How Does Tom Brennan Create A Change In The Dead Poets Society

New phases of life can often initiate change within an individual’s beliefs and attitudes. These changes can arise from the challenges that come with a transition and new relationships that form in this time, which can result in a transformation for the individual. The Story of Tom Brennan by J.C. Burke and The Dead Poets Society both explore this idea by featuring characters that transform because of a change in their adolescent life, which leads to drastic shifts in attitudes of themselves, with help of those around them.

In The Story of Tom Brennan by J.C. Burke, Tom’s world is completely changed because of his brother, Daniel’s, drink driving accident, leaving 2 people dead, another quadriplegic and Daniel in jail left to deal with the

Together, the pair climbs the “ascent”, a symbolic physical environment that represents Tom’s transitions throughout the book. To begin with, the ascent is a struggle for Tom and he exclaims, “The ascent is not a blood hill, Brendan. It’s a mountain!” However, Brendan forces Tom to persevere and they run up it together each day. As each run becomes easier, so does Tom’s life outside his family; he is scouted into the firsts for his school rugby team, he makes friends in his new community and he has the courage to kiss Chrissy, who becomes another significant influence on Tom’s transition. As Tom and Brendan discuss plans for the future and their climb to Mount Everest Base Camp, Tom reaches the top of the hill with ease for the first time. “We’d reached the top of the ascent. I’d made it without even realising”. This revelation allows Tom to reflect how far he has come, and he realises how much he has changed with the help of Uncle Brendan and Chrissy. Tom’s thoughts of “shedding with each kilometre, like layers of skin falling onto the track” as he ran with Brendan, are a similie by J.C. Burke, as Tom removes each layer of his depression and leaves it on the mountain. This milestone of Tom’s growth symbolises the change in attitude and beliefs that have been formed by perseverance and new relationships to overcome Tom’s

The courage brought to Todd by his relationships with others allows him to rebel against the school, proving his change into an autonomous young man, and he leads the rest of the class into standing and saying “Oh Captain, My Captain”. Without Mr Keating’s advice “Carpe Diem” or “Seize the Day”, Todd Anderson would not have had the courage to do this, which proves how much influence Mr Keating had on Todd’s transition. The camera angles of looking up at Todd on the desk and down at Mr Keating are ironic as this point of view shot would ordinarily represent Keating’s powerlessness, but here reflects the boys transitions into thinking for themselves, and reflects Keating’s true power as a catalyst for the transition of Todd and the other Welton