Comparing All My Sons, Catcher in the Rye and Dead Poets Soc
Comparing All My Sons, Catcher in the Rye and Dead Poets Society
The American dream portrays the idea that one may strive to live a perfect life where anyone can become successful or accomplish anything. A world where family life is ideal and the “streets are paved with gold.” The works All My Sons, Catcher in the Rye and Dead Poets Society introduce a view into North American society by presenting a realist attempting to fulfill the dream, and an idealist who disagrees with this view of life.
Joe Keller and Larry Keller portray the realism versus idealism theme in the play All My Sons. Joe tries to accomplish the American dream by subscribing to immoral values. During the war, he ships out damaged cylinder heads, indirectly causing the death of his son Larry, and twenty-one other pilots. This action demonstrates how capitalism places money before people. Larry however, was the genuine idealist who chose to end his life rather than bear the reality that his father committed such an appalling crime. Larry did not believe that prospering the family excused his fathers crime. He saw it as inhumane and thus committed suicide.
The novel Catcher in the Rye provides further proof to the theory that the American Dream is non-realistic. Holden Caulfield is the idealistic character who resents the American dream and trusts only the innocence of the youth. He despises the phoniness of the realistic world and dreams of an ideal society in which he can prevent the innocent from entering the phony adult world, which he desperately tries to avoid. Furthermore, he rejects the notion of an ideal family life by not communicating with his parents and perceiving them as part of the phony upper class society.
The film Dead Poets Society presents Neil as the idealist who believes that it is important to live your life the way you desire rather than live it for somebody else.
Since Neil’s father did not have much when he was young, he tries to live his life through Neil. Instead of permitting Neil to continue with his love of acting, he pressures him to study hard so that he can become a successful doctor. Consequently, Neil commits suicide so that he does not have to be apart of life that his father has set up for him. He prefers to work hard for something that...