Dead Poets Society Reaction

The movie Dead Poets Society is based on a high school for the rich called Welton Academy or more commonly known to students as Hellton Academy for its notoriety of being a difficult school. The 2 characters who rapidly became roommates are Todd Anderson and Neil Perry. Neil and Todd even though were teenagers at a high school they are constantly being pressured by their parents to be on schedule with their plans to make him a lawyer just like his older brother in the case of Todd. Neil has a similar situation but being an only child whose father is new rich had even more pressure because he did not want to see his family disappointed with him over not being a successful professional like the doctor his father wants him to be. This background is not especially a good place to be when you are a teenager who does not have any worries, and is still has no idea what he is going to do in his life and at the same time has to withstand, without complaining, everything his father tells him to do. Neither Todd nor Neil have been courageous enough to tell their parents that they do not want to take any parts in the life their parents already drew for both. When they arrive to the English class they meet their new professor Mr. Keating who is an ex-student at Welton Academy that want to teach his students to be free-thinkers given the fact that he knows the type of pressure the Academy can put in. First thing he teaches the students is the Latin phrase “Carpe Diem” which means: seize the day. The second day of class Mr. Keating tells the students to rip off the introduction of their text books saying that students need to think for themselves and in literature there is no such thing as grading a poem that it is measured by how the reader reacts to it. This along with finding the yearbook in which Mr. Keating appears encourages Neil and other students from his class like Todd to reopen the Dead Poets Society, a group of students with an interest in poems and that held meetings in a cave near the Welton Academy’s campus, founded by Mr. Keating. Neil uses this opportunity to make something else from his life than just being a student with aims to be a doctor, he just wanted to fit it in. After reorganizing the Dead Poets Society Neil felt strongly to try out for a play in the academy, to his disbelief he got the leading role, he then is asked for his father’s and the headmasters approval to which he certainly knew that his was not going to be allowed to perform in the play. Neil decided to play the odds and forged hid father signature in the permission slip to be allowed in the play, this shows he was deifying his father following only his goals because he always says that he is not allowed to do anything beside med school. Todd is very shy, whose shyness maybe from always doing what he is told by his parents no matter what, is asked by Mr. Keating at a class to recite an improvised poem in front of the class this exercise gave Todd self-confidence. It can be seen as little by little how Neil and Todd embrace “Carpe Diem” and start living by rules set by them. A few days later at Neil appeared at the play after being told by his father not to appear since his father found out he had sign the permission slip, after the play Neil’s fathers stubbornness and bossiness led him to punish Neil and told him that if he could not set things straight at the Academy that he (Neil) would be forced to a military school to make sure see his son turn into the professional he should be. That night Neil could not handle the pressure and the idea that the life he was going to live was the desire of his father so he grabbed a gun and shot himself. Neil’s father blamed the death on Neil on the hands of Mr. Keating because he wanted to make them free-thinkers to which the headmaster agreed and threw Keating out of the Academy when the students from the Dead Poets Society where force to sign a document stipulating this event. Reflecting on the movie it shows a real situation that happens today in some families in which popularity becomes a life style and a contest that cannot be lost or their prestige would be diminished. That is why Mr. Keating was not well liked among the parents. Mr. Keating is a sign of life and freedom that motivates the students to strive for what they love not what they are told. In my opinion he gave them a better lesson than anyone in that academy could, he showed them what life and being happy was all about. For Neil it is clear what happened but for Todd his life became full of possibilities even though he could not do them all, inside of him he now knows that there's more to life than what he was mislead to believe.