Significant experiences; the twists of life.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.
. Significant experiences; the twists of life.Significant experiences are
moments in life that create change not. 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