Dead Poets Society: Setting 1 key example

Welton is academically rigorous and aggressively hierarchical: the students have little to no freedom, with even their extracurricular activities assigned to them by Headmaster Nolan. Welton's four pillars—“Tradition, Discipline, Honor, Excellence”—and ritualistic convocation, which is the reader’s introduction to the school, underscore the sense of conformity enforced by the institution. The students' uniforms, while typical of many boarding schools to this day, similarly conveys the sense of conformity privileged by the school. Thus Welton, and the parents and teachers of the novel who by and large subscribe to Welton’s pedagogy, represent the most conformist parts of elite society.

This stifling setting literally and figuratively sets the scene for the students' rebellious attitudes and actions. Todd and the other members of the Dead Poets Society act in opposition to Welton's rules, regulations, and physical constraints. They escape the confines of campus to the Dead Poet Society cave, trading modern comforts for freedom. They pine after—and then seek out—women, who are not allowed on Welton’s grounds. Most importantly, they take up activities they are passionate about while spurning those assigned to them by Headmaster Nolan: for example, Neil's decision to act in Midsummer Night's Dream.