Brad Loeffler
Mrs. Baker
Compare/Contrast Essay
November 25, 2014
Carpe Diem “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lies extraordinary,” says Mr. Keeting in The Dead Poets Society. Take the chances that are offered so that things do not become or remain a subject to conformity. Both Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Dead Poets Society involve a dystopian society in which conformity rules the lives of people in that society. Conformity is a bad thing; for example, never acting differently than someone else will always make for being the same as them and having nothing that stands out. In the Dead Poets Society and the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, both have characters who take their turns seizing the day and breaking conformity, making them very similar to each other. Neil Perry from Dead Poets Society brings Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 541 to mind. Both Neil and Guy have lived in a dystopian society for their entire lives and are realizing that they cannot let conformity control them. When these characters realize what conformity is doing to them, they both make a difference and break the bindings of conformity. The two characters breaking conformity is a perfect example for each and every one of us to answer the door when opportunity is knocking. In our lives it is important that we take advantage of every pivotal moment so that we can make ourselves extraordinary. Seizing the day is important in the lives that we live because if we do not take the chances as they are presented to us, we may not ever get another chance to do so, and will look back on it with regret for our entire lives. When breaking the boundaries that conformity puts on us it is important to know when to act on the opportunity’s that present themselves to us. Though it is important to weigh the consequences of something that you might do, it is also important to sometimes not think about it and just do it because you might never get your chance again. It is okay to act on whim because it is better than not doing anything at all. If you do not do anything at all, chances are that you will look back at it with regret at some point in your life. In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag seizes the day when he realizes what kind of dystopian society he is living in. As a fireman, Guy’s job is to burn books; to remove them from society. Guy breaks conformity and seizes the day first when he begins to steal books from the burnings and read them on his free time. Upon realizing how much better of a life he could be living, Guy stops going into work for a couple of days to think about what he should do. Guy seeks a teacher to help him understand what the books mean. When Guy is challenged to put his mischievous thoughts out of mind by his fire captain, Beatty, Guy takes his chance and acts against him and runs away from the town to be with a group of people who think for themselves. Guy shows that he feels the reward of his choices with his determination to get away from society and to join the hobos who have no bounds of the conformity that had existed in the city. In Dead Poets Society Neil Perry plays his part in breaking conformity and seizing the day. Neil is a brave young individual who