Reflection of the movie: Dead Poet's Society

In the film, Dead Poet’s Society, students at Welton Academy -who are adapted to strict discipline- are suddenly experiencing change with the new teacher, Mr. John Keating. He is a former student and a member of the Dead Poet’s Society that arrives to teach them English Literature with unconventional methods, opening a new vision of the world for the students. The students all react differently to Keating’s methods, some resist while others do not change at all. Charlie Dalton, a rebellious and rich boy, becomes even further rebellious and gets himself expelled. Todd Anderson reconstructs himself and finds his own “voice”. Richard Cameron, a true pragmatist, does not change at all following the rules and methods all ready established. In the end, every internal journey of each of the boys is revealed according to their own experienced external journeys. The character that I think most showed a fight with his internal journey with all the things happening in his external journey was Neil Perry’s.

When Neil Perry decides to pursue a career in the performing arts, rather than in medicine, Mr. Perry, his controlling and demanding father, gets really furious. When he found out about his participation in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream he went to Neil’s room at the school and told him: “You tell them you are quitting”. Neil tried to explain his motives but his father did not want to listen. His external journey, in which he has to put up with his father, who is being so authoritative, demanding and who is planning his entire life, affects his internal journey, in which is the way he thinks of himself and what he wants in life. When Neil asked Mr. Keating for advice he said he should tell his father about his love and passion for acting. Here is when Neil reveals thoughts in his internal journey saying: “I’m trapped”, this being the biggest struggle for him: to confront his father.

Unmoved by Neil’s extraordinary performance as Puck, the main character in the play, Mr. Perry continues to insist on controlling his son’s life and dictating his every move. But Mr. Perry’s efforts were useless; Neil had already experienced freedom -a privilege not easily hand over. Neil eventually stands up to his father, but is unable to communicate his opinions to the increasing tyrannical figure that his father had become. Rather than continuing to live a dull life, Neil decides that the only way to gain control is by taking his own life. Though he lost everything in the process, suicide was the only way for Neil to stand up to his father and live life to the fullest like Mr. Keating had taught them with “Carpe Diem”, which means to seize the day and make your lives extraordinary. Through the act of suicide Neil took control of his life, most importantly, his internal and external journeys.