Dead Poets Society

As Neil predicted, the group is fine with letting Todd in the Society without making him read in front of them. He tells the group his plan to sneak out after dark, then returns to his dorm room. When he gets there, he notices an unfamiliar book is sitting on his desk. The book is old and worn, and when he opens it he finds an inscription inside. It belonged to Mr. Keating and the original Dead Poets. Neil reads through it while he waits for Welton Academy to wind down for the night.

The boys sneak out past the guard dogs and the other rooms of sleeping students and teachers, wandering into the darkness towards the cave. When they get settled, Neil announces that Todd will be taking minutes of the meeting, since he prefers not to speak in front of a crowd. Todd winces at this but is too scared to speak up for himself. Neil begins the meeting with the Henry David Thoreau quote Mr. Keating mentioned earlier. He reads, “I wanted to live deep and suck out all of the marrow of life! […] And not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (53). The boys cheer to the sentiment and take turns reading from the book.

With each poem, the boys find more strength and excitement. The words are magical, filling them with a zest for life they’ve never experienced before. One poem that Pitts reads turns into a chant, a wild dance that leads them out into the woods where “their gestures [grow] wilder and more ridiculous” (58). At last, the fire burns out and “they [start] to shiver, partly from the cold and partly from the exhilaration they felt from letting their imaginations run free” (58-59). They realize how late it must be and start running back toward campus.

The Dead Poets are sleepy in Mr. Keating’s class the next day, exhausted from their late-night adventure. Mr. Keating discusses the importance of specific, intentional language, and how each word should be crafted carefully. He writes another Whitman quote on the board, one that questions how to defy the systems in place and find one’s own voice. Then, Mr. Keating climbs onto his desk and stands up, towering above the class. He says that he does this to gain a new perspective and invites the class to take turns doing the same. One by one, the boys climb up on the desk and look around from their new height. Just before the bell rings, Mr. Keating announces a new assignment: to write a poem of their own and present it before the class. As the boys are leaving, Mr. Keating looks at Todd with a teasing look in his eyes and says he knows that this assignment is terrifying for him.

The class disperses. Some go off to study, Meeks and Pitts go to the belltower to work on a radio they are building, and Knox takes his bike to travel off campus to Ridgeway High to see Chris, if only from a distance. The marching band is boarding a bus along with the football players and cheerleaders. Knox watches in agony as Chris runs up to Chet and kisses him. They smile at each other and board the bus. Knox, defeated, takes his bike and returns to Welton.

Later that night, Neil bursts into his and Todd’s dorm room and announces that he will be auditioning for the role of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Henley Hall. They are having open auditions, and Neil has always wanted to try acting in a play. Todd worries that he’ll never get away with it and tells Neil he won’t be able to hide this from Mr. Perry. Neil tells Todd to back off and let him be excited about the play. Todd apologizes and goes back to his studying.

Neil tells Todd there’s another meeting of the Dead Poets Society happening later that night and asks if Todd wants to come. Todd shrugs and says sure. Neil, bothered by Todd’s seeming indifference to the meetings, tries to stir some sort of emotion from Todd. He asks if what Mr. Keating has been teaching them means anything to him. Todd turns on Neil, saying, “I’m not like you [...] When you say things, people pay attention. People follow you. I’m not like that!” (65). Todd then tells Neil that he’s appreciative of him trying to help, but he can take care of himself. Neil thinks on this but replies that he’s not going to stop trying to help Todd. Neil starts reading Midsummer and Todd, more confidently this time, says he’ll be there at the meeting tonight. Neil smiles, excited that maybe something he said broke through. 

The chapter opens with an early morning meeting in the cave. By this point, Knox is overwhelmingly lovesick, announcing to the group that he feels he might die from his heartache. Neil interrupts Knox’s lament to announce that he has to depart early, his auditions are tonight. The boys wish him luck and Neil exits the cave.

Charlie turns to his friends after Neil leaves and makes a confession. He says, “I feel like I’ve never been alive […] For years, I’ve been risking nothing” (68). Charlie says that it’s clear what Knox and Neil want out of life, but he’s been living under his parents’ rules and expectations for so long that he no longer knows what he wants out of life for himself. He asks Meeks what the dead poets would say about him, and Meeks replies that they were “passionate experimenters, Charles. They dabbled in many things before settling, if ever” (68). Cameron reminds them that Welton isn’t the prime place to do any passionate experimenting. Charlie’s eyes light up, and he declares the cave a space for just that—a space for experimentation and seizing the day.

When they emerge from the cave, they come upon Mr. Keating in the soccer fields. Today’s class will be held outside. Mr. Keating asks one of the students to call roll, and it is soon clear that Neil is not present. Mr. Keating debates whether to give him demerits but eventually crumples up the roll. He tells his students that they can choose whether they come to class and for anyone who wants to play to follow him.

On the fields, Mr. Keating has the boys line up to recite a line of poetry, and then kick the ball. The idea is to get the boys to read emphatically, and to transfer that energy to kicking the ball. The first few are lackluster, but soon the boys catch on and begin to relish each phrase. McAllister notices the class and stops by to observe. He watches for a while, smiles to himself, then walks away. The class ends before Todd has a turn, but Mr. Keating lets him know that his time is coming. Todd rushes back to his room, embarrassed and nervous about the upcoming poetry assignment.

Just then, the door bursts open, revealing a smiling Neil. He announces that he got the part of Puck in the school play. He pulls out a typewriter from under his bed and begins to type up a forged permission slip that he will sign for his father and for Mr. Nolan. Todd is stunned at Neil’s willingness to break the rules but leaves him be and returns to his own poem.

The next day, Knox is the first to read his original poem. It’s full of longing for Chris, and though the class snickers, Mr. Keating applauds him for his honesty and vulnerability. Mr. Keating then turns to Todd, asking if he has a poem prepared. Todd shakes his head. Mr. Keating tells the class that Todd thinks anything he says will be worthless. Today, he tells Todd, they are going to prove that “what is inside you is worth a great deal” (74). He writes yet another Whitman quote on the board: “I SOUND MY BARBARIC YAWP OVER THE ROOFS OF THE WORLD” (74). A yawp, he tells the class, is a loud yell. He tells Todd to demonstrate.

After a few attempts, Todd finally is able to make a sound that Mr. Keating deems appropriate. Then, Mr. Keating points to the picture of Walt Whitman above them. He tells Todd to describe the picture with any words that first come to his mind. Before he knows it, Mr. Keating has Todd creating a poem on the spot, and the poem is beautiful. The class falls to a hush as Todd, energized from the exercise, lets the words pour out from him in a stream of consciousness. When he opens his eyes, the class raises their hands in applause. Todd smiles and leaves the class with a bit of confidence in himself.

At the next Dead Poets Society Meeting, Neil brings in an old lampshade that he deems “the god of the cave” (77), revealing a small statue of a drummer boy beneath the shade. He sets it down and lights a candle beside it as the meeting begins. Charlie, who has brought an old saxophone into the cave, performs an original poem. Between verses, he spits out notes on the saxophone. It is loud and rambunctious until the very end, when Charlie surprises them with a slow and beautiful solo. When he’s finished, he tells his friends he was forced to study the clarinet as a child but has always preferred the saxophone.

Meanwhile, Knox has been lost in thought but breaks out of it to speak to the group. He stands up suddenly and announces that he’s got to do something about his crush on Chris. He is seized with an idea and bolts from the cave. The boys follow, wondering what he will do. They follow Knox back to campus, where he gathers the courage to make a phone call to Chris. The boys all wait eagerly to see how it goes. Knox hangs up, smiling. He announces that Chris had been wanting to call him. She invited him to a party at Chet’s parents’ house since the Danburry’s are going out of town this weekend. Knox is ecstatic that Chris thought to invite him, but his friends remind him of the inevitable: She is still taken and is going with Chet. Knox doesn’t let this get to him. What matters to him is that Chris had been thinking about him at all.

At Henley Hall, Neil rehearses passionately for the play. He takes direction well from his director and is eager to make Shakespeare’s words come to life. Also present at rehearsals is Chet’s younger sister, Ginny Danburry, who is playing the role of Hermia. The rehearsals fill Neil’s soul with a joy that he didn’t know was possible. Giddy from excitement, he sneaks back into Welton.

When he arrives, he sees Todd sitting sadly by himself on the wall of the school. Neil approaches and asks what is the matter. Todd shows him a desk set, identical to the one he already has. His parents sent it to him for his birthday, the same gift that he received (and didn’t like) last year. His older brother’s birthday, on the other hand, is always special. Todd tells Neil that when he was younger, his father used to tell him that he would only be worth $5.98, “That’s what all the chemicals in the human body would be worth if you bottled them up and sold them” (84), unless he worked to improve himself daily. He confesses that although he used to believe that all parents loved their children, he knows for a fact that his parents only love his older brother. Neil finally sees Todd in a new light and understands why he seems to feel so worthless all the time.

The next day, Keating holds class in the courtyard. He asks for three volunteers to walk around the courtyard and points out that even though the three of them began at different paces and with different styles of walking, they eventually walked in time together, like soldiers. This, he tells the class, is demonstrative “of how difficult it is for any of us to listen to our own voice or maintain our own beliefs in the presence of others” (87). Even those who were not walking ended up conforming because, once the rhythm was established, the class began clapping along. From his office window above, Mr. Nolan looks down on Mr. Keating’s class in frustration. McAllister, however, merely laughs at Mr. Keating’s unusual teaching methodology and returns to his own papers.

The Dead Poets Society holds another meeting after dinner, with some unexpected visitors this time. Charlie brings in two slightly older girls from town, Gloria and Tina, to join the meeting. The boys aren’t sure what to do about this at first, but end up welcoming them in and letting Charlie have his moment. Charlie announces to the group that from now on, he will be referred to only as Nuwanda, a name he created for himself.

The biggest piece of news Charlie drops on the Society is an article that will be coming out in the school paper, one that is published under The Dead Poets Society. The article argues for girls to be admitted and allowed to study at Welton. The boys are nervous about this; up until now, the reconvening of The Dead Poets Society has been kept a secret. Charlie reassures the group that all will be fine, and no one will get in trouble for this. He insists that they start the meeting so Gloria and Tina can see what happens in the Society.

Meanwhile, Knox is at Chet’s party, slowly getting more and more drunk. Most of the teenagers are coupled up, and Knox isn’t having a great time at all. That’s when a few of the guests mistake Knox for the brother of someone they know, and they pour him multiple glasses of bourbon. By the end of the chapter, Knox is certainly feeling the effects of the alcohol, and his judgment is growing dangerously more impaired.

At the party, Knox happens to end up on a couch where the couple making out next to him is none other than Chet and Chris. Chris pushes against Knox as she kisses Chet passionately. Knox fights his temptation, but is eventually overcome and starts to caress Chris’s neck and down her chest, getting closer and closer to her breast. Chris, thinking Chet is the one who is touching her, tells Chet not to stop. This goes on for a while before Chet realizes that Knox is touching Chris. He is furious and punches Knox in the face, telling him to stay away from Chris. Chris tries to diffuse the situation, but it’s no use. Chet swears he will kill Knox the next time he sees him, and Knox leaves, stammering out an apology to Chris.

Back in the cave, Charlie is hopeful that the poetry he is reading to Gloria will result in something more. He sends the boys out of the cave with Tina so they can be alone. With each poem, Gloria grows more excited and passionate. Just as Charlie is about to make a move, Gloria praises him for not looking for sex from her and says that the poetry is so much better than anything physical could ever be. The words are so romantic, and she begs him to keep reading. Charlie, disappointed at the anticlimactic evening, does as she asks.

Charlie’s article asking for girls to be admitted to Welton does not go over well. Headmaster Nolan holds an emergency meeting for the school to address the issue, and he tells the crowd that he will find out who authored the piece. At that moment, a phone rings. Charlie answers it, and then looks Nolan in the eye. He tells him the call is for him, saying, “It’s God. He says we should have girls at Welton” (105). The boys erupt in laughter, and Charlie is soon dragged into Nolan’s office for interrogation.

Nolan demands to know what the Dead Poets Society is and who is involved. Charlie insists he made it up. Nolan tries every tactic to force Charlie to confess, but Charlie is good to his word that his friends won’t take the fall for this. Nolan makes Charlie bend over and strikes him on the rear with a paddle, each hit harder than the last. By the end of it, Charlie is in tears from the pain. He returns to his dorm, and the boys are eager to hear if they’re all in trouble. Charlie tells them that all will be cleared if he turns everyone in and confesses about the Dead Poets Society. When Neil asks him what he’s going to do, Charlie only answers with, “Damn it, Neil, the name is Nuwanda” (108). That’s all the Dead Poets have to hear to know that their secret is still safe.

Later, Nolan confronts Mr. Keating about his teaching methods. He warns him against teaching the boys to think for themselves. He argues that they are too young to do that yet, and it is the duty of the teachers at Welton to instead enforce the principles of discipline and excellence. The boys will discover what they really think later in life, when they’re older.

After this conversation, Mr. Keating addresses his class, scolding Charlie for his outburst. He warns that part of being a free thinker is knowing how to be smart about it. If they are expelled, they lose the opportunity to study with him. At the very least, that should be motivation for knowing when to stand up for something and when to keep their opinions to themselves.

The class ends with a pop quiz, one that is meant to be completed with a series of distractions before them. Mr. Keating says that while Welton may not have girls yet, in college, the classes will more than likely be co-ed. This will introduce a whole new world of distractions that will keep their minds off their academics. Mr. Keating turns on a slideshow of images of girls standing in provocative poses and tells the class they must complete the pop quiz in a short time while those images are flashing on the screen. Some of the students struggle but eventually are able to focus on their quizzes. Knox, meanwhile, is helplessly gazing at the girls and fills the quiz answers with Chris’s name.