11.   The most influential leader I’ve had in my life is my grandma. I’ve always looked up to her because of the godly and compassionate person that she is. She’s faced adversities and became a stronger person in the end and never compromised her integrity. She’s also influential to me because she always sticks up for the things she believes in.

22.    I agree with the poem. I think it means different things for different people, but for me it means having an outlet from monotonous, everyday life and being able to express true thoughts and feelings in an intimate way. I think poetry is a way for any human being to channel passion into words and into lines that all flow together to convey a concept, feeling, emotion, state of being, etc.

33.  I agree with Mr. Keating’s quote. We are all content with thinking we completely know and grasp an idea or concept, but most of the time there is always something new to learn or a different perspective to view something. I have to take a different perspective about my older sister and the life she’s living. I have to put myself in her shoes in order to relate and understand her, and if I don’t I tend to judge or disassociate myself from her.  

44.  The “verse” I want to leave on this world is being a mom and a wife someday. I want to also be a painter and physically leave my mark that way or make that my lasting impression. 

1. Would Neil still have committed suicide if Mr. Keating had never come into his life?

After much consideration and acknowledgment of multiple perspectives concerning the influence of Neil’s death, I believe it would be less probable for Neil to have committed suicide if Mr. Keating was not such a strong influence in Neil’s life. However, if Mr. Keating was taken out of the picture, I believe Neil’s passion for acting would have been repressed from his parents, especially from his father, to an extent that he would have possibly considered suicide. Mr. Keating encouraged Neil’s passion for acting but only with parental consent. Notably, he was the main influence in Neil’s life that was reassuring and encouraging about his passion for acting, making him slightly “guilty”, for a lack of a better word, of Neil’s death. Without Mr. Keating’s persistence in Neil’s life, Neil probably wouldn’t have committed suicide.

2. Who was really the bravest of Keating’s boys? Who was a coward?

I think the bravest of Keating’s boys was Charlie. He was the most confident and most rebellious out of all the boys. He is actually recalcitrant and reckless more than anything else. He resists the authority of the school and is ultimately expelled for refusing to sign the document condemning Mr. Keating. He thrives on attention and is very chauvinistic. The coward of the Keating boys is at first Todd. Todd is a introvert but eventually learns how to speak up for himself and Mr. Keating. He’s obedient and studious and can come off as cowardly at some points in the movie.

3. How did the poetry book make it into Neil’s room? (Did Keating put it there?) And if so, why, after telling the boys that the present administration would not look favorably on it, would Keating do that?

I think Mr. Keating put the poetry book in Neil’s room. I also think he put it there even though he knew administration wouldn’t approve or think highly of it because he was gearing the boys to think more for themselves and not rely on traditional teachings and ways of thinking. Keating challenged conventional concepts, some would say to an extreme. 

I think The Dead Poets Society's central theme is "carpe diem." It's what Mr. Keating tells his English students when he takes them to look at photos of long dead alumni from the school. He wants them to make their lives extraordinary, to do some different or bold, to follow their dreams. The inspiration for Mr. Keating and for his students is poetry and writing. The boys are inspired by Mr. Keating to restart the Dead Poets Society to, in my opinion, live more intently and with grace and elegance through the means of reading poetry of well-known and respected poets. It’s possible that the central theme of carpe diem is the main factor that inspires Neil to follow his passion for theatre, Knox to peruse the girl he loves, and for the shy Todd to eventually learn to be bold enough to speak up. In conclusion, the movie is about seizing the day - making the most of your time before you die - and about being unique and following your passions and being unafraid to stand up for those things.

Follow Up Character Questions

1. Although all the characters transformed in some form, I think the character that transformed the most was Todd. Todd was shy throughout the whole movie but he opened up and in the end became the only one in the classroom who actually said something when Mr. Keating came to class to get the rest of his things. He was the first to stand up on his desk when Mr. Keating started to walk out. Not only did he transform as a character but he went through self-realization. He became a leader when before he was just a bystander. That's why I think Todd transformed the most in the movie. 

2. I think Neil is a static character because he doesn't undergo a change in his character at any time during the movie. Just because he died at the end doesn't necessarily mean that he changed. His life was an act. He acted for his father, Mr. Keating and even to himself. But when he wasn't acting, he thought he had nothing else to contribute. He is a static character because his personality, way of thinking (for the most part) all stays the same.

3. I think Mr. Keating is a static character, maybe even more so than Neil. Keating is a romantic character from start to end, making him static. I think he's a main character just because of how much of an influence he has throughout the movie. His romanticism leads to his downfall, but in the events that would lead up to that, he led Neil, Nwanda, and Knox into extreme romanticism which led to their downfalls as well. 

4. Mr. Keating is the new teacher and was a previous student at Welton. He inspires the boys to 'seize the day' and restart his old club, the Dead Poets Society. Neil Perry is a student at Welton along with Knox, Todd and Charlie. He decides to restart the dead poets society. Neil also has a passion for acting and a restricting relationship with his father who disproves of his acting. He has a fear of being accepted and never does overcome that fear, it instead overcomes him. Todd starts out as the most timid of the poets, but gains confidence thanks to Keating and Neil's encouragement. Todd overcomes the fear of public opinion. Charlie is the most rebellious member of the Dead Poets Society and fears not living life to the fullest. I think he overcomes that fear by being humbled by Mr. Keating's expulsion. Charlie spends most of the movie attempting to win the love of a girl named Chris. He fears not being able to win her love but overcomes it by showing his love for her and her going to the play with him. 

1. Discuss the roles of women in the 1950s as portrayed in the movie. How were they different from the view of Katherine Watson?

The role of women in the 1950's was repressive and constrictive in many ways. Women in the 1950's defined the role of being a wife and a mother. Society placed high importance and a lot of expectations on behavior for women at home and in public.  The "perfect mother" was supposed to stay at home and nurture and take care of her husband's and kid's needs. This can be seen in the movie, "The Mona Lisa Smile." Katherine Watson had an alternative view on the way women should live. She was concerned with individual goals, happiness, and overall well-being. She stressed being independent from societal oppression and independent from a man's constrictive suppositions. She was against being forced into the traditional life of getting married young and supporting and raising a family to find happiness. Instead, she pursued education, which was uncommon for women to do in the 1950's. 

2. Katherine Watson's teaching style was labeled as "unorthodox." Explain and cite examples from the movie. 

Katherine Watson stayed away from teaching by the common/traditional methods. She didn't go by a syllabus, she taught with visual representations of the material, she connected to students personally, and took her teaching outside of the classroom. She got in trouble for not following a strict outline for the class and was even given instructions by the Dean of the university to stop the unorthodox way of teaching and to teach more traditionally. Katherine felt it was important to know her students personally so she could reach them at a different level. At one point, she brought in an abstract painting by Jackson Pollock to show her students different styles of art. She stressed individuality within education as well as in her student's lives.