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Emerson's philosophy
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Transcendentalism essay examples
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Throughout Dead Poets Society, there is a crucial theme of transcendentalism suspended over the plot; perhaps this theme is the reason why the story is so interesting to its viewers. Without a doubt, these interesting aspects are created by a variety of symbols, carefully molded into each scene of the story. Being that there exists several symbolic scenes, one must take a step back and look at this story as a whole. This perspective will make the main symbol stand out, as it lasts for the duration of the movie. The most powerful symbol is the character of John Keating, portraying God in the eyes of transcendentalism. To begin with, continuous analysis of literature, film, and music allows one to see that God is a common resurfacing …show more content…
By reading the Bible, a direct instruction of living life by His word, Christians can find this comfort and happiness. To the boys attending the poetry class, Keating is a source of the same comfort. Because of Keating’s helpful instruction and caring attitude towards the boys, his character resembles the wise image of God. Keating often has to advise the students to practice free will with caution because of society’s dramatic responses to transcendental actions. In one scene, Neil is confronted by his selfish father, who stringently demands his son to not take part in the school’s play. Later, Neil goes to Keating for advice on what choice to make and explains that he is the only person who Neil can really talk to about his true feelings. Keating then tells Neil to honestly tell the narrow-minded father about what he really wants to do with his life. This advice follows the importance of self-reliance. “Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession” (Emerson). Neil should be proud of his talent and stay persistent against his father in order to live a life of nonconformity. Just as society denied God’s words before the
Throughout the past centuries, the concept of instinctive morality has been debated back and forth. One philosophy with a strong viewpoint on this subject is Puritanism, because they believe that since the beginning of the world, people have been born sinners. Puritans felt that Adam and Eve’s temptation by Satan had cursed all of humanity to be born evil. A few decades later, Deists shifted their ideas away from religion and believed that every person could choose whether they were good or bad. Then, Transcendental ideas began the thought that humans were born innately good, and that God and Satan had nothing to do with people’s morality. Throughout the major literary philosophies in the United States, one can see how the innate character of a human progresses from being evil to being innately good.
Neil Perry is another young man who realizes that his life is being planned out in front of him. He feels that he has no voice in his life. Their English professor, Mr. Keating, radically changes the lives of all of these students.
The 1830s was a time of serious religious conflict. Many people, especially authors, had different opinions on how to find true spirituality. In the end, authors in America created Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement that searches for individual truth through spiritual reflection, complete solitude, and a deep connection with nature. Because this was established by authors, many of them wrote different pieces reflecting and using the beliefs of Transcendentalism. Ralph Waldo Emerson was considered to be the father of Transcendentalism. He wrote many influential pieces that follow and emphasize major Transcendental beliefs. The major beliefs include the over-soul, nature, and senses. In addition to those, there are minor beliefs and overall ways of living. These beliefs were included in Transcendental pieces as a general way to share the belief and to create a movement. Due to the use of nature, senses, and the over-soul as its three core Transcendental beliefs, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature” successfully explain the fundamentals of Transcendentalism.
The movie, Dead Poets Society truly captures the essence of the conformities that children are facing. The difference is letting the hourglass run out of time, or making the best of time, facing tough challenges along the way. Todd Anderson makes the best out of his time thanks to the teaching of Mr. Keating, his beloved English teacher. From a misunderstood adolescent to a courageous man, Todd shows his true colors and releases the inferior thoughts stirring up in his developing, young body. In the end, romanticism crushes idealism with power and envy, showing the eye-opening ways that a teacher can contribute to such a tightly wound academy such as Welton.
Throughout Thoreau's “Walden”, he lays out many suggestions that some may take as significant or just senseless. Thoreau brings forth many concepts about things such as necessity, news, transcendentalism, and labor which would benefit modern society. Yet, his views on isolation and frugality are unattainable in a technology-driven society. Even though the ideas that could benefit society may not be totally agreeable, the main reasoning for them are valid. Those ideas of isolation and moderation are clearly not possible in a world where people crave to be social and live to obtain any and everything they want.
The boys in his class on the other hand face many struggles. Neil, is a young man who has an extremely controlling father. His father has been
In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams's character as Mr. Keating the English teacher is a hero. "Carpe Diem, lads! Seize the day! Make your lives drastically. Keating's viewpoints and thoughts on life stayed the same throughout the movie no matter what conflict was occurring. The students that Keating taught were the ones who
Transcendentalism plays a key role in all of our lives. Many commonly shared values are rooted from the transcendental keys. Some devote their entire lives to try and live as transcendental as possible. For example, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were huge undertakers in these ideas and virtues. Chris McCandless looked up to these great thinkers and many others to find an outline for his life. McCandless dedicated his entire life to following many transcendental keys such as non-conformity, reducing dependence on property, and self-reliance.
Transcendentalism could be considered to be one of the first revolutionary movements in United States history. They weren’t violent protesters but instead people who challenged the social norm and encouraged non-conformity. The effects of the Transcendentals and their influence are still felt today in writings and in movies such as Dead Poet’s Society. The movie Dead Poet's Society focuses on a group of highschoolers in an overbearing high school and their teacher, Mr. Keating. Mr Keating is a believer in the Transcendentalist movement and challenges normal teaching practices. His students take inspiration from Mr. Keating and take the Transcendentalist tenets to heart. But incorporating the tenets of Transcendentalism into your everyday life is not worth the risks that it poses. It can lead to being cast out from
Throughout the text Keating connects with people on a personal level through his word choice and tone. This connection with his audience allows him to further develop belonging, and evoke a greater emotional response in his audience. This word choice and tone can be seen in the lines, “We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice.”
From looking at the titles of Walt Whitman's vast collection of poetry in Leaves of Grass one would be able to surmise that the great American poet wrote about many subjects -- expressing his ideas and thoughts about everything from religion to Abraham Lincoln. Quite the opposite is true, Walt Whitman wrote only about a single subject which was so powerful in the mind of the poet that it consumed him to the point that whatever he wrote echoed of that subject. The beliefs and tenets of transcendentalism were the subjects that caused Whitman to write and carried through not only in the wording and imagery of his poems, but also in the revolutionary way that he chose to write his poetry. The basic assumptions and premises of transcendentalism can be seen in all of Whitman's poems, and are evident in two short poetic masterpieces: "A Noiseless Patient Spider" and "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer."
Mr Perry uses blackmail, pressure and authority to get his way over his son’s life and is otherwise to blame for Neil’s death. He sets Neil limits as to how he can live his life. When Mr Keating inspires Neil and the rest of the senior English class, it gives Neil the idea that he does have the power to stand up to his father. This leads Neil into committing suicide when his father forbids him from Acting and moves him into a Military Academy. Throughout the film Neil is shown to be under pressure to complete difficult aspects of life, placed on him by his father. Mr Perry guilt trips Neil into carrying out tasks he wants him to complete. His father does not seem to take in what he is doing to his son, placing the blame on Keating.
Tom Schulman’s Dead Poets Society serves as a fictitious but accurate account of the Transcendentalist experiment in which a group of boys—led and encouraged by their English teacher Mr. Keating—liberate themselves from the order and tradition of Welton Academy in order to discover their own selves and wills. These teachings of free thought, individualism, and nonconformity, replete with platitudinous or otherwise vague and meaningless language, become the main impetus for the students’ eventual subversion of legitimate authority and devolution into chaos, errors which can be seen as the irreducible cause of their sorrows and which make the screenplay ultimately portray the futility of the Transcendentalist cause and the horrors its misapplications can manifest.
Dead Poets Society, a movie set in Welton Academy, a rigorous and elite all-boys private school, brings to life the philosophy of transcendentalism through its characters. The philosophy, which believes a person needs to find their individual, unique self and not allow the conformist ways of society to hamper the ability to have self-reliance, is introduced by Mr. Keating, the new English teacher who, through his distinctive teaching methods, exemplifies the transcendentalist idea and breathes life into it. His personification of this philosophy is not only readily welcomed by the boys, but acted upon, consequently impacting his students in a profound manner.
Keating goes above and beyond at developing the minds of his students, including helping Todd find the poet within himself, and supporting Neil when Neil’s father didn’t want Neil to act. Overall, Mr. Keating and his actions pushed the ideas of creativity and self-thought throughout the film.