Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a society. It is a serious problem and happens everywhere and everyday, but its effects are often not solved. Brave New World and Gattaca are two texts where social inequality affects the world heavily. In both texts, inequality between the society exists but the people within the society doesn’t appear to take action upon it as they think either nothing can be changed, or nothing needs to be changed. Brave New World shows how the Worlds’ state leaders use technology to wield the castes, where humans are predetermined and grown in a manner appropriate to their status. The people are unaware about this inequality and are happy about the way it is, due to the conditioning. As adults, the two upper castes, the Alphas and Betas, socially interact with each other but never with the lesser groups which are the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Similarly, in the film Gattaca, social class is based on the quality of gene, ignoring determination and focuses on those who are made to be successful. Gattaca shows that inequality between society threatens the entire population within the society. However, Brave New world displays that the society is aware that there is an unfairness between the valid and in-valid and chooses to ignore it.
Although the effects of social inequality are often not dealt with, there are still many stories which address this issue. Telling stories about social inequality can help inform and bring more attention towards the issue also inspiring and empowering others to fight against inequality between the social classes. In both Brave New World and Gattaca, the higher and better the social class, the more opportunities and benefits there are present. Both the characters, Vincent in Gattaca and John from Brave New World has an aim to break the boundaries between the social classes and find freedom and truth.
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In Brave New World, John is unimpressed with the world which he is in, disgusted about the processes of growing humans and that the lower castes exist not as individuals but as batches lacking identity. He goes on a quest to find freedom of life and truth, arguing that even if suffering is involved in seeking the truth, it is better than living an easy life with pleasure and happiness. In Gattaca a quest to finding freedom of life is also conveyed. Where Vincent is an invalid who aspires to become an astronaut. In order to do so, he uses Jerome’s valid DNA to gain elite status in the society. These actions taken by John and Vincent shows the beginning of an attempt to break boundaries, in different ways, the characters attempt to do so. John is shown trying to find freedom by trying to run away from the society’s rules whereas, Vincent tries to make himself be similar to others in order to find freedom.
Both texts show that going against what is seen as normal is a challenging task and that living in the comfort of the society may just be the easier option. Stories are told to tell that if a goal is set and needs to be achieved, sacrifices may need to be made which may either go with or against our own morals and beliefs.
The endings of both Brave New World and Gattaca are unclear. In Brave New World, John commits suicide by hanging himself as he fails to complete his quest in finding freedom and the truth. In Gattaca, Vincent is seen entering the space ship and Jerome suicides where the focus switches between them constantly symbolizing they are heading towards the same ending. Compared to Brave New World, Gattaca shows that there is something which has changed about social inequality as (insert video) shows that there are more people wanting to break the boundaries and rules and possibly that the truth can be found by a mass amount of individuals which aim to achieve the same goal. Whereas, in Brave New World the society won and the good have failed. These two texts show that if the society does not work collectively, the end goal will not be as easily achieved. These stories are told to show that even though somethings may seem impossible, sometimes trying is the only way to find out what is going to happen.
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