Dead Poets Society Argumentative Essay Example

their own paths of life, which both the boys and Holden fights for, and struggles with.

Identity crisis is one of the main similarities, because during Holden’s difficult journey he is struggling to figure out who he is and where he belongs at the same time that is exactly what the boys are doing in Dead Poet’s Society through poetry and acting. The loss of innocence is also shown in Dead Pets Society through the death suicide of one of they boys because of no control over his life. The main comparison is both stories journey to become self made, where Holden overcomes the obstacle of choosing his own path when he admits to caring about others and in Dead Poets Society, the kids become self made when they stand up to the administration and thank Mr. Keating for inspiring them.

At Welton academy, there were four pillars to be followed, which were tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence. The ability to follow some of these pillars impacted the student ability to become self-made. Tradition is passing down or handing down of a teaching from someone to someone, but over time things change. To follow tradition removes the individuality in a person because it shuts out ownership of your mind.

For the boys to follow tradition, they couldn’t embrace other beliefs, careers, different ways of learning, or anything out of “tradition” and it hindered them from becoming self-made. Honor is to have high respect and excellence is the quality of being outstanding. To have those expectations as a teenager is very stressful, and it doesn’t allow them to make mistakes, which is a part

of growing up and figuring out who you are.

This expectation also hindered the boy’s ability to become self-made because the pillar of honor and excellence stripped them of their learning how to create their own path and to overcome obstacles. The term Carpe Diem is Latin, and it means, “seize the say. ” It means to live your life to the fullest, take a chance, and don’t do what everyone expects you to do. Mr. Keating explained Carpe Diem to the boys on the first day. The spirit of Carpe Diem inspired the boys to become their own person, not the person they should be, but the person they really are.

He taught them to live by Carpe Diem, make their lives extraordinary. Carpe Diem connected with the notion of becoming self made because it inspired individuality, and creation of their own path in life. To be self-made is to overcome obstacles and become successful, and Carpe Diem inspired the boys to overcome the conformity in their lives. In the end scene, all they boys are standing on their desks as a salute to Mr. Keating to show that they now see the world from a different perspective and are ready to follow a path of their own.

The term Carpe Diem inspired me to not sit idly by and allow life to simply happen. I should go out and make life happen by taking charge of the moment and living it out the fullest. It has inspired me to revolve my life around carpe diem; make choices and go for what I want instead of sitting around and thinking about

what I want to do and weighing the consequences. My new motto is to just go for what makes me happy and be done with all the rest.