Dead Poets Society Essays - Dead Poets Society, Films, Carpe Diem

Dead Poet's Society Essays - Dead Poets Society, Films, Carpe Diem Dead Poet's Society Carpe Diem In the film Dead Poets Society there is an environment created that was rigid and strict. At Welton Academy there were four pillars of ideals that students must attain to and follow. These were excellence, honor, tradition, and discipline. A new teacher was appointed to teach English. John Keating brought with him a style that promoted the individual. This was in direct contrast to the four pillars of ideals. Mr. Keatings Latin saying of Carpe Diem, which meant seize the day, was something that would cause problems to arise at the academy. A few of his students would deviate from academys path. Knox Overstreet was a young man who was attending Welton Academy. He had followed all the rules as everyone else and obeyed. However after a few of Mr. Keatings classes he changed his outlook of life. Knox had an affinity towards this girl, Chris Noel, but it was against school policy to have women on campus during a semester. With the new saying of Carpe Diem in his mind, Knox ignored the rules and ensued after Chris. In his wooing he attended parties and even met her at her public high school. If the Headmaster found news of this, Knox would have been expelled. Despite all the consequences Know decided to seize the day and forget the whims of society to follow his dreams. Another student of John Keatings was Charles Dalton. He was more laid back than Knox but he still adhered to the academys rules and regulations. Charles was completely taken by the saying, and changed his lifestyle. At the boys illegal Dead Poets Society meetings in which they read aloud poetry, he brought tobacco pipes and alcohol as well as girls. As seen by his new name, Nwanda, Charlie broke free of the strict life he had to follow at Welton. He even defied the Headmaster during a meeting by interrupting his speech with a phone call from God. Although this new behavior ultimately led to his expulsion, the life at Welton was probably not suitable for an individual like him. Neil Perry was greatly moved by the Latin words, Carpe Diem. His father set forth such high demands and little choice for Neil. His disciplinarian father mapped out his career and life. Neil always submitted to his father but was always left unhappy and not content with all that his father had planned and all the rules that he had to abide by. Neil had dreams of acting and earned the lead part in the local play. Although he was overjoyed, his father thought otherwise. When his father ordered him to quit and never to act again, he resisted his fathers order and told him what he wished to do. Neil acted brilliantly in his play and his childhood dream was accomplished. He told his father his individual needs and desires. However his fathers response to his son led to tragedy, as he committed suicide. Walt Whitman wrote, Two roads diverged in the wood, and I chose the one less traveled on, and that has made all the difference. By following your own beliefs, your desires will be fulfilled. The boys introduction to Carpe Diem led to happiness for all of them. They followed their own desires and were for once happy and free from the chains of Welton Academy. Bibliography video

Canada Boundary

Fifty-four Forty or Fight- The U.S./Canada Boundary In 1818, the United States and the United Kingdom, which controlled British Canada, established a joint claim over the Oregon Territory, the region west of the Rocky Mountains and between 42 degrees north and 54 degrees 40 minutes north (the southern boundary of Russias Alaska territory). The territory included what now is Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as land up the western coast of Canada. Joint control of the region worked for more than  a decade and a half, but ultimately the parties set out to divide Oregon. Americans there outnumbered the Brits in the 1830s, and in the 1840s, thousands more Americans headed there over the famed Oregon Trail with their Conestoga wagons. Belief in the United States Manifest Destiny A big issue of the day was Manifest Destiny or the belief that it was Gods will that Americans would control the North American continent from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea. The Louisiana Purchase had just about doubled the size of the United States in 1803, and now the government was looking at Mexico-controlled Texas, the Oregon Territory, and California. Manifest Destiny received its name in a newspaper editorial in 1845, though the philosophy had been very much in motion throughout the 19th century. The 1844 Democratic presidential candidate, James K. Polk, became a big promoter of Manifest Destiny as he ran on a platform of taking control over the entire Oregon Territory, as well as Texas and California. He used the famous campaign slogan Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!- named after the line of latitude serving as the territorys northern boundary. Polks plan was to claim the entire region and go to war over it with the British. The United States had  fought them twice before in relatively recent memory. Polk declared that the joint occupation with the British would end in one year.   In a surprise upset, Polk won the election with an electoral vote of 170 vs. 105 for Henry Clay. The popular vote was Polk, 1,337,243, to Clays 1,299,068. Americans Stream Into the Oregon Territory By 1846, the Americans in the territory outnumbered the British by  a ratio of 6-to1. Through negotiations with the British, the boundary between the United States and British Canada was established at 49 degrees north with the Treaty of Oregon in 1846. The exception to the 49th parallel boundary is that it turns south in the channel separating Vancouver Island from the mainland and then turns south and then west through the Juan de Fuca Strait. This maritime portion of the boundary wasnt officially demarcated until 1872. The boundary established by the Oregon Treaty still exists today between the United States and  Canada. Oregon became the nations 33rd state in 1859. Aftereffects After the Mexican-American War, fought from 1846 to 1848, the United States won the territory that became Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. Every new state fueled the debate about slavery and which side any new territories should be on- and how the balance of power in Congress would be affected by each new state.