Neil Perry - Dead Poets' Society

Todd was also the last of the five to sign the confession suggesting Mr. Keating in Neil Perry’s

Neil has never heard an uplifting story about war, so in his mind anyone who joins the army is giving up their life. This idea is confirmed by the birch bark box that Neil gives to both his parents. This box could symbolize a coffin, showing that Neil truly is afraid of losing his father. He wants to make sure that he gets the box before leaving for the army, so that he has it with him when he dies. The box is mentioned at the end of the story, when Neil says that the family picture taken before his father left still remins in the box, suggesting that Neil’s fears become a reality. These two symbols show Neil’s lack of knowledge about war, and explain why he acts the way he does; he thinks that his father signing up for the army means that he will never see him again.

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.

As a child Perry grew up with a limited education. When he is young and after his parent’s divorce Perry is living with his dad and is going to school. He finishes grade three but after that he never returns. Perry’s father moves from state to state throughout his childhood and prevents Perry from returning to school. Perry’s father wants Perry to stay with him instead of going to school so he can do work and take care of him. As Perry grows older however he understands that his father kept him out of school and Perry becomes extremely angry with him. Smith stated, “That bastard never gave me a chance. He wouldn’t let me go to school…. he didn’t want me to learn anything, only how to tote and carry for him. Dumb. Ignorant. That’s the way he wanted me to be. So that I could never escape him” (Capote 185). However, Perry is an intelligent and talented man with great potential. He has natural music ability, he likes to read and improve his vocabulary, and he also knows how to draw. In spite of this he never received encouragement from his father or anyone else: “Oh, the man I could have been! ... But the time came I begged to go to school. I happen to have a brilliant

While it is widely rumored that many of Bob Dylan’s songs were written while he was under the influence of various drugs, I’m not so sure that those rumors are accurate. Following a 1991 interview conducted by Paul Zollo with Bob Dylan, Zollo stated that “There’s an unmistakable elegance in Dylan’s words, an almost biblical beauty” and that “Dylan’s answers give you a lot to think about while not necessarily revealing much about the man”. (Zollo 2) The same can be said with regard to many of the lyrics of Dylan’s songs. The lyrics to “Mr. Tambourine Man”, for example, are wildly descriptive and sometimes confusing and can leave a listener (or a reader) open to many different interpretations, some more complex than others, with no real meaning ever being clearly stated.

Keating forces him to create a poem on the spot in front of the class, although he is well-aware of Todd’s resistance to speak in front of others, after he write a poem on his own as requested. Mr. Keating questions Todd and installs him with a sense of confidence in his own abilities, “Mr. Anderson thinks that everything inside of him is worthless and embarrassing. Isn't that right, Todd? Isn't that your worst fear? Well, I think you're wrong. I think you have something inside of you that is worth a great deal”. Mr. Keating teaches Todd to think freely for himself and that these thoughts and opinions he has are valued. In the end, Todd becomes self-reliant, confident in himself and his ideas and beliefs. He does not conform to society and distinguishes himself amongst the rest, maintaining his own voice, and he overcomes his previous shy and isolated self, becoming a leader, when introduced to these ideas of individualism and

Perry’s childhood was an unfortunately tragic, formative time for him. When he was little, Perry’s mother was “entertaining” sailors, and when Perry’s father got home, he attacked his wife and the sailors scarring Perry for years to come and he later said that he was “scared because I thought my father was going to hurt me, also because he was beating my mother”(Capote274). Later, he was sent to an orphanage where he was abused by nuns who “Had a flashlight and hit [him] with it. Hit [him] and hit [him].” and “Whipped him for wetting his bed”(Capote93). Then, he was sent to another orphanage, this one even worse. One nurse made Perry’s life a living hell until she nearly killed him. She would “Fill a tub full of ice-cold water, put [him] in it, and hold [him] under ‘till [he] was blue” (Capote132). All of these things led to a biased look at what he thought and hoped his future could hold.

Neil Perry is also a troubled young man within himself because he doesn’t want to conform to the life his father wants for him. Neil wants to be his own person and to the things he likes to do but he is afraid to stand up to his father. His father is a phony conformist such as Holden describes his father in Catcher in the Rye. Neil’s father makes him quit the school paper because one of his teachers wants him to, when Neil tries to stand up for himself, his father scolds him and tells him when he graduates medical school he can do what he wants, until then, he must obey what his father tells him. When he does finally do what he wants, when he finally incorporates the ‘’carpe diem’’ phrase into his life and made the decision for himself to act in the play, his father decides to take him out of Welton and send him to military school. Neil felt the only to break his father’s shackles was to kill himself. I think that Neil felt that he couldn’t bare

Individualism refers to the pursuit of individual rather than common interests, otherwise, egoism. In the novella, “Anthem”, Equality 7-2521 is constantly persecuted by the society that he has lived and grown up in for twenty years. Likewise, Neil from Dead Poet’s Society has grown up under the oppression of his father, whom never allowed Neil to make his own decisions. Both characters faced many obstacles to reach what they considered to be a happy life, but they both eventually escape their lives of oppression and persecution by different means. Equality 7-2521 (or Prometheus) and Neil were both unfairly held back and persecuted by their leaders.

Neil’s grades began to soar and he was able to graduate from college as the Valedictorian. He later went on to study Psychology and became a psychologist. He has come to terms with his disorder, now has some amount of control over his impulses and also plays football and tennis, during and after his practice. Neil has volunteered to help children and adults who are like him, the ones who were brainwashed by adults and other people they depended on and as a result, ended up failing at what they were destined to

Dead Poets Society and the Suicide of Neil Perry "Dead Poets Society" deals with the angst of growing up in a public boys' school, with the typical themes of pressure to achieve academically and the themes of rebellion featuring heavily. Several young boys' worlds are changed forever when Mr. Keating (Robin Williams) arrives at their school. The director of the 1989 film, Peter Weir, utilises a variety of techniques to subconsciously signal to the viewer that all is not well in the Perry household. Through these techniques, it becomes evident that Neil is unhappy with life. This triggers the assumption from the viewer that he will commit

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

Neil is presented as an aspiring young boy with the goal of becoming a doctor, or so it would seem. Later we find out that Neil’s true dream is to become an actor. It is Neil’s father who wants him to become a doctor. A great portion of the movie is taken up by this conflict of ideas. Tom Perry represents the conformity in Neil’s life and acting and the Dead Poets Society represent his outreach to individuality. Neil struggles direly to fulfil his own needs but in the end he is smothered by his fathers closed minded insistence that he drops his own interests in the name of sensibility. This represents that in the case of Neil conformity was far more powerful than individuality, as he is driven to death by the

The Perrys apparently are not a particularly rich family, and the parents sacrificed a lot to have their son go to a prestigious prep school, of which Neil is almost constantly reminded when meeting with his father. Anything that stands in the way of Neil becoming a doctor is unacceptable to his father. Even seeing his son perform wonderfully in a Shakespearean play does not change his mind, as he prepares to withdraw Neil from Hilton and send him to a military academy to ensure his medical career. Neil, who never finds in himself the ability to confront his father to defend his own interests and beliefs, commits suicide.

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.