Genetic Engineering In Brave New World Essay

“After 4 billion years of evolution by the slow and clumsy method of natural selection, we have now evolved to the point where we can direct our own evolution” (Gattaca). Being able control genetic engineering seems like a crazy, unattainable vision. However, dystopian worlds reveal that the process of selecting desirable traits prior to birth could become a reality in the near future. Attempting to coexist in such a society would undoubtedly create many challenges. In both the film Gattaca and the novel Brave New World, genetic engineering divides society and limits the opportunities of the lower classes.
First, genetic engineering limits the job opportunities available to those of lower genetic status. In Brave New World, children are born

In Brave New World, people of upper castes recognize from a young age that they are not to associate with people less than themselves. They avoid them whenever possible, and never wish to be in their position. For example, some of the hypnopaedic statements repeat, “Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I’m so glad I’m a Beta” (Huxley 27). Furthermore, in Gattaca, invalids are almost completely disregarded in society. In public, valids generally do not interact with them at all. For instance, Jerome (originally Vincent) explains, “they [invalids] are the ‘healthy ill.’ They don’t actually have anything yet— they may never. But since few of the pre-conditions can be cured or reversed, it is easier to treat them as if they were already sick” (Gattaca). Valids view the invalids as lost causes and lesser beings in all respects. Since they were born with the possibility of disease and defects, they are known as “deficients, defectives, genojunk” (Gattaca). In short, the way a person is treated in society in both cases is largely based on his/her genetic