Dead Poet Society

Dead Poet Society

“To put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.” - Neil Perry In the first scene of the movie, Dead Poet Society, the Welton students dutifully filed into the school’s chapel. They all had on the same uniform and recited the same four pillars.These pillars were: traditions, honor, discipline, and excellence. Each boy was expected to act in the proper way and it always has been this way. This sameness and repetition are a major reason for some of the events that had happened in the movie. Mrs. Keating, their English teacher, taught in a different way than the other Welton teachers. He did not follow the sameness and repetition that was always shown in the school. Many teachers did not agree with his teaching methods, because they did not want change.

At this school, the four pillars are different aspects of the same conformist model of success. This model cannot work for

Neil Perry had so much pressure from his dad, Mr.Perry, because he wanted him to achieve more than him and his family ever did. Mr. Perry cared about his son, he just expressed it through conformity and discipline. He sets standard for Neil such as, being a doctor. He does not let him follow his dreams to be an actor, because he chose his path already. Neil loved acting and his dad did not approve and acted like his dreams were not important. In the end, Neil took his own life because he was so hurt and tired of the pressure he was under from his parents. Parent pressure can be so much stress on a child and it obviously affected Neil so much that he did what he did. “You know what my dad called me when I was growing up? Five ninety-eight. That’s what all the chemicals in the human body would be worth if you bottled them raw and sold them. He told me that was all I would ever be worth unless I worked every day to improve myself. Five ninety-eight.” -Neil