Dead Poets Society: Style 1 key example

Kleinbaum’s diction is approachable and easy to read. She moves quickly from scene to scene, with even the story’s climax—Neil’s suicide—taking up less than a full page. The book reads quickly as a result, and this style makes the moments Kleinbaum does dwell on, such as many of the Dead Poets Society meetings, indulgent and impactful. In fact, the allusions to famous poems or books, which include extended quotations from great authors like Walt Whitman or Henry David Thoreau, stand out sharply against Kleinbaum’s own writing. While Kleinbaum could have mimicked the poets and writers she quotes, the stylistic choice to instead use straightforward diction emphasizes the quotations from these great writers in comparison. Highlighting the works of writing that Mr. Keating and the Dead Poets Society read is not done for its own sake; these works of writing are so powerful that they inspire Todd and his friends to "seize the day" and break both Welton’s rules and broader social norms. Kleinbaum's stylistic choices ensure that the power of these words is not lost in the story.