Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society shows the story of a group of students at Welton Academy that are influenced in some way by their new professor of English Literature, Mr. John Keating. Some of the students experienced changes in both their internal and external journeys proving that Carpe Diem is something extraordinary. "Seize the day": it's all about it. It's what Carpe Diem is about. Tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence. These were the four pillars that rules the lives of the students at the Academy and the ones they had to overcome by thinking for their own and achieving what they most want to. Throughout the movie, Neil Perry and Todd Anderson are the ones who changes at most.

Neil loves acting, but his father wants him to become a doctor because he has opportunities that he never had at his age. Mr. Perry seems to be a strict, demanding, and serious man who rules the life of his son at all aspects.  As the movie starts, Mr. Perry ordered Neil to quit from an extracurricular activity and Neil didn't have any option instead of followed his father's instructions.  Once Mr. Keating started teaching at the Academy, Neil proposed his friends to make the Dead Poets Society. He started to see the world from other point of view. This is when his internal journey starts to be revealed. As the movie continues, he became excited because he was selected to be the main character of a play. Consequently, he disobeyed his father's rules by didn't quitting from the play, but he was really happy doing what he loves. This act reflects his external journey as a consequence of his internal journey. But there's more. After his performing at the play, Mr. Perry took Neil home and Neil commit suicide with   his father's gun. Does he have some other option? Neil's internal journey led him to commit suicide because he couldn't handle his father's pressure and his father would never let him to study an acting career.

On the other hand, there is Todd Anderson. He seems to be a very shy young who shares room with Neil Perry. Once he started taking class with Mr. Keating, he seems to deal with his situation. Mr. Keating helped him to overcome his biggest fear: let his voice being heard by others. "YAWP!" This is a reflection of his internal journey: overcoming self confidence and leaving shyness behind. Todd's external journey is reflected after the death of Neil. He became sad and he screams out loud. That was the "YAWP!" technique. At the end of the movie, we  see a valiant Todd who decides to be the first to honored Mr. Keating after he leaves Welton Academy. This is his climax; his internal journey reflected at his maximum point in an external way.

We can accept our parents guide us throughout our lives, but we must never accept them to force us to study something we don't like. NEVER! We must trust in ourselves and achieve our goals.

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." - Mr. John Keating