ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓
╰┈➤ ❝ i don't wanna look at anything else now that i say you. i don't wanna think of any else now that i thought of you. ❞
IN WHICH emmeliah williams and neil perry, students at the prestigious welton a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
— daylight ! chapter ten ; the point of conformity
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CAMERON, Pitts, Josephine, and Knox walked around the perimeter of the small stone courtyard. "No grades at stake, children. Just take a stroll," Keating instructed.
At first, I was confused when we were all brought down to the courtyard, and now that only four of the twenty in the class were asked to walk around, I am even more confused.
Eventually, my classmates' different ways of walking blended into one, as they walked perfectly in sync with one another. Their footsteps made a audible pattern fill our ears.
"There it is," Mr. Keating pointed out. Slowly, most of us started clapping in time with the footsteps of the four.
"I don't know, but I've been told," Keating sang.
"I don't know, but I've been told," we all sang back, still clapping.
"Doing poetry is old."
"Doing poetry is old."
Mr. Keating then starts to walk with the three boys and one girl. "Left, left, left, right, left," he chants. "Left, left, left, right, left. Left, halt!" As he yells, they all stop walking and we stop clapping.
"Thank you, class," he says, stepping to the middle of the courtyard. "If you noticed, everyone started off with their own stride, their own pace. Mr. Pitts, taking his time. He knew he'll get there one day." Mr. Keating walks slowly, mimicking Pitts' walk.
"Mr. Cameron, you could see him thinking. 'Is this right? It might be right. I know that— Maybe not. I don't know.'" He impersonates Cameron's thoughts.
"Ms. Evans, an elegant stride. Perfect posture and a perfect pace. She knew what she wanted and she was going to get it," he says.
"Mr. Overstreet's, driven by a deeper force," Mr. Keating says, leaning back as he walks. "Yes, we know that." The class laughs as Knox looks down slightly in embarrassment. "All right, now, I didn't bring them up here to ridicule them. I brought them up here to illustrate the point of conformity. The difficulty in maintaining your own beliefs in the face of others."
