Dead Poets Society Essay

In two different worlds of prep school teenagers and so called ‘normal’ teenagers, there are bound to be differences, but in Dead Poets Society, similarities can be found between the gaps of the lives of prep school and public school students. Initially, a problem faced by both prep school teens and so-called ‘normal’ teens is the disagreeing and lack of confidence in some students when a career path has been chosen for them by their parents. For example, at Welton Academy, Neil Perry has been destined to become a doctor, when acting is what he would like to pursue. According to Neil, “he’s [Mr. Perry] has never even asked what [Neil] wants”, showing that Mr. Perry has made an important decision on Neil’s behalf on which he hasn’t ever consulted …show more content…
Subsequently, this leads to the point of disobedience, and going behind someone’s back. In regards to prep school teenagers, Neil can often been seen disobeying his father, for instance, when he auditioned for a play, something he knew his father would never let him do, stating that, “if [I] don’t ask him, at least [I] won’t be disobeying him”. Neil’s mentality is the same as a so-called normal teenager when they are in the mindset that if they are doing something their parents would not allow, then there is no need to inform the parents of their actions, and therefore not disobeying them. As a final point, another problem that is similar between prep school teens and normal teens is pressure peers or parents put on a person to make a specific decision. To illustrate, in Dead Poets Society, after Neil’s death, and the inquiry into Mr. Keating, Todd Anderson is forced to make a choice on whether or not to hold Mr. Keating responsible for Neil’s actions. When Todd was called in to give his signature, he struggled with making the decision because he knew it wasn’t right, but eventually did sign when he saw the other signatures of the Dead Poets Society members, and to the urging of his parents and Mr.