Death Leads To
Maturity
In the entire life cycle of a human being,
teenage stage is the fun, memorable, and some time the wild part. In this
teenage stage, the teenagers experiment with everything without caring about the
consequences. For most people, the life prior to the teenage stage is the most
exciting part because there are no worries; every thing is fun. When the teenage
life begins, most of their behaviors change while adapting to various habits.
They follow good and bad behaviors as the result of influences from their
parents, friends, teachers and the society they live in. These behaviors and
societal norms combined with enthusiastic nature makes teenagers do various
things. The result of their activities gives them the basic knowledge of the
real world. Dead Poets Society, by N.H. Kleinbaum, and A Separate Peace, John
Knowles, are two novels that focus on the difficult journey towards maturity and
the adult world of the teenage boys. They focus on the learning experience of
friendship and self esteem through the death of others.
Both John
Keating and Finny (Phineas) are great leaders who face many difficulties in
achieving their goal and often become the victims. Dead Poets Society opens with
Keating being a substitute teacher for an English class and encouraging his
students to make their lives meaningful and extraordinary by referring to the
word ““Carpe Diem”” (25). This is the Latin word for seize the Day and he wants
them to seek out their dreams and to believe in themselves. Keating believes
that education requires the student to think for himself. He must be free to
question and to learn in the way that he learns best. A Separate Peace opens
with Finny being portrayed as a brave sixteen years old boy who strongly
believes in and encourages other students in his class to act upon their wishes.
Both characters are optimistic about making a change in other people’’s lives to
make them better. Keating encourages the students to write poems to express
their feelings. Finny on the other hand, encourages his friends to skip classes
and do wild things like jumping off the tree. Neil, one of Keating’’s students,
follows his wishes and disobeys his father. At the end, Neil kills himself when
his father decides to take him out of school. Yet Keating is blamed for Neil’’s
death and is expelled from his position. The persistent theme of A Separate
Peace is the fall of a complex friendship. Gene was Finny’’s best friend,
however a silent rivalry develops between them. Gene’’s jealousy towards
Finny’’s fame and talent makes him push Finny out of the tree and down the
stairs causing Finny to die eventually. Neil’’s death helps the rest of
Keating’’s students to realize that they should stand up for them and fight for
their freedom. In the same way, Finny’’s death makes Gene grow up to become a
mature person. Yet both Keating and Finny are the victims while trying to change
the society for the better.
Gene Forrester of A Separate Peace and
Charlie Dalton of
Dead Poets Society are both selfish, 16 year old teenagers who
have low self esteem and always mistreat others to hide their emotions. Gene
Forrester is a quiet, intellectual student who is plagued by the darker forces
of human nature. However, Charlie Dalton thrives on the attention he receives
from other people. He thinks that he is ““above the law,”” and, in a sense, has
a ““God-complex”” characteristic. He feels that he should always be in control
of the situation and that he should not have to face the consequences of any of
his actions. Gene Forrester is a coward and a cold-hearted person who depends on
Finny although he pushes his best friend Finny off the tree because Finny is a
better athlete. On the other hand, Charlie Dalton is very loyal by helping Mr.
Keating from getting expelled. Both Gene Forrester and Charlie Dalton have
similar characteristics such as that they both want to act as the justice for
others.
Neil Perry of Dead Poets Society and Gene Forrester of A
Separate Peace are alike in many aspects but different in some of their
behaviours. Neil is sixteen years old who is being pressured by his father to
become a doctor, where as Gene is putting pressure on himself by thinking that
his best friend is trying to distract him from studying. Neil and Gene both have
negative and positive sides to them. They are both smart in school and they
respect their friends very much. Also, both of them are cowards and dishonest.
Gene is afraid to tell Finny that he pushed him off the tree. Gene lies to his
classmates that he didn’’t push Finny off the tree. Neil doesn’’t have the
courage to tell his father about the play in which he wants be a part of. On the
other hand, Neil lies to Mr.Keating that he had already told his father about
the play. Even though both Neil and Gene have complex relationships with their
loved ones, they love them as much as they love their selves.
Teenagers
go through various confusing stages as they make the transition from an
adolescent to an adult which involves love, fear and conflict. As seen in the
above examples, Gene realizes how much he loves and respects Finny after his
death. Gene’’s words in the novel ““I could not escape a feeling that this was
my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case”” (186) expresses his deep
emotions, whereas Neil expresses his love for his father by hiding his own
feelings and respecting his father’’s feelings. Fear is the worst enemy in
people’’s life that is difficult to control and deal with. Neil can’’t handle
his fear of not being able to stand up for himself and ends up taking his own
life. Gene’’s fear is that his best friend’’s talents and fame make him become
an evil person. Life is a learning experience that comes from resolving
conflicts. The lack of experience of the teenagers especially creates unexpected
outcomes while they try to resolve the conflicts. In both novels, the death is
an unexpected outcome yet it helps other people to learn from it. John Knowles
and N.H. Kleinbaum discuss the important aspects of life cycles through various
examples and show what one needs to contribute and what one gains from other
people’’s mistakes.
Both authors use many symbols as a stylistic
technique to develop and advance their themes of the novels. John Knowles uses
War as a symbol of ““real world””, from which the teenagers exclude themselves.
It is as if they were in their own little cave isolated from the outside world.
Gene proves the above statement by keeping his emotions and fears to himself.
John Knowles also uses the two rivers that are part of the Devon school, to
symbolize how Gene and Finny grow up through the course of the novel. The Devon
River is preferred by the students because it is above the dam and contains
clean water. It is a symbol of childhood and innocence because it is safe and
simple. The boys prefer to hold onto their youth instead of growing up. The
Naguamsett is the disgustingly dirty river, which symbolizes adulthood because
of its difficulty and complexity. The two rivers combine showing the boys
changing from immature adolescence to slightly older and mature adults. Where as
N.H. Kleinbaum uses the word ““Carpe diem”” (seize the day) as a symbol of
freedom. Mr. Keating expresses this word to encourage his students to think
carefully and choose what they really want in their lives. The cave is being
used as a symbol of darkness and horror. Also, Neil’’s struggle between his
passion for acting and his father wish to become a doctor symbolizes his puzzle
of life.
Friendship and self-esteem are the main aspects of learning
experience that has the power to change other’’s lives. As seen in the above
examples, Gene and Neil are honest teenagers and, as a result of their honesty,
have to face the consequences. Friendship is the best thing to have in life, but
if one abuses the love of friendship then it will result in a complex
relationship. All the teenagers face many difficulties in their lives, but they
should be able to face it without taking the easy way out by hurting others or
hurting themselves. Parents and friends are the powerful weapons, which change
the lives of many teenagers around this world. Both John Knowles and N.H.
Kleinbaum discuss the important aspects of a complex relationship through
various examples and show what mistake teenagers make and how others and
themselves learn from it.