Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Caste, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Caste, Race, and Social Division in the U.S.
Caste as a Global Problem
How Caste Sustains Itself
The Costs of Caste
Summary
Analysis
Isabel Wilkerson describes the popular film franchise The Matrix, in which artificial intelligence has overtaken humanity and placed humans in a virtual reality that controls every aspect of the human experience. In the world the artificial intelligence force has created, it’s impossible to differentiate between what is real and what is not. Over the course of the films, some humans awaken to their condition and search for an escape from their captivity. Yet many remain unaware of the fact that they’re captives at all. The caste system in the United States, Wilkerson suggests, is similar to the program running the Matrix. The institutions that uphold caste are so omnipresent—and so skilled at making caste look normal—that no one even questions “the matrix” that maintains the primacy and power of those belonging to the dominant caste.
One of the ways that caste sustains itself is by remaining invisible. Comparing the caste system in the U.S. to The Matrix, underscores the fact that many Americans are not aware of the reality of the world around them. Caste is silent and insidious, and while it dictates almost every aspect of life in the U.S., many people don’t even recognize that their society is controlled by caste. Americans—like the protagonist of the film—have a choice between educating themselves and others about the realities of caste and awaking to its horrors or remaining complicit in a system that subjugates Black people.
Themes
