In the movie, Dead Poets Society, conformity plays one of the most major roles for the development of the plot and conflicts. At Welton, an all-male academy, the students are taught to conform in order for their school system to work. In addition to the all male student body, their teachers are also all older Caucasian men that each teach their students in the same way. Welton follows strict values that also support their conformity, their motto of tradition, honor, discipline and excellence uphold their reputation to keep the students in order. Each student is taught to dress the same, achieve high academics, and speak in an educated manor. The purpose of Weltons conformity is to maintain a high reputation in society through educating their students to a point where they will achieve greatness. Although their strict values are constantly enforced throughout the movie, a group of students begin to rebel against their ancient principles. The strict rules of conformity later lead to major conflicts that jeopardize the reputation of the school and the student’s lives. Although conformity at Welton was enforced to maintain an excellent school system, their firm rules that supported conformity later lead to conflicts that result in the loss of life and reputation.
John Keating, a graduated Welton student himself, is introduced to the new student body as a teacher with unorthodox teaching standards for Welton. He teaches the students to go against the grain, and resist conformity in order to be themselves. He supports the student’s ideas, and is looked down upon by the other Welton teachers. When a group of students begin rebelling against the conformity the Welton built for them, conflicts begin to arise, putting them in danger. Charlie, places an unconventional article in the paper, stating that girls should be allowed to attend the school. Charlie is later beaten by the head of Welton for his unruly behavior. Knox falls in love with a girl named Chris, which results in him getting beaten up by her boyfriend. Neil gets a main role in a play, and begs his father to allow him to star in it. When his father says no, he does so anyway, and results in his father taking him from Welton to send him to military school. Neil kills himself, rather than following his father’s rules. The stress that these students were under from their schools strict principles pushed them to go against the conformity in an effort to be themselves. The conformity only brought danger to these students and resulted in the loss of life. Although all was blamed on Keating for his support of the nonconformity, the true culprit is the school.
