An important theme this film attempts to convey is the extraordinarily detrimental effect that stifling emotion can have on our psyche, especially in children. In the film, Neil's father Mr. Perry forbids Neil from participating in a play-- A Midsummer Night's Dream-- because Mr. Perry believes it is a waste of time. He also decides to pull Neil out of his preparatory school, the first place he has ever felt passionate. "Tomorrow I am withdrawing you from Welton and enrolling you in Braden military school. you are going to Harvard and you are going to be a doctor." (Anthology 2012, 725) Neil is completely devastated, yet finds that he cannot respond with what he really wants. "But I have to tell you what I think! . . . Tell me. Tell me. . . Nothing? . . . Nothing? then let's go to bed." (Anthology 2012, 725) Neil chooses to shove his emotions into himself because he is so frightened of his father. Since his feelings cannot manifest themselves verbally, they do so physically. In desperation, Neil kills himself with his father's pistol. All because he felt he was never given the chance to decide for himself what made him happy.
This is similar to one of the student essays we've read. In it, a man named Johnny Lee fins out that he is gay. Rather than being able to express this openly with his parents, they completely reject what he has to say, and condemn him for being evil. "Don't you know what God said about the gay. God HATES the gay. They are all bad. They are all going to hell!" (562) As a result, Johnny alienates himself from his family, and is incredibly distraught by their reactions at his revelation. It is not as violent or final action as suicide, but both are caused an inability to express what they want to their family, and their family's attempts to stifle them.
No comments:
Post a Comment