lower castes to question their plight in society because it would be viewed as acting against the divine order.
Instead of religion and miracles, the state in Brave New World worships scientific and technological breakthroughs. One such example is the worship of Ford, the businessman who invented mass production. This new ideology keeps the public in line and the current social order intact, much like the religious ideology that holds the caste system in place. A control mechanism of the caste system is reproduced here in the use of soma, a stimulant keeping people quiet and satisfied.
The Party promotes Ingsoc as the only form of thinking that will be allowed in 1984, using ideology as a means of control. Because the Party controls language, information, and history, it is ensured that the general public will accept the social order as inherently correct. The Party has the ability to manipulate language to control. Cognition will not be able to suspect any potential rebellion as it invokes ideas such as, ‘Newspeak,’ ‘doublethink’. The application of ideology to cling to power seems like a common plot between the fictional and real nature of societies.
In conclusion, a weigh-up analysis between the dystopian worlds of Brave New World and 1984 and the Indian caste system can be very useful in unraveling some important ideas about mechanisms of social control, repression of individuality, and rationalization of inequality. As has already been referred to in both books, both the caste system and these dystopian civilizations accord a higher value to social stability than human potential—very often at the cost of personal autonomy and personal growth.
Seen in both these dystopian societies, but also in the caste system, is the holding on to power through religion and ideology, which brings out the dangers of allowing people’s lives to be governed by strict hierarchical institutions. These dystopian novels broadened our understanding of the challenges and injustices that come with these systems and the importance of working toward a more just society.
Therefore, we learn from these incredible pieces of literature that the very foundations of our real-life societies need to be continually questioned in the quest for a society that would celebrate individuality and freedom while placing human potential in tandem with social stability. The novels serve as a reminder of how the cycle of the caste system survives and what that means for us as humans.
