Life Lessons In Dead Poets Society

Teachers have the ability to impact every student they come across. Whether they have a positive or negative effect is often dependent on the student’s interpretation of the lessons. In the classic drama film, Dead Poets Society English teacher John Keating tries to teach his students lessons that everyone can learn from. He teaches at the all-boys school, Welton Academy, which he also attended when he was a boy. While his positive messages to enjoy life reach affect many of the boys, it can be argued that his messages drove Neil Perry to suicide. However, if Mr. Perry had allowed Neil to enjoy his extra circular activities he would not have felt that his life was not worth living. Also if the school had not placed such heavy loads of homework and pressure on Neil he would have felt like there was a way out of his misery. In the film Dead Poets Society, the persons most responsible for Neil Perry’s death are his father and the school administration for imposing unrealistic expectations on him.
When the film introduces Neil Perry and his father it is clear that his father has already planned his son’s future. The movie begins with the opening ceremony for the semester at Welton and while

Despite the pressure put on him by the school Mr. Perry continuously adds more by not allowing his son to participate in any extracurricular activities. Had the school taken notice that Neil was stressed and overloaded to the point of a mental break perhaps his death could have been avoided. However, neither the school administration nor his father held the gun to his head. No matter how trapped Neil was feeling he should have known that there is always a way out and that killing himself is not the only solution. When inspecting the cause of Neil Perry’s suicide it is clear that Neil’s family and Walton Academy blame teacher John Keating when it is entirely their