In the movie the Dead Poets Society, Mr.Keating influences Todd Anderson to seize the day and to think for himself. For example, in the beginning of the movie, Todd was very orthodox with anti-transcendentalist views. Todd followed every rule at Vermont boarding school; however, Mr.Keating teaches his students to not go by tradition but by thinking for themselves. In the movie, Mr.Keating was telling the kids to rip out the pages from their textbooks, he mentions, “In my class you will learn to think for yourselves again”. Mr. Keating explains that the students should think for themselves rather than following a scale by J. Evans Pritchard. This is similar to the writings of Henry Thoreau, a transcendentalist writer. Thoreau wrote a piece of art called “Where I Lived and What I Live For”, he explains “For most men, it/ appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty/ about it, whether it is of the devil or of God,/ and have somewhat hastily concluded that it/ is the chief end of man here to …show more content…
They do not think what the chief end of man is but rather follow society without thinking what to glorify god and enjoy him forever really means. This connects to Todd because Mr.Keating inspired him to not follow tradition and join the Dead Poets Society. By joining the Dead Poets Society, he learned transcendentalist views and grew an appreciation for Mr.Keating. Todd also ended up becoming the leader of the society. Another student of Mr. Keating, Neil, ended up committing suicide. This forced the other students to sign a form saying that Mr.Keating was the cause of Neil’s death. At the end of the movie, Mr.Keating is fired and the students are very oppressed. The next day of class, Mr.Keating comes back to grab a few personal things, and Todd cannot stand seeing him leave so he shouts “Oh Captain, my Captain”, a saying that Mr.Keating told his students to call