Dead Poets Society And Transce

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that the movie Dead Poet’s Society echoes Transcendentalist notions in content in that self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and blind conformity to custom or tradition, intuition is superior to deliberate intellectualism and rationality and in structure through the idea that one can find truth and beauty in nature.
One of the main ideas of Transcendentalism is that one’s own opinions should prevail over deliberate conformity. Emerson wrote concerning that notion saying, “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist” (“Self-Reliance” 15). Emerson tightly relates one’s being with nonconformity, therefore illustrating that one who does conform to society’s wishes is less of a man, or yet a real man at all. Emerson takes off on that idea and goes on to express the bold statement, “Imitation is suicide”(3). Emerson takes “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist” to a new ...

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which are the singular most important aspects of his teachings. On the first day of class Mr. Keating persuades the young men to stand on their desks. “I stand upon my desk to remind yourselves that we must constantly look at things in a different way” (Dead Poet’s Society). Standing on the desk symbolizes individualism, while everyone who merely sits in his or her desk is just conforming to the typical expectation. The most blatant instance of the fight against conformity in Dead Poet’s Society is the circumstance surrounding Neal Perry’s suicide. After Mr. Perry saw his marvelous performance in “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” he ...

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