Men killed and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. In fact, the entire war for O'Brien and many others who experienced it seems at odds with traditional explanations and rationales for war. Reread the second half of page 376 and the top of 377 for O'Brien's sense of this war. These two patterns are present from the very beginning of the story.
Art is about creating order where none seemingly existed before.
Art imposes a structure, which is order, on life so that we can see it and experience it more clearly, if only for a moment. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, we read about God creating order out of the chaos or darkness. The impulse toward art, of making order out of chaos or something out of nothing, is as old as civilization itself, as old as the gods. It's something we apparently need to do. It's what makes us who we are.