On Walden Pond Response Neil Perry had been struggling with conformity and his own identity in his life. He felt as if he were living the life his parents wanted him to live, and that he had no say in what he wanted to do with his life. Neil had a passion of acting which was disapproved by his parents. His English teacher, Mr. Keating, had wished to have the boys find their own voice and break free from conformity. Keating had told the boys to “seize the day,” and “suck out all the marrow of life”. As Thoreau had said, “To front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Keating wished for the boys to live out their lives so when they die they know they lived for a reason. This had inspired Neil to try out for the play Midsummer Night’s Dream, for he didn’t care what his father may think, that he would do it no matter what. Keating had encouraged Neil to talk to his father about his passion of acting after he had gotten the lead role in a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Neil told M. Keating about how he felt about his father stopping him from pursuing his dreams. Mr. Keating told him to tell all that to his father as he may understand. Yet, Neil didn’t tell his father since he felt as if he still won’t care about what he may say. Neil wished to act rather than follow out the path his father laid out for him; he “did not wish to live what was not life”. Neil participated in the play even after his father told him to quit, after his father finding out about this he had made plans for Neil to join military school. Sadly, Neil had decided to “practice resignation.” Neil felt there was no way for him to live out his own life, as his father would still keep him in his control.

Charles Dalton had always been the one who wanted attention from others. He was more daring and open to the non-conformist ideas Mr. Keating had been teaching. Charlie had been one of the first people to do as Mr. Keating told them to do. An example of this is when he had the class to rip out a section of their poetry book; Charlie was one of the first people to do so. Charlie had decided to go by the name Nwanda later on to show that he can make his own identity. He had brought two girls to the Dead