A few months ago, Neil would have given up. If his father had taken everything he cared about from him, he would have gone to his father's study and unlocked that drawer and taken out the gun. But he was taught by John Keating for almost an entire term, and if there's one thing he learned, it's Carpe Diem - seize the day. LIVE the day.
Neil doesn't give up, because you can't seize the day when you're dead, and sometimes rash decisions are the best decisions. He's not going to let his father take everything he cares about away, not acting, not the poets, and so Neil grabs everything that might be of use and steals his father's car. But back at Welton, he discovers that not only does everyone think he's dead, but Todd - soft, innocent, kind, oblivious Todd, who has no clue what he means to Neil - is hurt - and he won't wake up.
Natalie: I want to be an English teacher. I want to learn from the best. YOU are the best.
Keating: You want to be a teacher. This is how a teacher lives. "In the crawl space under the stairs, chalk for a pillow".
God must've been called because there's a girl. A girl at Welton.
When John Keating took the position of English Teacher at Welton Academy, his former school, he was looking forward to broadening the minds of his students. What he wasn't expecting was to be joined by his nineteen year old British niece, Natalie. But she wants to be an English teacher. Natalie and John have always been close. And John's brother has the money and clout to buy off Nolan...with conditions. Will she manage to keep her head down, avoid attention and study in quiet...of course not.
*TRIGGER WARNING*: All themes of 'Dead Poets Society' included