Brave New World Art Analysis (Essay Example)

“You’ve got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We’ve sacrificed the high art” (Huxley, 245). This quote from Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, exhibits how a fictional dystopian world values artificial happiness over art and truth. Art can be described as something humans create to express their feelings and emotions. It is usually expressed through paintings but can also apply to music and poetry. There are some works of literature that present the idea that art and everything surrounding it, is meaningless. However, it is presented throughout many forms of art that this statement is entirely false. Art is meaningful because it helps us as humans; understand our world and the people living in it. 

The first step in analyzing art is attempting to discover the artist’s motive behind creating it. Regardless of what they have made, the artist always has a meaning or purpose behind what they have created. Brave New World disregards this by depriving its citizens of art of any kind to maintain “social instability”. “Do they read Shakespeare?” asked the Savage as they walked, on their way to the Bio-chemical Laboratories, past the School Library. “Certainly not,” said the Head Mistress, blushing. “Our library,” said Dr. Gaffney, “contains only books of reference. If our young people need distraction, they can get it at the feelies. We don’t encourage them to indulge in any solitary amusements” (179).  One of the main characters in Brave New World, John the Savage, quotes Shakespeare many times throughout the novel, to represent how the book of Shakespearean poems he read as a child shaped how he sees the world as an adult. This explain why he views the new world in such a negative connotation. The perception that John has is a clear indicator of how art can effect one’s mindset. The discussion that Mustapha Mond and John have near the end of the book can correlate with how an artist’s purpose for creating something could be interpreted by others. “Particularly when they’re beautiful. Beauty’s attractive, and we don’t want people to be attracted by old things. We want them to like the new ones” (243).

Another purpose of art is being able to view and dissect it as spectators. Art not only gives the artist a window to present their ideas and thoughts, but also allows the spectators viewing the art to interpret it in different ways. Brave New World uses this to its advantage by exhibiting how the differently each character reacts to society outside of the World State. (Quote with John, Bernard, and Linda). Regardless of what the artist intended to create, the people spectating the art will always have different points of view about what its meaning is. The beauty and truth of art comes from how it makes us feel and what we are able to understand from it. Art cannot be considered meaningful if it does not provoke an emotion within the spectator. (Brave New World Quote about John).

Although art is considered to be its own subject, it has sub topics within it that helps characterize how art can be relatable to anyone. The roles within art itself are the structure in which how the artist constructs their creation. Truth and Beauty are two key roles in art and considered the most important. Truth is the message behind the art or what the artist wants to convey. Beauty is another aspect that artists use to draw attention to the spectator. Beauty can be conveyed through something visibly appeasing or something that unsettles or disturbs the viewer. The poem “Ode on a Grecian” by John Keats perfectly exemplifies how these roles of art play such an important role within art. The poem describes how a Greek Urn tells two stories that completely different. The first half presents a beautiful scenic painting of nature and animals while the second half visualizes the sacrifice of an animal. “"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"—that is all. Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” (Keats). The meaningfulness of art comes from how brutally honest it can be at times. Since the art is being based of thoughts from the artist, they can create something beautiful but have a deeper meaning behind it. The quote refers to this truth that Keats has put at the forefront of this poem. 

Art’s purpose is not only present ideas and emotions, but for us as an audience to relate to it and understand it. Without it, our society will not be able to discover our truth and the truths of others. Although Brave New World proposes, that happiness stems from stability, it is shown through art that happiness comes from the freedom to express one’s self. “But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” (267).