Lecture Topic John vs.

Helmholtz: Art and Expression

Johns freedom
John is able to freely (at least compared to everyone else) express himself because of his encounters with art. He is able to properly capture his complex feelings about Lenina: "O thou weed, who are so lovely fair and smell'st so sweet that the sense aches at thee. [] Was this most goodly book made to write 'whore' upon? Heaven stops the nose at it." He is able to articulate his search for meaning when he is alone: "To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow." "And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death." He is able to fully articulate his beliefs about virtue: "But some kinds of baseness are nobly undergone." These are only just a couple of examples of how capable John is of expressing how he feels. He is the most in touch with his feelings because he has an adequate manner of expression. His experience with Shakespeare has exposed him to a complex range of emotions, allowing him to better understand his own feelings, as well as arming him with a powerful means of expression.

Helmholtzs imprisonment
In stark contrast, Helmholtz is unable to express how he feels. He is aware of a greater truth that sits within him, but he has no means of expression. He has no access to a form of expression that comes close to how he feels. As a consequence he feels trapped and frustrated; he feels as though his power is being restricted by his limited access to his own self: Not quite. Im thinking of a queer feeling I sometimes get, a feeling that Ive got some- thing important to say and the power to say itonly I dont know what it is, and I cant make any use of the power. If there was some different way of writing ... Or else something else to write about ... But they go such a little way. They arent important enough, somehow. I feel I could do something much more important. Yes, and more intense, more violent. But what? What is there more important to say? And how can one be violent about the sort of things ones expected to write about? What is perhaps most inspiring about Helmholtz is that he is able to find a mode of expression within himself. His poem is a pretty solid first attempt at self-expression...

Yesterdays committee, Sticks, but a broken drum, Midnight in the City, Flutes in a vacuum, Shut lips, sleeping faces, Every stopped machine, The dumb and littered places Where crowds have been: ... All silences rejoice, Weep (loudly or low), Speakbut with the voice Absence of Egerias Arms and respective bosoms, Lips and, ah, posteriors, Slowly form a presence; Whose? and, I ask, of what So absurd an essence, That something, which is not, Nevertheless should populate Empty night more solidly Than that with which we copulate, Why should it seem so squalidly?

Helmholtzs Poem

Solitude
Helmholtz says explicitly that the poem is about being alone. And I think its very possible to read from is that Helmholtz is expressing that he feels there is something profound in being alone - far more profound than being surrounded by women. Its actually a pretty solid indictment of the superficial nature of the society that he lives in. This is pretty clear: That something, which is not, Nevertheless should populate Empty night more solidly Than that with which we copulate, Why should it seem so squalidly? The nothing that exists when he is alone is more solid than the women he spends his nights with. Those sexual encounters even seem squalid in comparison. This is the first time Helmholtz has really aired any true decent against the World State, and I think that it is telling that he does it through an artistic form. It is through art that he able to express his personal vision of the world and express his emotive connection to solitude. And the reason its seen as so dangerous is because its a threat to the sleep teaching of his pupils. It might allow them to see differently, such is the power of art.

Conclusions
Johns ability to connect maturely with his emotions comes through his
connection to art. He has a more complex understanding of how he feels because he has complex ways of expressing himself. His access to high art has provided him with a really potent means of understanding and expressing his own feelings. He is more mature because hes had access to these complex images about human emotion.

Helmholtz, in contrast, has been a child all his life. He has never really had
access to his emotions, and hes certainly never had access to any kind of art that would offer him any kind of complex expression of human emotion. As a consequence his growth as an individual is stunted.

As soon as Helmholtz starts expressing himself through art, he becomes a

threat to the World State. I think this is a really powerful representation of the subversive, rebellious power of art. The fact that Helmholtzs boss fears the impact his poetry will have on the students is indicative of the power of art to shape the way we see. Its also a really nice expression of the way art allows for release through personal expression. Although Helmholtz is in trouble, Bernard notes that Helmholtz seems profoundly happy.