Dead Poet's Society Theme Essay

If a teacher had me close my eyes and ramble about the first things I thought of when I viewed Walt Whitman, I would have deemed him crazy and Mr. Keating was just that. Although there was only a sliver of sanity in his unorthodox English teaching methods, Keating knew exactly what he wanted his students to learn. He wanted to teach his students the powerful effects of non-conformity, the freedom of expressing oneself and being open-minded.

To begin, Keating wanted his students to understand that conformity, although sometimes easier, was not always better. However, these students were raised in strict families, went to an all boys private school, wore uniforms and had strict curfews. They were born into conformity and lived their whole lives by its rules and when Keating had them walk aimlessly in the courtyard but with their own style it was a very weird experience for them all.Conformity has been useful for retaining order but sometimes non comformity such as unpredictability and differences can be even more useful keeping order because if people are allowed to do what they want they are less likely to cause trouble.

Furthermore, because of conformity none of Keating's students knew how to express themselves nor did they have the courage to stand up to their strict parents. Niel Perry, one of Keating's students, had always wanted to play a role in a theatre production. Niel auditioned and got the main role in Mid Summer Night's Dream as Puck however, his father would not let him play the role and forced him to resign from the play. Keating talked with Niel and told him to tell his father how he truly felt and that he was going to do the play. Keating wanted his students to know how to express themselves and on a more personal level he helped some of his students by making them recite poetry in front of the class or encouraging them to follow their dreams.

Lastly, Keating had a strong understanding of how dangerous a closed-mind can be, his colleagues are good examples of closed-minded personalities and he didn't want his students to grow up and become like them. Keating's fellow teachers all had very boring teaching styles that consisted of lectures and textbooks and in his boss's case, the principal of the school, he punished teachers who would step out of line. These people were enough examples that Keating understood that he must teach his students to have an open-mind and few things from different perspectives. This is why he got his students to stand on their desks and realize that their point of view is not the only one.

Keating wanted the best for his students and he wanted them to realize that conformity is not always the best option, expression is a powerful tool when used correctly and open-mindedness can never do harm. It wasn't Mr. Keating's teachings that caused Niel to commit suicide but it was the closed-mindedness of Niel's father.

Spoken Poetry assignment

When you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder you don't really get quiet moments, Neil Hilborn explains in his poem, "OCD". Hilborn creates a happy mood when he explains about his love for a girl and how "all the ticks, all the constantly refreshing images just disappeared." However, this mood becomes quite depressing when the girl he loves has to leave him. Neil tells their story and how he is so infatuated with this girl that he has to "kiss her goodbye 16 times or 24 times if it's Wednesday." Neil explains how he is in love with this girl so intensely that he can overpower his OCD and he doesn't have to watch his hands after he touches her. I enjoy how during the reciting of his poem that when he speaks he will repeat a line over and over and you can't tell whether he is repeating it on purpose or it's actually his OCD. Love has the power to make OCD weaker than it actually is and love is the reason that Neil can "leave the door unlocked" when he goes to bed, hoping that she will come back.

Notice how you never hear the term "Woman Up"? That's because women and the Woman's movement have realized that being ordered around by [the media] is dehumanizing. Guante discusses his pure hatred for the phrase "Man Up" in his poem, "Ten responses to the phrase 'Man Up'." Guante has the looks of the average tough guy but quickly drops that image when he reveals his inner sensitivity and how he "wants to be free to express himself" or how he "wants to be weak sometimes". The theme is that society should stop teaching boys that the only way to become a man is to "eat steak, drive a big truck and have lots of sex with women" but rather allow them to express themselves. I definetly like how Guante start's his poem very mean tough but later transforms into an emotionally charged poet.

When Patrick Roche counts down from twenty one he isn't expressing his ability to say the numbers from twenty one to zero; he is saying an age and relating his thoughts and feeling about his father for each age. Roche's poem "21" begins on a heavy note when he explains that his dad got hit by a car with a "blood alcohol level 4 times the legal limit" but Roche didn't cry. He immediately sets the mood and it is a mood of sorrow and self-pity. Roche continues to count down from 21, repeating his thoughts at the age of 15 because that is the age when his "dad found [he] was gay", his dad "began drinking again" and his entire family began blaming others for why his dad drinks. The theme is that acceptance is mandatory, in some cases such as Roche's, if his father had been open ended and accepting towards his son's sexuality a life would have been saved and Patrick's family would be as happy as they were in his younger years.

Brody Hormes
3 Banana Avenue
Guam, United States of America
H1 M0M

February 30, 2014

Inspector Clouseau
Chief of Police
123 Rue Justice
Paris, France
1A2 R3T

Dear Inspector Clouseau:
I assure you the choice to save the Mona Lisa instead of Ava Artlover was not an easy one. After meeting Ava Artlover I discovered she was a sweet old lady who did not deserve to perish in a fire. However, after seeing the Mona Lisa I discovered that it was a timeless piece of art that had to live on. The Mona Lisa is the most renowned painting that has ever been skilfully brushed upon a canvas and it would be a crime to take away the pleasure of viewing the original copy from millions of people worldwide.

Ms. Artlover was 92 years old and she requried a motorized wheel chair to move. I can't put a price on a human's life but I can find a price for the Mona Lisa and it is around 780 million dollars. Now I can assume that Ava, as an avid art enthusiast, would not price her fragile life at more than 780 million dollars. Therefore, in a economic view I made the correct decision.

I want to remind you that my choice was rushed. As I saw the flames dancing on the walls and leaning around the corner I could feel them staring at our trio. I heard the whirr of Ava's wheel chairs engine so I instinctively hopped the velvet rope and grabbed the Mona Lisa. My thoughts were hoping that Ava could make it to the potentially operating elevator and as I galloped up the stairs, Mona Lisa in hand. Unfortunately, due to safety hazards, the Louvre's elevators had an automatic self-shut down system when it's fire alarms went off.

Sincerely,


Brody Hormes

Round 1. Fight!

He wasn’t my grandfather and to be totally honest I wasn’t even related to him. His son was a good friend of my dad so when I was little my parents would tell me, “We are going to Grampa Cliff and Grandma Inez’s place for dinner tonight.” Despite not being remotely related to Cliffton he would always greet me with a hug that was not proportionally sized to his frail body. However, when he would inform me that, “Brody, you’re getting larger every time I see you!” I could still hear that his voice was diminishing quickly. It wasn’t a shock when he went into cardiac arrest, he was nearing 85 and his failing heart could not keep the rhythm. We waited on those soft, cushioned seats with the armrests that never seemed to be in the proper place for comfort. The clock hung on the wall, crooked, but still serving its purpose. The clock was his heart and with every shift of the second hand I could feel Cliff’s heart beat weakly from two doors down. Why does it happen that when you have to wait in a hospital something always makes you aggravated? Whether it was the sniffling of the common cold or the melting snow that had snuck through the bottom of my shoe and began to pull on my sock, I didn’t know. My dry fingers rubbed against one another like two rigid pieces of cardboard. When the young doctor opened the door we all looked to him for answers, he gave us few. Cliff had survived the first round but, with his age, it wouldn’t be long before we were all in the same place. Only temporary relief had been found but that was enough to sustain us till the next time that Cliffton had a boxing match with death.

Of Bears and “Men”

Is Liam a hero or is he a coward? In the short story "Bluffing" by Gail Helgason, Gabriella and her boyfriend Liam, are going to hike in the rocky mountains above Jasper, Alberta in order to share a nice lunch beside the lake. However, when Gabriella rushes in to the woods, away from Liam, after hearing irritable news about his upcoming adventure to "Yosemite, [or] maybe New Mexico", she finds herself running into a hulking grizzly bear. Liam follows close behind and upon his recognition of the grizzly bear he proceeds to sprint away at full speed. Later, in the hospital, where Liam lies in a bed, being held together by tethers of adhesive and the stitches strung through his skin, he claims that he ran away from the bear to save Gabriella from the potential attack. This is where the question arises, is Liam telling the truth? Or is Liam too afraid to admit of his strewn thoughts in the panicked situation? It is quite clear that Liam was just plain scared because he runs away, does not heed Gabriella's advice and he isn't connected with nature. To begin, when Liam finds himself in the predicament that Gabriella is in, she has already assessed it and is giving him advice that he should "try backing off slowly". Despite, Gabriella's efforts to help Liam and herself stay together and alive Liam decides to tear into the woods and the bear gives chase. Furthermore, Gabriella, being a Biology teacher and being connected with nature trusts her instincts and crouches into the fetal position whilst covering her neck as "the bear lunges forwards" but the bear doesn't want the easy kill: the bear wants to have some fun. Finally, Liam is a rock climber and he is clueless what he must do in their predicament and when he finds himself staring death in the eyes, he doesn't "[drop his] eyes from the bear's stare" like what Gabriella did, he tries to out run it. Luckily, Liam managed to survive but when he wakes up to find Gabriella with him he tries to salvage whatever is left of his dignity and he introduces the controversial statement.

Puff, Puff, pass it on.

Each wrinkle marked a cigarette that she dragged on until it was nothing. However, addiction didn't care what you would look like. High school days were her's to remember, playing hookie to skip Phys Ed and hang out behind the school. "Lisa's got a dart!" and everybody knew the rule. Puff, puff, pass it on. Surely, she couldn't get addicted if she only took two hits at a time. But that was years ago and the idea of quitting was somewhere hiding, probably behind all the packages of cigarettes at the corner store. One day, she will quit and she will never need a cigarette again! But her days are numbered. Surely she still doesn't need to smoke, she just smokes for something to do! Atleast that is what she convinced herself. Her eyes have long since seen beauty and her skin had the smooth grain of 60 grit sand paper. Her nose knew one smell and it made friends with that smell many packs of Marlboro ago. Her mouth, touched by the scent of the country air before infected by the poison of smoke. Smoking is a way to escape she told herself when she was younger, but know she is finding out that she was only ever trying to escape herself.

Every Scar is a Story

One more chop and surely he'll get through this log... Thud... Thud... Thud. Okay, this time he will raise the hatchet above his head and bring it down hard! Oops, that was his toe. He's young, spontaneous and as prone to accidents as they come. Brody Hormes has so many scars on his body that some people think that scarring himself is just another one of his pass times, heck, he has more scars than he does finger tips.When Brody isn't outside near the wood pile, swinging a hatchet into his toe, he is probably indoors where he stands a much better chance at not having to visit the hospital. However, his whole life isn't just a big injury, he does his homework like a little Mormon boy reads his Book of Mormon and plays video games religously. Despite not being able to perform in Soccer, even by his low standards, he has played the game since age 6. He can ski any run at Apex and he can even do monsterous 180's off of small jumps. Brody prides himself in his school marks but he can't face the fact that he is probably addicted to his computer.