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MEEKS
Raisins?
CHARLIE
Yeah. Wait a minute. Who gave us half a roll?
CAMERON
I'm eating the other half.
CHARLIE
Come on.
CAMERON
What? You want me to put it back?
NEIL
It was a dark and rainy night. And this old lady, who had a passion
for jigsaw puzzles, sat by herself in her house at her table to
complete the new jigsaw puzzle. As she pieced the puzzle together,
she realized to her astonishment that the image that was formed
was her very own room, and the figure in the center of the puzzle
as she completed it was herself. And with trembling hands, she
placed the last four pieces and stared in horror at the face of
a demented madman at the window. The last thing that this old
lady ever heard was the sound of breaking glass.
KNOX
No shit.
NEIL
Yes. This is true. This is true.
CAMERON
I've got one that's even better than that. I do. There's a young
married couple and they're driving through the forest at night
from a long trip. And they run out of gas and there's a madman
on the loose.
CHARLIE
Oh, that thing with the hands?
PITTS
This is the madman on the roof?
CAMERON
I love that story.
CHARLIE
I told you that one.
CAMERON
You did not. I got that in, uh, camp in sixth grade.
CHARLIE
Yeah. Were you six last year?
PITTS
"In a mean abode in the Shankill Road lived a man named
William Bloat. Now he had a wife, the plague of his life, who
continually got his goat. And one day at dawn with her night shift
on, he slit her bloody throat." Oh, and it gets worse.
CHARLIE
Do you wanna hear a real poem?
MEEKS
Want this?
CHARLIE
All right? No, I don't need it. You take it.
MEEKS
What, did you bring one?
NEIL
You memorized a poem?
CHARLIE
I didn't memorize a poem. Move up.
MEEKS
An original piece by Charlie Dalton.
KNOX
An original piece.
PITTS
Take center stage.
NEIL
You know this is history. Right? This is history.
MEEKS
Oh, wow.
CAMERON
Where did you get that?
CHARLIE
Teach me to love? Go teach thyself more wit: I, chief professor,
am of it. The god of love, if such a thing there be, May learn
to love from me.
NEIL
Wow! Did you write that?
CHARLIE
Abraham Cowley. Okay, who's next?
NEIL
Alfred Lord Tennyson. Come my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek
a newer world for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset.
And though we are not now that strength which in old days Moved
earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;-- One equal temper
of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will.
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
MEEKS
Then I had religion, then I had a vision. I could not turn from
their revel in derision. Then I saw the Congo creeping through
the black, cutting through the forest with a golden track. Then
I saw the Congo creeping through the black-
CHARLIE
Meeks, Meeks.
MEEKS
...cutting through the forest with a golden track.Then I saw the
Congo creeping through the black, cutting through the forest with
a golden track. Then I saw the Congo creeping through the black,
cutting through the forest with a golden track. Then I saw the
Congo creeping through the black, cutting through the forest with
a golden track.
BOYS
Then I saw the Congo creeping through the black, cutting through
the forest wit...
KNOX
Morose?
KEATING
Exactly! Morose. Now, language was developed for one endeavor,
and that is? Mr. Anderson? Come on! Are you a man or an amoeba?
KEATING
Mr. Perry?
NEIL
Uh, to communicate.
KEATING
No! To woo women. Today we're going to be talking about William
Shakespeare.
BOY
Oh, God!
KEATING
I know. A lot of you looked forward to this about as much as you
look forward to root canal work. We're gonna talk about Shakespeare
as someone who writes something very interesting. Now, many of
you have seen Shakespeare done very much like this, "O
Titus, bring your friend hither." But if any of you have
seen Mr. Marlon Brando, you know, Shakespeare can be different.
"Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."
You can also imagine, maybe, John Wayne as Macbeth going, "Well,
is this a dagger I see before me?"
KEATING
"Dogs, sir? Oh, not just now. I do enjoy a good dog once
in a while, sir. You can have yourself a three-course meal from
one dog. Start with your canine crudites, go to your Fido flambe
for main course and for dessert, a Pekingese parfait. And you
can pick your teeth with a little paw."
KEATING
Why do I stand up here? Anybody?
CHARLIE
To feel taller.
KEATING
No! Thank you for playing, Mr. Dalton. I stand upon my desk to
remind yourself that we must constantly look at things in a different
way.
KEATING
You see, the world looks very different from up here. You don't
believe me? Come see for yourself. Come on. Come on!
KEATING
Just when you think you know something, you have to look at it
in another way. Even though it may seem silly or wrong, you must
try! Now, when you read, don't just consider what the author thinks.
Consider what you think.
KEATING
Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer
you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all.
Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation."
Don't be resigned to that. Break out! Don't just walk off the
edge like lemmings. Look around you.
KEATING
There! There you go, Mr. Priske. Thank you! Yes! Dare to strike
out and find new ground. Now, in addition to your essays, I would
like you to compose a poem of your own, an original work.
KEATING
That's right! You have to deliver it aloud in front of the class
on Monday. Bonne chance, gentlemen.
KEATING
Mr. Anderson? Don't think that I don't know that this assignment
scares the hell out of you, you mole.
MR. NOLAN
Take a power train in two! Three! Keep your eyes in the boat!
MEEKS
We got it, Pittsie. We got it! Radio Free American!
NEIL
I found it.
TODD
You found what?
NEIL
What I wanna do right now. What's really, really inside me.
TODD
"A Midsummer Night's Dream"?
NEIL
This is it.
TODD
What is this?
NEIL
It's a play, dummy.
TODD
I know that. I-- Wh-Wh-What does it have to do with you?
NEIL
Right. They're putting it on at Henley Hall. Open tryouts. Open
tryouts!
TODD
Yes, so?
NEIL
So, I'm gonna act. Yes, yes! I'm gonna be an actor! Ever since
I can remember, I've wanted to try this. I even tried to go to
summer stock auditions last year, but, of course, my father wouldn't
let me. For the first time in my whole life I know what I wanna
do, and for the first time I'm gonna do it whether my father wants
me to or not! Carpe diem!
TODD
Neil, Neil, hold on a minute. How are you gonna be in a play if
your father won't let you?
NEIL
First I gotta get the part, then I can worry about that.
TODD
Yeah, but won't he kill you if he finds out you went to an audition
and didn't even tell him?
NEIL
No, no, no, no. As far as I'm concerned, he won't have to know
about any of this.
TODD
Well, that's impossible.
NEIL
Bullshit! Nothing's impossible.
TODD
Well, why don't you just call him and ask him? And m-maybe he'll
say yes.
NEIL
That's a laugh! If I don't ask him, at least I won't be disobeying
him.
TODD
Yeah, but if he said--
NEIL
Jesus, Todd! Whose side are you on?
NEIL
I mean, I haven't even gotten the part yet. Can't I even enjoy
the idea for a little while?
NEIL
You're coming to the meeting this afternoon?
TODD
I don't know. Maybe.
NEIL
Nothing Mr. Keating has to say means shit to you, does it, Todd?
TODD
W-What is that supposed to mean?
NEIL
You're in the club! Being in the club means being stirred up by
things. You look about as stirred up as a cesspool.
TODD
S-- You want me out?
NEIL
No! I want you in, but being in means you gotta do something.
Not just say you're in.
TODD
Well, listen, Neil. I-I appreciate this concern, but I-I'm not
like you. All right? You, you, you say thing and people listen.
I'm, I'm not like that.
NEIL
Don't you think you could be?
TODD
No! I--I, I don't know, but that's not the point. The, the, the
point is that there's nothing you can do about it, so you can
just butt out. I can take care of myself just fine. All right?
NEIL
No.
TODD
What do you mean, "no"?
NEIL
No.
TODD
Give me-- Neil. Neil, give that back.
NEIL
"We are dreaming of a--" Poetry! I'm being chased
by Walt Whitman! Okay, okay.
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