Danielle Iaboni
Mrs. Arlotto
ENG4U
April 5, 2014
The Outsider and Dead Poet’s Society Comparative Essay “I find that the very things that I get criticized for, which is usually being different and just doing my own thing and just being original, is the very thing that’s making me successful.” Country singer Shania Twain explains that the things she does in her daily life, making her different from everyone else, actually makes her unique, despite the fact that it goes against social norms. A non-conformist person is someone who goes against societal norms because they are an individual who will do what they prefer to do, regardless of what others may think. In the novel The Outsider, Meursault is indifferent and passive to a
Mr. Keating teaches his classes in a very different way than all the other teachers. Keating tells his students they are powerful individuals and makes them think for themselves, what other teachers at this school would not do. This is seen when Keating instructs his students to rip out pages out of their textbook that instruct how to rate the quality of poetry. Some students are shocked at this and he replies, “this is a battle, a war, and the casualties could be your hearts and souls… in my class you will learn to think for yourselves.” As soon as one student rips out the page all the other students in the class look onto him like he has just committed a crime. This results in Keating getting scolded for his teaching methods, and inevitably leads to his termination at this academy. However, the students learned the most from this teacher than they ever have from any other teacher, and at the end learned to think for themselves and stand up for what they believe in. The society in this school includes teachers that are strict and “by-the-book”. Keating is clearly going against society when he teaches the way he does. It is seen that Keating is free and setting his students free from the chains of conformity, while the rest of the teachers are chained and frown upon his methods. Jacques Rousseau stated, “"Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.” He is saying that men are naturally