Dead Poets Society “view of Mr. Keating”
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Essay – DEAD POETS SOCIETY
“Mr. Keating”
Sometimes in life people can come along and touch our lives in unexpected ways. This was the case with Mr. Keating and the boys in the movie “Dead Poets Society.” He taught the boys so many lessons that they would have never learned from any other teacher. By looking at scenes from the movie, and lines from the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman, we can see just how important the lessons were that Keating was trying to teach the boys. Mr. Keating reminded them to seize each day and cherish them dearly.
From the very first day that Mr. Keating walked into the classroom you could see that he had an original method of teaching. A middle age man came into class whistling, and then proceeded to take the boys outside the classroom to read them a poem, and announced that they c
could call him “Captain O Captain”. His first important lesson was “Carpe Diem”, which means seize the day. He was trying to tell them that everyday opportunities await us and we must decide whether to take a chance, or play it safe. Mr. Keatting also encouraged them to take risks, for nothing is gained without them. “gather the roses while ye may”, because one day you are going to die. Pictures of former alumni who were once where they were standing, but they are now dead. This idea is related with something Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person always do what you are afraid to do”. Another great mind, Whitman, once said in the poem, “Song of Myself”, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” I think what they were all trying to say is that you have to love your self, and live for each and every moment while we still can.
Besides “Carpe Diem”, Keating also taught the boys to “walk their own way.” One of the most important lessons that Keating taught the boys was to be an individual no matter what anyone else tells them. This took place in the scene where he took them all out into the courtyard and told them to start walking. The point of this was to demonstrate that after walking for a little while, everyone started walking the same way. He wanted to show them how difficult it is to maintain your own beliefs when everyone else is doing something different