For me, tradition is the respect for the past. The first pillar says that 'tradition' is the love for school, country and family.

In every pillar we can see the special definition for the academy. The four pillars are especially defined for Welton, they can't be used without criticism in real life. It's the key to all success, in school and everywhere. The fourth pillar is 'excellence', the result of hard work. The third one is 'discipline', the respect for parents, teachers and headmaster. The second one is 'honour', dignity and the fulfilment of duty. The first one is 'tradition', defined as the love of school, country and family. The academy has strict rules which have to be followed: The four pillars of Welton Academy and their reference to real life: There's a high pressure on the students, everybody expects them to be excellent and perfect. In the parents' eyes you can only see the pride and in the teachers' ones only the severity. But in fact, nobody is interested in their feelings. It's the first time that they'll be separated from their parents, they enter a new step in their life - alone. For the students, especially for the new ones, it's very hard. There's no place for individuality - you have to obey or you'll be punished. The children have to wear uniform and to follow the strict rules of the academy. We can see that right at the beginning: the welcoming ceremony for the new students is very formal and severe. About all the others we probably would be informed only superficially. Keating or one of the boys, it would have been a very personal story because we would only be informed about the thoughts and feelings of one character. If it had been a first-person-story narrated by Mr. 'Dead Poets Society' is a novel narrated by an omniscient narrator who can talk about every person.

Dead poets society book