Who Is Neil Perry In Dead Poets Society

Neil Perry is the leader of his friends, and the leader of the Dead Poets Society. He is the most intense and driven of his friends, and he has a hard time balancing his interests and his responsibilities. He is an uncompromising person, and he cannot seem to put his emotions, which are as intense as he is, into perspective, which leads to his drastic behavior throughout the film. In Welton Academy, Neil Perry is a popular, confident student who is outspoken and who understands the value of discretion, obedience, and discipline. However, throughout the plot of the film, we watch Neil become a young man who values his passion, talent, and his need to explore himself and his interests outside of his father’s plans for him.

He has been taught at Welton for several implied years, and because of his background in the prestigious academy he knows where he stands at the school, and thus with his peers. This leads him to being very comfortable in his own skin. He is well-liked, and his parents hold him to the type of standards that would make him very confident in himself, because there is not room in their idea of him for uncertain behavior. Examples of his confidence range from him being one of the first students to tear out the introductory essay from their English textbooks, or when he calls to Mr.Keating, “O Captain, my Captain,” becoming the first student to ‘dare’, as Mr. Keating remarks, to call his teacher his alternative title. He is usually the first of his friends, if not all students, to take any sort of plunge. Being the first to come forward in these instances might have terrified a more insecure person, such as Todd Anderson, but Neil is able to handle these situations with ease, making him a very confident

He puts his entire self into each role he takes on as an individual, from being the dutiful son to the charming, star pupil he puts forth one hundred percent. He takes his relationships with everyone he knows very seriously, whether it is a new-found friendship, or a life-long bond. For instance, Neil makes a point to cheer up Todd Anderson when he finds him lamenting the gift his parent’s got him for his birthday. The point is also made clear when he cannot bring himself to speak up and tell his father what he feels after the play. He is committed himself to being the model son, and he simply cannot make himself even play at disappointing his father anymore than he feels he has. He is also one hundred percent dedicated to the play, and he can’t break his commitment to the cast, and so he ends up breaking his father’s explicit rules to participate in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is a matter of his word against his father’s, and in the end he chooses to honor his own word. He is also very committed to being great at acting, going as far as to say after the play that, “I was good. I was really good.” Neil is devoted to anything he says he is, and it is a faithful bond on him that he refuses to