Dead Poets Society Character Analysis

Keating actually taught him something valuable, he is the first to offer an explanation to Mr.

Sociology is defined as a “systematic study of human society” (Macionis 583). The 1989 film Dead Poets Society features multiple sociological themes and issues. The main themes shown in this film are deviance and role conflict. These themes do not apply to every character, some characters even show neither of these theme, but with the main characters there is multiple examples provided through their lives.

The main problem that Todd faces is the struggle to maintain a sense of self-confidence as a result of living under his older brother’s shadow of success. Instead of becoming a lawyer like what his father expects, he has a passion for writing which contradicts with his father’s anticipation. However, unlike Neil, he keeps these thoughts and ideas to himself and dares not to speak them out loud to his parents. He remains obedient whether or not his opinions match theirs. There were various obstacles that prevented him from delivering his thoughts and he was often labeled as shy or timid. He was unable to present the well-prepared poem he wrote in front of the entire class due to these traits and the lack of self-confidence but Mr. Keating recognizes his strengths as well as his potential to do something marvelous. By using unusual techniques, Mr. Keating was able to bring out his potential and he receives one of the first applauses which was the beginning of his emerging confidence. It was evident that he debates against himself and requires a lot more courage to get up in front of everyone simply because he did not see the value in both himself and the work. The overall conflict is man vs. self and man vs. man. Most of the time he was bothered by himself for being pessimism and the fact that others have huge expectations on him due to his brother’s outstanding achievements.

The setting of this movie is at a prestigious all boys' high school called Welton. Many

This essay intends to examine different aspects of Social Psychology in the film, Dead Poets Society. Released in 1989, this film provides a look at the culture of an Eastern preparatory school, and how a charismatic leader can utilize minority influence to inspire a mass of students. Interactions between characters exhibit many phenomena evident of social psychology, such as how a person can influence a situation and vice versa; social influence; conformity; situational strength; the human need for individuality and to be unique. These different types of interactions all define Social Psychology, and are exhibited in every unique situation.

Mr. Keating's actions of nonconformity in the movie Dead Poets Society benefitted his character in many ways. Mr.Keating was the poetry teacher of a group of boys who used to be in “Dead Poets Society” who chose to live transcentally. In his class he encouraged the boys to do whatever they want to do, to believe in themselves, and not follow the crowd. He told them to seize the day no matter what and just like Thoreau you should “[l]ive each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each”(Thoreau). As you live each day you should live it as simply as possible and live each like it was your last. Each of the boys in the Dead Poets Society benefited from living tanscentally with the help from Mr.Keating. One of the boys got the girl of his dreams and another got the confidence to stand up for

“Why fit in when you were taught to Stand Out!!” -Dr.Suess. Individualism is greatly discussed by many viewpoints, many for it, as well as against it. “Dead Poets Society” is a film that shows why individualism is needed in our society. Another great example is “What to a slave is the Fourth of July” -Frederick Douglass. Individualism is a great deal in the world, and people should understand what it is like to be an Individual to see that the world wouldn’t be the same if everyone was alike. People should know that we are all meant to be our own person in life and if we were all the same as everyone else in society, the world would be dry and lame.

Neil follows his passion for theatre. I think another theme is conformity. The school wants them to do whatever they say. The boys want to follow there dreams and do what they think is right. At the end of the movie, many boys stand up for Mr. Keating.

Keating is trying to show the boys that they need to see life in their own perspective and do what they want to do instead of conforming to what everyone else is doing. Charlie, one of Mr. Keating’s students, takes he’s advice a little too far. He starts putting read lines on his face, drinking, smoking, and bringing girls to their meetings. He makes the biggest change out of all the boys, and ends up getting expelled from school. On the contrary, Neal takes his advice and actually goes out, seizes the day, and live how he really wants to live. Sadly, this leads to a negative effect even though it starts out positive. Neal commits suicide since his father’s pressure doesn’t allow him to break from the conformity of society. Emerson says “Envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide” and Neal proves this is true. If Neal could break away from the conformity of society he would become a better him, and had been able to live a life instead of take his away.

What keeps Keating from adopting the schools ideals as his own are his strong personal values, and his Trickster personality. This personality allows him to get his message across to the boys. Keating does not believe in the conformist nature of the school. He does not want to teach the boys what to think, but rather how to think. He does not allow them to rate

Professor John Keating was a new teacher in the school who had unorthodox methods of teaching his class. Originally, he was supposed to teach a very serious class with no fun and games, the only focus is learning and that is it. Mr. Keating was also a rebellion of this strain theory. With his unorthodox methods of teaching his class, he stressed the idea of carpe diem. This concept affects all of his students and they were to “seize the day” by setting themselves free of the order their society had imposed on them. Mr. Keating was a big influencer in Neil’s decision to pursue acting. The pressures to succeed placed on Neil by his parents and society prevent him from exploring his own individuality. He felt as if he were enclosed in a box with nowhere to go. Neil’s father had warned him that if he did not stop acting he would have

As he began his first lecture, it started off like any other lecture a teacher would. He had a student read aloud from the section they were going to be learning about. The section treated poetry as a science graphing the quality of a poem, he had them tare this section out saying it is not what poetry is. He would not just copy what the book said, he taught them in non-conventional ways. As we can gather also from the scene where they are in the courtyard and he has them all walk individually showing that you do not have to conform and all march the same. From this, Mr. Keating is rewarded by thinking outside of the box by teaching the younger generation that they do not have to conform to what adults say, just because they are adults. For this he is also punished, the blame of Neil’s tragic death is pushed onto Mr.Keating and not the adults

In a blog post titled “How It Feels To Be Colored Me,” Zora Neale Hurston comes off to the reader as an outgoing young woman who is curious about the world around her. During her time in Eatonville, Hurston was fortunate to have not experienced segregation, which was sweeping the South. Moving to Jacksonville changed all of what Hurston thought she knew and left her to adapt to a new lifestyle that she was not excited for. Hurston remained strong, even if it was internally, similar to the character Janie in “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Janie is a few years older than Hurston when her Nanny arranges her marriage with Logan Killicks. After he treats her like an object to put to work, Janie finds the strength to leave her unfulfilling marriage

The way Professor Keating taught was successful in the way that he made his students realize that they need to live their own lives. . An example is when he teaches the boys "Carpe Diem (Seize the day)." In the movie, Tim repeatedly says that when he is trying to win over a girl. Keating is successful because he teaches Tim to go after what he wants and Tim was persistent enough to keep at it and winds up getting her. Another example is when Neil decides to be an actor in a play. Even though his father is against it, Neil does is anyway cause he knows he has what it takes and he feels he has nothing to lose. I feel that if Keating did not teach his students to be themselves, Neil would have never gone against his father and he would have never enjoyed his life. When Neil kills himself at the end I think the blame is on his father because he would not let him do what he wants to do in his heart, he wasn’t being supportive of his sons wants. I feel that Keating had a very positive influence on him. Because of Keatings teachings, his students learned to live their own lives to the fullest.

The statement that conformity and tradition are in opposition to individualism and defiance of authority is very true in The Dead Poet Society, and even more so in today’s society in general. One can walk into any high school and see this is true. In a typical high school, people seem to have very much in common, especially in dress, hair style, etc… which is in opposition to individualism in and of itself. People are so caught up in conforming to how society says they should live their lives, it really tarnishes the spirit of individuality human beings are meant to have.