In the text, the group of young men made decisions about how they would express themselves as a subset of the school's society. Sneaking out and having covert meetings, eventually with girls, was mostly looked upon as the improper way to do things. The risk of this activity or taking of freedom was very high. This expression of freedom gave the group's members the courage to find other ways to express their freedom. .
Neil rebelled against his parents when he chose to act in the play. His family represents one of the smaller sub-societies. He lied to Mr. Keating about having his father's permission to take part in the play because he wanted it so badly that he was willing to defy one of the most restraining, yet important things in his life, his father's expectations. He knew that his participation in the play would be a large step towards expressing some freedom from the boundaries of his parent's rules. He pushed the boundaries so much that in the end it killed him. This is a very extreme example of the wrong way to express your freedoms, no matter how right they seem to be at the time. .
The actions Neil took makes one consider that the rules of any society are for the general benefit of the members. For this to work, however, the members must agree with the rules or they simply do not belong to that group. Neil's father made it clear that he wanted his son to be successful by becoming a doctor. Even though he wanted nothing but the best for Neil, he never asked Neil what it was he wanted to do. As a result, the rules seemed more like a punishment than an action of looking out for Neil's well being. By disregarding the boundaries so clearly, Neil went beyond just expressing a freedom, but challenged the authority to a whole new level. .
Mr. Keating made it well known throughout the school that he hated conformity with a passion. .
"Now I want you to rip out that page come on, it's not the .