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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
Wilkerson recalls going out to dinner with a longtime family friend of hers who happened to be from the dominant caste. It took them a long time to get any attention from their waiter—even though the table beside them had no trouble ordering drinks and appetizers. As the meal progressed, Wilkerson’s white friend continued to notice that they were receiving subpar service. Their waiter ignored them, refused to give them the free bread he gave to other tables, and, when their entrees finally came out, the food was cold. Wilkerson’s friend called the manager over and made a scene, calling the restaurant a racist establishment and railing loudly against the treatment she and Wilkerson had received.
While this incident wasn’t surprising to Wilkerson—as a Black woman, she was used to receiving poor treatment in public—her friend, a member of the dominant caste, was outraged about receiving unfair treatment. This anecdote illustrates the necessity of the dominant caste becoming aware of the daily injustices that the U.S.’s caste system still causes. If the people with the most social power don’t speak out, nothing will change.
Themes
As the two of them walked out of the restaurant without paying for their lukewarm, subpar meals, Wilkerson wanted to ask her friend to imagine what it was like to experience the world in such a way every day. Part of her resented her friend for being able to get away with making such a scene—and with being so blind to the way casteism works in the first place. But another part of Wilkerson was happy to see her friend’s “righteous indignation” on behalf of all the people of the subordinate castes who endure such slights every single day.
Wilkerson’s friend’s “righteous indignation” is the “radicalization” that’s needed to spur the dominant caste to action. By awakening members of the dominant caste to the everyday injustices the subordinate caste must contend with, the subordinate caste can raise awareness about the power imbalance that still defines American life. People in power aren’t always willing to admit to or surrender that power—but those who have subordinate-class friends or family members may become angry enough to start working against caste in their own daily lives.
Themes
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