The Social Hierarchy/Epithets (Chapter 4, Part 1/ Pages 57-63)

"The liftman was a simian creature, dressed in the black tunic of an Epsilon-Minus Semi-Moron."

~ Brave New World, page 58

There is indisputably a social-class hierarchy in Brave New World, and the amount of prejudice and discrimination based on that seems as if it would be contradictory to the society's goals and ideals. The community is supposed to be based on every member giving what they can to every other member, but what is really happening is the working class (Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons) giving to the intelligent class (Alphas and Betas) without any compensation. However, socially the two separate classes give to each other. The discrimination even goes as far as degrading epithets like the "black Semi-Morons" (Epsilons). This is used as a way to describe skill or achievement (or lack of in the Epsilon case). Other epithets found in literature are Homer's "Swift-footed Achilles" or "Wide-ruling Agamemnon." These prejudices are so integrated into the minds of the citizens that even Lenina, an especially kind person who will oppose her peers to defend an outcast, says repeatedly, "What a hideous color khaki [representing Deltas] is," and, "I'm glad I'm not a Gamma." It is clear that the society does not value every person as its leaders claim it does.

                                                               









<--- Swift-footed Achilles