Mind Overpowers Reality

In Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, as well as John Keat’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” art is looked upon through two different perspectives, as Huxley’s world declares reality more important than anything that the mind can conjure up, whereas Keat’s outlook declares that imagination reigns superior to the physical world. In Brave New World, Linda encounters the Complete Works of Shakespeare which she believes "was lying in one of the chests of the Antelope Kiva. It's supposed to have been there for hundreds of years. I expect it's true, because I looked at it, and it seemed to be full of nonsense. Uncivilized” (Huxley 131). In a dystopic world, the ability to interpret and comprehend are referred to as "uncivilized." Linda's deeming of Shakespeare's works as "uncivilized" is ironic, because, in modern times, Shakespeare
For instance, Keat believes that the urn is “A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme” (Keats 4). Keat places the story of the urn on a pedestal above any written works, including his own. The urn is symbolic of existentialism and time, for it persists even as the world decays around it. The urn as preserver of time, juxtaposed with Brave New World, further expresses Huxley's world as stagnant, merely conditioned to following a caste system. Furthermore, as John expresses his hatred toward Brave New World, he learns that there is a "price we [society] have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art" (Huxley 220). While Mustapha Mond has the ability to break the societal rules, he comes to the realization that sacrifices must be made for the betterment of society. Huxley, with this, is pleading to the audience that art is not better than happiness, like Keat may want them to