Poetic Answers #4

Here are your responses to the fourth question of why Todd, who had similarly screwed up parents, didn't take the same way out as Neal. (NOTE: Most of the people who sent responses did not mention if they wanted their email addresses displayed. To be safe, I assumed they did not. However, if you would like your email shown with your response, please .)

DJ: Todd didn't react in the same way because he was a totally different boy. He said it himself, "I'm not like you, Neal. You get stirred up by things, and you say things, and people listen." Todd wasn't as driven by his passions as Neal was. He was really much more down to earth, as you saw when he discouraged Neal from forging the letter from his father, and other times that I just can't think of right now. So that's that one.

Cindy: That is a very interesting question and I propose a very interesting answer. Neil and Todd were touched by Mr. Keating in different ways. Neil was shown that there are things outside of what your parents want from you and that one should go after their dreams. Todd was shown that he is a different person than his brother, a worthy individual. I think that if Neil had not committed suicide that Todd might have, but Todd was too devestated by Neil's death and Todd felt responsible for Mr. Keating's situation and wanted to right the wrong.

Adam: Todd didn't take the same way out because he was not in such as bad predicament. He was not being "sentenced" to the same schooling as Neil. Neil's parents cared too much and Todd's too little. He also didn't live on

Charlie: Todd was not like Neil. He was very shy as the movie shows--he didn't even want to read aloud at the DPS meetings. He tells Neil, "I am not like you. When you say things people listen." Also, Todd was not a romantic, he was a realist. You see at the beginning of the movie, after being told of Carpe Diem, he writes it on paper and then wads it up and throws it away. He even throws his poem away that he writes and says that he didn't do the assignment. He wanted to be a romantic though. He just didn't let it "stir things up inside of him, as Neil did". However, you see at the end of the movie, Todd was the first person to disobey the headmaster and stand on his desk to show Mr. Keating that he never blamed him for Neil's death by saying, "Oh captain, my captain".

Christie: Because Todd did not let the passion inside of him take control of his life. The other boys: Knox, Nwanda, Cameron, and Neil all had some type of symbolic death because the passion took control of their life. The foreshadowing of Neil's story the first night in the cave, where the old woman's passion led to her death.

Ana: I don't believe Todd was as frustrated and trapped as Neil; he also wasn't as sure of what he wanted to do with his life. I think he didn't have a key reason, nor the guts.

Sharon: Todd didn't have the same passion as Neil did. He was the only one who didn't use "Carpe Diem" as a moral for something he did. He chose to wait until his parents had no hold on him, and then he would chose his own life. Also, his parents weren't quite as screwed up.

Neil: I had never thought about this before, and so it is an interesting one. He wasn't affected as much by the message of Keating until the end as shown at 16.50 minutes by his tearing up of the note he wrote in his room. He was upset by his friend's death but more so by the screaming injustice of it all. He wanted to rectify it but couldn't and suicide wouldn't do it. Keating's message finally got through to him at the end when he realised that it was now or never. Truly as the music at that point is called it was "Keating's Triumph". What he had achieved could never be undone. Todd realised that his action wasn't worthless as he saw others follow his lead.

Dan: Todd did not commit suicide simply because he was a different person and different people deal with things differently. While Neal was frustrated and devastated by his parents attitudes, Todd realized that someday he would be free from his. Neal's perspective was less realistic: he saw his situation as completely unbearable and found suicide to be the ony way out. Todd lacked Neal's passion and melodrama and desire to achieve his dreams. (Ironic then, isn't it, that Todd would be the one of the two who was able to fulfill his dreams fully?) But Neal's death is the reason that Todd chose to begin living fully right away, rather than wait submissively until he was free from all controlling powers. I, like everyone else who sees this movie, wish that Neal had chosen some other method of escape from his father, but I also see that if Neil not lived as passionately as he had, he never would have affected people the way he did. In the beginning of the movie, would Todd have stood up on his desk to say "Oh captain, my captain...?" Keating inspired Neal to live fully, and Neal's life (and death) inspired those around him both to live fully and not to take life for granted.

Amy: Todd wasn't the same person as Neil, as he states himself. While Todd and Neil are both moved by what Mr. Keating has to say, they are moved in different ways. It is more Neil's character to act out and show the world what he has to offer than it is Todd's. Todd was prone to sit in the background, deal, and accept with what was thrown at him, while Neil didn't accept how he was treated and wanted to change that.

N. B. Turfrey: I had never thought about this before, and so it is an interesting one. He wasn't effected as much by the message of Keating until the end as shown at 16.50 minutes by his tearing up of the note he wrote in his room. He was upset by his friend's death but more so by the screaming injustice of it all. He wanted to rectify it but couldn't and suicide wouldn't do it. Keating's message finally got through to him at the end when he realised that it was now or never. Truly as the music at that point is called it was "Keating's Triumph". What he had achieved could never be undone. Todd realised that his action wasn't worthless as he saw others follow his lead.

Miriam: I feel like I have to defend Todd a bit, since all the answers sort of portray him like a dull, shy person without any will of his own, just accepting his boring faith. Maybe he realized that suicide wouldn´t solve anything. Staying alive, Todd could become anything he wanted, in time. Dead, there wasn´t much left but fertilizing daffodils.

Marc: I'm intrigued by other people's responses to Todd not being as passionate as Neil, and that Neil and the other boys fulfill Mr. Keating's call better than he. Keating emphasizes that to live is to suck the marrow out of life, but not out of frustration nor simplistic challenges of one's parents. Nuanda's "growth" is superficial -- all self-absorbing and sophomoric. Unfortunately, though I like the character, so is Neil's growth. Neil violates the whole idea of the Dead Poet's Society by killing himself -- he destroys his life and the potential to live it fully, even if at a later point.

Sorry to be so harsh! For me, suicide is the antithesis of living life fully.

Alfia and Amy: Todd didn't do the same thing because he is the kind of guy who is reserved and conservative. Maybe he had never shown his intention to his parents. For example when he got the same birthday present every year, he never said a word about it. He is the kind of person who always avoids conflict and argument.

Jason Harris: We don't know that he didn't. The pressure might become too much for him and he might crack too. And I am sure the death of a close friend isn't going to improve the situation. He also could have blamed Mr.Keating's firing on himself and that won't help either. So he might have, just not in the span of the movie.

Sylvia: Why not Todd, too? Short answer: Todd's a prophet. Despite his screwy upbringing he's got some kind of balance in himself. He can benefit from

Class of 99 Alberton , South Africa: Todd at the beginging was the shy and recluse one but the story line unfolds a newer person. He was truly the leader, he was stronger and he was not a passionate person like Neil. Neil thought with his heart, Todd thought, and worked things out logically. A passionate person does not deal with things as well as a logical person does. They may have had simular circumstances but they were different in their own right and therefore can not be compared.

Du Toit Albertus: Todd's parents pressure wasn't as extreme as Neil's. Neil were forced into a direction he didn't want by his parents. Todd had these high expectations to live up to, but his parents apparent lack of interest in his life, made his life lonely, but also removed some of these pressure from him. Furthermore, Keating's influence on him was positive, and he took what he needed.

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