Neil Perry: Dead Poet's Society

A father should be loving and supportive of his son and help him live a happy, healthy lifestyle to the best of his ability. In the movie, Dead Poets Society, Neil Perry died mainly because of his father’s cruel hijacking of his son’s life. Although some say it was the fault of Mr. Keating, his teacher, it was actually him that encouraged him to actively follow his dream and pursue acting. Neil himself was not responsible for his death because he was not the one who made him feel like there was no other option. To begin, Neil’s father did not support Neil at all directly before his death. Mr. Perry told his son that he would be sent to military school, and that he would be a doctor. Not only is it damaging to his psyche that he would be force to be something he has no interest in, he would be ripped away from his support system, his friends. His mother, who should have …show more content…
After all, he was presented with a single, horrible option, change schools and become a lawyer. Neil, created his own second option, and killed himself, the only way to convey to his parents how serious he was about acting. There was no other way to save himself from a future of a path he never wanted. Imagine it like this: Neil is standing in a tall building, which symbolizes his future the way he wants it. Neil loves this building, when his father lights it on fire, symbolizing how Mr. Perry took away Neil’s ability to make his own decision. Now because Neil can’t fight the fire and change his father’s decision, he jumps. He doesn’t jump because he wants to die, he jumps because it would be better than facing the fire and becoming a money-making puppet for his parents. Neil's death was solely because of the harsh actions of Mr. Perry. In conclusion, Mr. Perry was the person who caused Neil to commit suicide. Mr. Keating only encouraged Neil to take his passion to the next level, and Neil did what he did because he was backed into a