If I were Neil

I think the problem, was that he realized that his father was going to control his life until his 30's!! Basically, his father said you are going to go to this college, you are going to do this thing as your profession, and until you do these things, you have no say in your life. That meant 4 years of college, 8-10 years of med school, internship, residency, etc...he probably felt like his life was over before it really even started. You have to understand...his parents controlled the purse strings, and in those days, if he had tried to get a job, his dad could've walked in there, told them my son quits, and no one would've questioned it.

I agree if that was really his passion he would have found another way. He seemed smarter than suicide.

He should have shot his father.






Get me a bromide! And put some gin in it!

Suicide is a permanent solution to what is generally a temporary problem.

The reason that suicide is as prevalent among young people is that they can't see that there is going to be an end to the situation they are currently in.

The problem was that even after his father came to the play and watched him, he still took him home and told him he was going to be a doctor and he was being taken away from Welton and Keating and his Welton friends. He realized his dad didn't watch the show but waited for him to finish so he could take him home. Now Neal does try to stand up to his father but when his father tells him if it is more of the acting he can just forget it, he feels he is talking to a brick wall and it is hopeless to convince him. So Neal is depressed about it and feels that since his dad destroyed his dream of acting, he was going to do the same thing and destroy his dad's dream of being a doctor by killing himself. I think he at that point considered it the only way out. When you are in a situation like that, that is how you feel.

Neil really screwed over Mr. Keating by killing himself.

Neil's suicide was an act of desperation. He was wounded by his father on several levels and killed himself in a panic. His decision was tragic, but it was neither smart nor stupid. It was desperation and grief mixed with adolescent angst. Neil simply was not himself. By the way, it is significant that he killed himself with his father's gun. A controlling person like Mr. Perry would likely own a gun, and to that end, it was his insatiable thirst for control which killed Neil. (No, not everyone who owns a gun is a control freak. Some, but not all).

He didn't get out of the cock-a-doody car!!!

Different times and different personality