Dead Poet's Society: Significant Experiences; The Twists of Life.
Significantexperiences 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.
. Dead Poet& apos ;s Society: Significant Experiences; The Twists of Life.
Significant experiences are moments in life that create
change. life, Neil&apos ;s spirit was in danger of
smothering to
death. The Dead Poet& apos ;s Society and Mr. Keating reawakened Neil&apos ;s
half-drowned
spirit and