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
In 2016, a heat wave struck Siberia—parts of Russia reached above 95°F, and wildfires spread throughout the region. Soon, many people living in remote parts of the area—indigenous herdsmen and their children among them—fell ill with a strange sickness, and a few even died. Scientists soon realized that the heat had melted the Russian permafrost, exposing toxic anthrax particles that had been frozen in the ground for decades. When the pathogen was exposed, it was as toxic as it had ever been.
In this passage, Wilkerson figuratively compares the toxicity of caste to the toxicity of dormant disease particles. Through this metaphor, she’s showing that while most people today might not think of caste as a widespread problem, it is—and most people have ignored it for a long time. But ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away—and just because it’s not obvious at the surface doesn’t mean it’s not doing damage.
Themes
At the same time, on the other side of the world, the United States was preparing for an election that would become seen as a “psychic break” in the history of the country. Many Americans claimed that they no longer recognized their country—but Wilkerson knew that what was happening in the U.S. was in fact reflective of the country’s long-held values. The first female candidate for president was running against an “impetuous billionaire” who claimed that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue without losing his followers’ support. His base, the country’s Republican Party, appealed mostly to white voters, believed he would “restore [Americans’] sovereignty.”
Without naming the players in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Wilkerson characterizes the event as a moment when white Americans—the dominant caste in the American caste system—were seeking leadership from an unpredictable outsider because they feared that their “sovereignty,” or power, was slipping away. The idea that white Americans believed this suggests that many Americans know, on some level, that they live in an established hierarchy based largely on race.
Themes
The 2016 presidential election was an “existential” fight for primacy. It took place in a country whose rapidly shifting demographics threatened the dominant racial caste in an unspoken hierarchy that had existed since the country was founded. Experts predicted that by 2042, white people will no longer be the majority in America—a country that had never known another structure. The 2008 election of the first African American president—a man from the lower, or subordinate, caste—caused some people to declare the arrival of a post-racial world. But it caused others—members of the dominant caste—to fear that there was no more “hope for white people.”
By pointing out the societal factors that led up to the 2016 victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, Wilkerson suggests that the U.S. is centered around protecting the dominant caste, which is comprised of white people. Any threat to this is downright “existential” in nature, which reveals how deeply entrenched in its caste system the U.S. is. By contrast, myths about post-racialism, equality, and freedom for all dominate how people talk about what makes the U.S. unique. By highlighting white people’s anxieties about shifts in the U.S.’s social hierarchy, Wilkerson suggests that most Americans know, on some unspoken level, that they live in a caste system.
Themes
The 2016 election further pushed the United States toward isolationism and tribalism. Members of the dominant caste felt comfortable admitting that they were ready for a return to “a time when everybody knew their place.” Hate crimes and instances of mass violence and police brutality increased: in the summer of 2017, a white supremacist drove into a crowd of “anti-hate” protestors and killed a young woman named Heather Heyer; in the fall of 2018, 11 people were killed while attending services at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh. Even as the new administration faced claims that the new president was a “malignant narcissist” or an agent of a foreign power, the dominant caste continued to rise in power.
This passage illustrates how caste has come to the forefront of discourse about U.S. society over the last several years. The dominant caste’s desire for “a time when everybody knew their place” suggests that these people derive power and worth from being part of a racial hierarchy. Wilkerson implies that Donald Trump’s messaging emboldened the dominant caste to inflict violence on the subordinate caste. So even if these people might not have used the word “dominant caste” to describe their social position, they were well aware that their whiteness afforded them certain powers in U.S. society—and they did not want to have those powers stripped.
Themes
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Even after an impeachment trial and the botched handling of the worst pandemic in over a century, the new president retained the firm support of his base. Millions of people in the U.S. and abroad wondered why it seemed that the ground had shifted almost overnight. But what scientists know about earthquakes is that the worst of them are often preceded by longer, slow-moving disruptions, too deep beneath the surface to feel.
This passage begins to illustrate the costs of caste. Wilkerson believes that Donald Trump’s presidency was disastrous for the U.S. in many ways, and that he represented a return to prioritizing America’s dominant caste. And this, to dominant-caste members themselves, was worth the suffering of countless others.
Themes
Returning to the outbreak of anthrax in Russia, Wilkerson recounts the extensive cleanup and containment process the affected regions of the country had to go through. The military needed to dispose of the reindeer carcasses that were spreading the disease after consuming grass grown out of contaminated ground, bleach the earth, and eradicate a “long-buried threat.” Even then, complete protection couldn’t be ensured—this contagion could only be “managed and anticipated” through vigilance and indeed reverence for its power.
This passage returns to the metaphor that opened the chapter: that of resurgent disease. This passage suggests that even though caste may, to many, be a “long-buried threat” that doesn’t require their immediate attention, caste is in fact extremely toxic and very difficult to eradicate. More people, Wilkerson suggests, should view caste as a global threat.
Themes
