Meisner 1 Barbaric Yawp of Neil Perry: Free Thought and the Transcendentalist Ideals The film Dead Poet's

Society displays strong undertones of American Transcendentalism; the film captures the unparalleled beauty of nature, and sharply contrasts the open spaces with the cloistered halls of Welton Academy, a boys preparatory school. The philosophy at Welton of tradition, honor, disincline, excellence is sharply underlined by an argument between two English teachers, Mr. Keating and Mr. MacCalester, when MacCalester responds to the idea of boys being free thinkers by scoffing, At these boys' ages? Not on your life! However, Mr. Keating is a firm believer that boys can be free thinkers, and he pushes his students to think for themselves and to act for themselves. One of Mr. Keating's students, Neil Perry, begins the film under the stern, guiding hand of his father, Thomas Perry, but then takes up Mr. Keating's curriculum and begins to act on his own thoughts. Neil Perry grows as a free thinker and a follower of the Transcendentalist ideal of living deliberately in reforming the Dead Poet's Society, by performing in a production of Midsummer Night's Dream, and ultimately by killing himself. The first indication that Neil will change at all is when he brings his company of friends out to the woods for their first meeting of the reformed Dead Poet's Society. After finding his teachers old yearbook entry, Neil goes to ask his instructor about the old Dead Poet's Society. Mr. Keating describes to Neil the secret Indian cave, and how the Dead Poet's Society would strike out to the cave to read poetry, and savor in living life deliberately. That night, Neil takes his first steps as one who acts on his own accord by leading his friends to the cave to reconvene the Dead Poet's Society. There, it is he who reads the first passage, an excerpt from Thoreaus Walden: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. This simple action is the catalyst for the rest of Neil's growth, as from then on he acts in a way that when he comes to die, he will discover that he has lived. He begins to follow his own fantasies, such as the dream of being an actor.

Meisner 2 Neil grows further when he follows his dreams and takes a part in a local production of Midsummer Night's Dream against his father's wishes. Shortly after his decision to live deliberately, Neil finds a flyer for open auditions to a local production of Shakespeares Midsummer Nights Dream. Neil decides to try out, but fears that his father will write off the dream of being an actor as a childish whim. The mere act of auditioning is a sign of growth as a free thinker in Neil, who, for that moment, is not bound to a life others have set before him. Furthering his commitment to live his own life and think his own thoughts, Neil forges a letter of approval from his father to allow him to act in the play. However, when Neils father finds out that he has set out to act, Neils earlier prophecy becomes true; Neils father is furious and demands Neil withdraw from the play. Though Neil hides his further acting from his father, Neil's will is overpowered in his fathers presence, and Neil always pretends to consent to his fathers demands. This is a failing on Neils part, one that is ultimately never repaired until Neils tragic, final action. The pinnacle of Neils growth happens when he fully embraces the Transcendentalist ideal of living ones life to the fullest and kills himself to avoid living the life that others have laid before him. The night Neils father expresses his intent to enroll Neil in military school, Neil goes before his bedroom window to gaze out on the dark winter wood. At this moment, it is plain to see that Neil fully understands the poem with which he began the renewed Dead Poet's Society; Neil goes now to the woods to live deliberately, and when he hangs his head, it is clear that Neil knows he has not lived life to its fullest. Neil's act of killing himself stems from the tragic realization that he cannot truly live under the stern hand of his father, and that in doing so, for the first time, Neil will be able to truly act for himself. In a way, Neil takes the first steps of his new life at the very the moment he ends it. It is a depressing thought to think that one has not lived one's life until one ends it, but in the case of Neil Perry, such a thought is an unfortunate fact. However much growth Neil exhibits throughout the film, each action Neil takes toward embracing the ideal of living deliberately is

Meisner 3 completed only under the guise of night. When the newly formed Dead Poets Society meets, they do so away from campus in the inky depths of an Indian cave. When Neil performs in Midsummer Nights Dream, he does so secretly from his father and performs at night. Even Neils final act of killing himself is done when anyone who would stop him is asleep, unable to change his decision. The moment Neil spends standing before his bedroom window calls to mind the final lines from Walt Whitmans A Song of Myself: I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable / I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. Neil is no longer any bit tamed; after his death, Neil is finally free to live.

Meisner 4 Neil begins his life the moment he ends it. Such a thing may seem like a contradiction, but it is only in ending his own life that Neil is finally able to choose to do something without fear of repercussion from anyone. Though Neil leads the new Dead Poet's Society, he does so in secret; Though Neil tries out for the play, he still fears his father's judgment. His fears restrain him from acting on his own thoughts and dreams, in the way of the Transcendentalists. Throughout the film Dead Poets Society, Neil Perry displays understanding of the idea of free thought and living life to the fullest in reforming the Dead Poet's Society, and by performing in a production of Midsummer Night's Dream, and fully embodies the idea of living deliberately in ending his own life.