How Did Jerome And Vincent Affect The Caste System In Gattaca

Gattaca is a movie about a young man in a dystopian society named Vincent Freeman. Vincent is viewed as an in-valid human in his society because he was conceived naturally instead of genetically engineered in a lab. Vincent’s dream is to travel to space, but in-valids are not allowed to do so. In an attempt to achieve his dream, Vincent takes on a new identity: Jerome Morrow. Jerome is a genetically engineered man who was involved in an accident that left him paralyzed. Although Jerome’s disability makes him basically an in-valid, his DNA is still perfectly fine. Vincent uses Jerome’s DNA and identity to get into the space program, Gattaca, and tries his best not to get caught. In Andrew Niccol’s film, Gattaca, Jerome and Vincent are affected

by the caste system.
The caste system affects Jerome and Vincent in many different ways.

Jerome, a valid, is originally high in the caste system. He is genetically engineered to be a perfect human and reach unparalleled success in swimming. The downside to Jerome’s situation is that he is always under immense amounts of pressure trying to live up to his high caste. For example, Jerome got second in his swimming race. Instead of being happy with his performance, Jerome was devastated because even though he was engineered to be the best, someone still beat him. As a result of being under so much pressure, Jerome purposefully walks in front of a moving car while he is sober. He tries to kill himself as a way to escape the pain the caste system has caused him. The accident leaves Jerome paralyzed from the waist down, and he is essentially dehumanized. Even though he has the DNA to make him a valid person, his paralysis is no good to society. Vincent is also affected by the caste system. He is born as an in-valid person. As a result, the doctors claim that Vincent has an extremely low life expectancy with many birth defects. Vincent is not valued as much as his younger brother, and he is always weaker or slower in most activities. No one gives Vincent a chance to do anything important in society. He is stuck doing jobs equivalent to that of a janitor. Even though Vincent intelligent, he is unable to get into the Gattaca space program because of his

caste.
Clearly, the film is an admirable example of how a dystopian society operates. Even though the society is supposed to be more of a utopia, Jerome and Vincent reveal what life is like for people that do not fit into the perfect world. The movie portrays the positives and negatives of a dystopian society through valids, in-valids, and the Gattaca space program.There are several similarities between Gattaca and other dystopian works, such as 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. For example, the invalids in Gattaca resemble the proles in 1984. The proles are low-class, unintelligent workers who do not have any say in the government. Similarly, in-valids are unable to have roles in the government, or any high-ranking job, because of their social status. Another similarity between dystopian works is that Jerome Morrow in Gattaca and John the Savage in Brave New World resemble each other. Both are not happy in the current society they live in. No one accepts them for who they really are, and as a result, both take their own life at the end. Through characters such as Jerome Morrow and Vincent Freeman, Gattaca exemplifies how people are affected by their caste system in a dystopian society.