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Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Neil Awaiting Execution:
In Chapter 13, Kleinbaum describes Neil being driven home by his parents after the play with a simile eerily reminiscent of a metaphor from Chapter 8:
Mr. Perry started the car and pulled off. Through the car window, Neil looked like a prisoner being taken to his execution.
Mr. Keating and the students who make up the Dead Poets Society watch as Mr. and Mrs. Perry, who are livid with Neil for disobeying their wishes and continuing with the play, drive Neil home. The quotation is barely a simile, as Neil is essentially a prisoner—he would rather be stopping by the cave with his friends than returning home—and is about to kill himself on account of feeling trapped by his parents. As Todd later asserts, Mr. Perry killed Neil even though he didn’t pull the trigger of the gun.
The quotation is primarily an instance of foreshadowing, as later this night Neil will kill himself because he feels so much like a prisoner. If the reader is unfamiliar with the story, the instance of foreshadowing is likely to go unnoticed, as Neil does not appear to be mentally unwell and his suicide comes suddenly and with little preface. In fact, Kleinbaum does not describe the suicide much at all and uses less than a page to describe Mr. Perry’s discovery of the body. Moreover, Kleinbaum uses a very similar description in Chapter 8 when describing Todd walking to the front of the class to read a poem aloud. In Chapter 8, Todd ends up creating a poem on the spot with Mr. Keating's help and is filled with confidence as a result. The reader is then particularly unlikely to foresee Neil's suicide and instead might anticipate a similar situation occurring in Chapter 10 as in Chapter 8, with Neil miraculously saved from his figurative execution.
Nevertheless, the instance of foreshadowing is of crucial importance. It connects Neil’s death with his parents' refusal to let him act, which itself is microcosmic of the book’s larger conflict between conformity and individuality. The norms prescribed by society, Welton, and parents like Neil’s exist in tension with the the rebellious spirit of the Dead Poets Society and Mr. Keating. While Neil’s death is dark and tragic, it underscores the crucial importance of allowing children to be who they want to be and pursue what makes them happy. When children feel trapped like Neil, there are dire consequences.
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