Self-esteem becomes one of the centers of the movie. Neil's low self-esteem reveals itself only in the relationship with Neil's father, but leads Neil to his t

In our culture, many of us have hopes that are too high and expectations of ourselves that are very hard to accomplish. I, myself, set the goals that even I know I probably wouldn't be able to reach. I want everything the best: my own successful company, perfect family, big house, I want to be healthy, beautiful, and loved by everyone. I want everybody to like me, that's why opinion of others is so important. Meanwhile, I know that it is not possible for everyone to like me, there will be people with opinions that are different from mines and there will be people who don't like the way I look. John Keatings urged his students to make their lives extraordinary, and I don't think he meant that they have to make their lives seem extraordinary in eyes of others. We'd better live in such way that we are satisfied with what we are doing, rewarding every little success, being who we are. Being who we are is difficult; our society expects us to act in a certain way, which is often very different from what we really want

Unfortunately, we live in the world "with more emphasis on what is wrong with us than on what's right about us" (Michael Cody), and because of that there are people who depend on the approval of others in order to feel good about themselves. People with low self-esteem try to avoid showing their unfavorable characteristics and in order to do so they avoid taking action at all. When Todd Andersen refuses to read his poem in professor Keatings' class, he is afraid of getting negative opinion from his classmates, moreover, he truly believes that he is not able to write poetry. However, John Keatings neither gives him an "F" nor lets him sit down. What does he do? He makes Todd believe in himself. He says: "Mr. Anderson thinks that everything inside of him isworthless and embarrassing, isn't that right Todd, isn't that your worst fear? Well, I think you're wrong, I think you have something inside of you that is worth a great deal."Saying this was enough to make Todd believe that he is just as any other students of his class is able to write a poem. And he does improvise a poem so well th

Some topics in this essay:
John Keatings, Poets Society, Welton Academy, Todd Andersen, Michael Cody, low self-esteem, john keatings, Professor Keatings, dead poets society, lives extraordinary, Dead Poets, dead poets, poets society, ourselves bad, rate ourselves, welton academy, keatings eccentric, able write,