a different person after, he attempted to break free of the conformity
that was suppressing him and his view on life became brighter and more
hopeful. For Neil, the significant experience of meeting Mr. Keating
also changed his outlook on the future. Instead of constantly studying and
dreading disciplinary action from his father, he began to look towards the
good things in life. He realized that his dream was to become an actor,
and that acting gave him happiness and hope that he had never had before.
Acting was Neil's hope for the future, it let him grow and experience
life's true joys, joys that he could not have even wished for in the past.
The greatest impact that Mr. Keating had on Neil was that he taught him
to look past the wishes of others, to see what was really wanted out of
life. Neil had been living a life created by his father, working towards
goals set by his father, and growing up to be his father. After meeting
Mr. Keating, Neil broke free of the bonds his father had tied around him
and tore off the blinders that had restricted his view of his life. He
saw things from his own point of view, acted as he wanted, not as his
father expected him to. His reaction to and perception of events that
occurred after his significant experience were radically different than
those of events preceding his experience. The most important decision
Neil made in the entire movie, however, was the one to kill himself. This
was a decision made by the new Neil, the Neil with a mind and future of
his own. The old Neil would have grudgingly accepted his fate, and lived
a frustrated and desperate life working towards his father's goals. A
direct result of his relationship with Mr. Keating, Neil's suicide showed
that he was in control of his life, that it was in fact, his life and he
wouldn't let anybody ruin it but himself.
Neil's suicide was both a
shock and an inspiration to his peers. One of their friends had just
died, but he had died for something he believed in. Neil was an
inspiration not in the sense that they believed they should all shoot
themselves, but in the sense that they now knew they could stand up for
themselves and did not have to be afraid of the consequences. The impact
of being taught by Mr. Keating was evident in the other boys in their
reaction to Neil's death. They all had learned what life held in store
for them, and they all understood that it had been Neil's choice to do
what he had done. To his peers, Neil's death would be remembered as his
way of openly defying his father, the school and everybody and anything
else that had ever gotten in the way of his dreams. If Mr. Keating had
not entered their lives, Neil's friends would most likely have simply
grieved for their loss of a comrade, and never thought about why it had
happened. If Mr. Keating had not have entered their lives, there would
not have been a reason for it to happen in the first place. Neil's
and Mr. Keating's messages in the movie were the identical, that one has
to stand up for what one believes in, and not living at all is better than
living someone else's life. "Make your life extraordinary." Through their
connection with Mr. Keating, the boys all discovered that living up to
their own expectations was both the hardest and most satisfying experience
in life. Every last member of the Dead Poet's Society was affected by Mr.
Keating, and all of them will carry his advice with them for the rest of
their lives. Through significant experience, one encounters change, and
the i Significant experiences are moments in life that create change not only in one's present period of
life, but also dramatically alter one's view of the surrounding and
forthcoming events. The impacts of such experiences are the opening of
new doors in life, the realization of possibilities one would have never
imagined sitting right under one's nose and the perception of details one
never thought important before. They mostly temper peoples views of
events, shedding a different hue of light upon them, revealing multiple
possibilities that were once left in shadow. In Dead Poet's society, a
handful of students discover through the exuberance of their English
teacher what kinds of lives they had been leading, and what their lives
could be. One student in particular, Neil Perry, discovers a whole new
world and his life is irreversibly changed as a result of the impact of
his association with Mr. Keating.
The lives of all the boys were
drastically changed the day they met Mr. Keating. "Carpe Diem" he told
them. "Seize the day, make you lives extraordinary." With these few
words, Mr. Keating opened the minds of his students to the broad
possibilities that life held for them. The boys learned that they
deserved more than the daily routine, that they were not satisfied with
living up to the expectations of others. As a result, they re-established
the Dead Poet's society, and consequently experienced what they had been
protected from previously. The most significant change wrought from both
the arrival of Mr. Keating and the re-instatement of the Dead Poet's
Society was Neil Perry's change in attitude. He realized what his dreams
were, and to accomplish them, he had to do something he had never dared to
do in the past, disregard the will of his father. Having lived under the
iron rule of an oppressive father his entire life, Neil's spirit was in
danger of smothering to death. The Dead Poet's Society and Mr. Keating
reawakened Neil's half-drowned spirit and encouraged Neil to strive
towards what he thought was important, not what his father thought was
important. Neil's life was drastically changed as a result of his meeting
Mr. Keating, from a life dedicated to school, to a life dedicated to
living. The impact of this association with Mr. Keating was that Neil was
a different person after, he attempted to break free of the conformity
that was suppressing him and his view on life became brighter and more
hopeful. For Neil, the significant experience of meeting Mr. Keating
also changed his outlook on the future. Instead of constantly studying and
dreading disciplinary action from his father, he began to look towards the
good things in life. He realized that his dream was to become an actor,
and that acting gave him happiness and hope that he had never had before.
Acting was Neil's hope for the future, it let him grow and experience
life's true joys, joys that he could not have even wished for in the past.
The greatest impact that Mr. Keating had on Neil was that he taught him
to look past the wishes of others, to see what was really wanted out of
life. Neil had been living a life created by his father, working towards
goals set by his father, and growing up to be his father. After meeting
Mr. Keating, Neil broke free of the bonds his father had tied around him
and tore off the blinders that had restricted his view of his life. He
saw things from his own point of view, acted as he wanted, not as his
father expected him to. His reaction to and perception of events that
occurred after his significant experience were radically different than
those of events preceding his experience. The most important decision
Neil made in the entire movie, however, was the one to kill himself. This
was a decision made by the new Neil, the Neil with a mind and future of
his own. The old Neil would have grudgingly accepted his fate, and lived
a frustrated and desperate life working towards his father's goals. A
direct result of his relationship with Mr. Keating, Neil's suicide showed
that he was in control of his life, that it was in fact, his life and he
wouldn't let anybody ruin it but himself.
Neil's suicide was both a
shock and an inspiration to his peers. One of their friends had just
died, but he had died for something he believed in. Neil was an
inspiration not in the sense that they believed they should all shoot
themselves, but in the sense that they now knew they could stand up for
themselves and did not have to be afraid of the consequences. The impact
of being taught by Mr. Keating was evident in the other boys in their
reaction to Neil's death. They all had learned what life held in store
for them, and they all understood that it had been Neil's choice to do
what he had done. To his peers, Neil's death would be remembered as his
way of openly defying his father, the school and everybody and anything
else that had ever gotten in the way of his dreams. If Mr. Keating had
not entered their lives, Neil's friends would most likely have simply
grieved for their loss of a comrade, and never thought about why it had
happened. If Mr. Keating had not have entered their lives, there would
not have been a reason for it to happen in the first place. Neil's
and Mr. Keating's messages in the movie were the identical, that one has
to stand up for what one believes in, and not living at all is better than
living someone else's life. "Make your life extraordinary." Through their
connection with Mr. Keating, the boys all discovered that living up to
their own expectations was both the hardest and most satisfying experience
in life. Every last member of the Dead Poet's Society was affected by Mr.
Keating, and all of them will carry his advice with them for the rest of
their lives. Through significant experience, one encounters change, and
the impact of all this is the new path one's life takes as a result.