Comparitive Essay

Comparative Essay

There are many similarities and parallel ideas between the movie Dead Poets Society and the novel A Separate Peace. It could easily be assumed that the movie was loosely based on the book because they are so similar. There are a couple of differences and additions to the movie, but as a whole it is very analogous to A Separate Peace with regards to characters, conflicts, and themes.

The characters in Dead Poets Society are easily compared with those of A Separate Peace. Both have charismatic characters (Mr. Keating/ Finny) that inspire the others and eventually are unjustly punished for their actions for which they had only good intentions. As well, the traits of Finny are paralleled in the movie through a couple of different characters. Mr. Keating has Finny’s charisma, Neil has his fondness of breaking the occasional rule, and Charlie has his rebellious and care-free side. Charlie, however, is different from Finny in that he lacks the charisma which allowed Finny to get away with his pranks. Some of the characters in the film have minor similarities to characters from the book. For example, Pitts is like Leper in the sense that he is odd, Neil is like Brinker in the sense that they are both heavily influenced by their fathers, and Richard is like Quackenbush in the sense that they both think they know what is best. A couple of characters in the movie also have traits similar to those of Gene. Neil is alike him in that he is very academic, and Todd is alike him in that he is a follower and is neither outgoing nor confident.

The conflicts of the two storylines are also easily compared. In each a main character dies in a devastating way which is indirectly caused by another character (Neil’s dad/ Gene). After the tragedies in both storylines occur, conspiracy theories are formed and characters are forced to deal with the repercussions of them. The conflicts, however,