Name:__________________________________
Freshman English, Period: _________
Date:_____________________

Dead Poets Society Writing Response Assignment

Pick three of the following questions and answer it with substantiation from the movie.  Make sure you compile at least one full paragraph (at least 3 sentences) for each question to make your point. List each question number that you answer.

1.  Would Neil still have eventually committed suicide if Mr. Keating had never come into his life?

2.  Why exactly did Neil take his own life?

3.  Could Neil have found another way out of his predicament? Was suicide his only answer?

4.  With similarly screwed up parents as Neil's, why didn't Todd take the same way out?

5.  Who was really the bravest of Keating's boys?

6.  What happened to the original Dead Poets Society? Why did it cease to exist?

7.  How did the poetry book make it into Neil's room? Did Keating put it there? And if so, why, after telling the boys that the present administration would not look favorably on it, would Keating do that?

8.  In the initial screenplay, Todd specifically does not sign the paper at the end. In the movie, we are not told one way or the other. Did Todd sign it or not and why?

9.  Dead Poets Society: The Next Day... What happens next? What does the future hold for Keating and the boys?

10. Who really was to blame for Neil's death?

11.  What is the meaning of poetry?

12.  Why would Dr. Questad want you to see this movie?

13.  In the end, risking expulsion, would you have stood?  Give your reasons for your answer.