The film, Dead Poets’ Society, published in 1989, shows how the kids at a strict boarding school live and how they are raised. The film shows how Mr. Keating, their new English teacher, changed all of their lives. There are many elements of transcendentalism explored in Dead Poets’ Society that are also shown in works by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Two characters who showed these elements in the film were Neil Perry and Todd Anderson. Neil Perry was the main character in Dead Poets’ Society and he showed transcendentalism through his individuality and how self-motivated he was. In the film, Neil is motivated and passionate about acting and can see himself making a career out of it, but his dad wants him to be a doctor. Neil’s mindset to pursue acting and his self-reliance is a direct relationship with Thoreau’s work Walden. Thoreau talked …show more content…
At first, he was a shy and insecure kid who never expressed himself. However, Mr. Keating helps him find out how to express himself. Emerson talked about his beliefs in self-expression in his work self-reliance, “Bravely let him speak the utmost syllable of his confession. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents” (Emerson 1). This quote shows the importance of expressing yourself, yet how difficult and challenging it can be to do so. Not everyone can express themselves. Todd's transformation was clearly shown in the scene where he stood on his desk and recited a poem to the whole class. This connects to Thoreau talking about living with a purpose in his work Walden, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Thoreau 1). This shows self-reliance and how Todd is starting to live with a meaning in his