| “ | Don't you ever dispute me in public. Do you understand? After you've finished medical school and you're on your own, then you can do as you damn well please. But until then, you do as I tell you. Is that clear? | „ |
| ~ Thomas Perry. |
Thomas Perry is the secondary antagonist of the 1989 drama film Dead Poets Society.
He is the strict and controlling father of Neil Perry and the personification of the authoritarian parenting style who forcefully wanted his only son to become a doctor, an occupation which his child doesn't want, being much more interested in pursuing an acting career. This eventually leads to a tragic outcome as he drove his son to suicide.
He was portrayed by Kurtwood Smith, who also played Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop, Bill Patterson in The X-Files, Walt Disney in Robot Chicken, Gene in Regular Show and General Nathan in Rick & Morty.
Appearance[]
Mr. Perry is a middle-aged man with short hair and stern facial features. He is almost always wearing a fancy suit or black trench coat.
Personality[]
Mr. Perry is a very cold and dispassionate individual whose idea of succeeding in life was to place his son in a very strict and demanding school. He would always speak to his son in a very formal and domineering manner, never asking him about how school is going for him or how his interactions with his peers and teachers are and always demand perfection out of Neil like an authoritarian parenting style parent will do. Most like of the other Welton students his own son is very afraid of him and hid his involvement in the school play because of his father's disapproval (which Thomas is not shy to show) of it.
He is very impatient and is unwilling to listen to his son's opinion or anyone else's except his own. Even when he witnessed the standing ovation his son received and all of the praise his peers and Mr. Keating gave him, it meant nothing to him, and not only did he coldly threatened Mr. Keating not to talk to his son, but he also drove his son into committing suicide after he forced him to enroll in military school and coldly ignore his melodramatic feelings.
It was because of this impatience, unwillingness to realized the error of his ways, lack of understanding of who his son truly was and what he really wanted to be and his strict adherence to the authoritarian parenting style that after his son committed suicide, instead of confessing his mistakes and acknowledging that he played a role in his son's tragic death, he instead blamed and accused Mr. Keating for 'corrupting' his son and leading him to suicide, thinking that it was his "inappropriate" teaching that changed and "corrupted" Neil that he (alongside Richard Cameron) got Headmaster Nolan to fire Keating from his teaching job.
Despite all of these things, he does care for his son and made countless sacrifices for him in order to give him the opportunities he himself never had and to succeed in life, and as expected of a father, he broke down upon seeing his son's lifeless body and along with his wife was devastated to have lost his "poor son". However, this was a one-sided relationship, as Neil no longer considers Thomas to be a good father after he destroyed his dream of becoming an actor.
History[]
Thomas Perry was known for the majority of the film as a man who was forcing his son, Neil, to live the life he always wanted. With absolutely no regard whatsoever for his son's desires or emotion (like an authoritarian parent act), Mr. Perry callously browbeat Neil to become a doctor. Neil himself said his father never once asked him what he wanted, how he felt or what his thoughts on anything were. Mr. Perry figured that what he wanted for Neil was best and was all that mattered, therefore he never considered the damage he was inflicting upon.
When Neil auditioned for the school play of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was the first thing he had ever done against his dad's wishes, Mr. Perry came down hard (physically) on him following the news, and forces his son to forbid him from doing the play. However, Neil did it anyway and got a standing ovation for his performance, making him happier than he had ever been in his life. But was sadly short-lived, as Mr. Perry in retaliation pulled Neil out of his school and threatened Mr. Keating to stay away from his son. By the time they arrived home with his wife waiting, Thomas forces his son to be enrolled in military school as the last straw for defying him in an attempt to make Neil become a doctor by force.
Neil, in fear that he will be force study for the next 10 more years of educational lifetime like a prison term, attempted to stand up to his father and demonstrate how acting made him happy. But Thomas continuously shot him down and ignores his melodramatic feelings, making it abundantly clear to Neil that his own father truly didn't love him and cared nothing but his dream of turning his son into a doctor. Once Neil suffered a depression due to his dream and happiness meant nothing to his father, Neil makes a point of no return: The only thing that would keep his life from being controlled by committing suicide with his father's revolver, what in the movie was shown as the negative consequences of the authoritarian parenting style.
When Mr. Perry found Neil's body, he broke down in devastation, crying and shouting at the loss of his "poor son". Although it was proof that Mr. Perry loved Neil in spite of his cold-heartedness, he still refuses to accept the responsibility that he causes his son's death, and instead he (alongside Richard Cameron) assisted Headmaster Nolan to have John Keating fired from Welton and ultimately succeeds to get Todd Anderson and the other boys to reveal that they (including Neil) are members of the Dead Poets Society, even though Mr. Keating was the teacher (and only adult) who had encouraged Neil to embrace his passion of acting and had never harmed his students in anyway.
Mr. Perry's actions had ultimately gotten his son killed yet Mr. Keating served as the perfect excuse for the former to save himself from any inkling of shame, thus completely avoid any redemption. However, despite getting Keating fired, his inspiration still lives on with his students and Neil's friends, making Thomas lose the battle in the long run. That aside, it's likely that Mr. Perry's plans to guarantee his family a successful future will be all for naught, as him and his wife didn't have any other children, so Neil's death means that the Perry family will be extinct after Thomas passes away.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Neil Perry (son) †
- Unnamed wife
Allies[]
Enemies[]
- John Keating
- Todd Anderson
- Knox Overstreet
- Charlie "Nuwanda" Dalton
- Gerard Pitts
- Steven Meeks
Quotes[]
| “ | I don't care if the world comes to an end tomorrow night. You are through with that play. Is that clear? Is that clear? (...) I made a great many sacrifices to get you here, Neil, and you will not let me down. | „ |
| ~ Thomas Perry, finding out about Neil's acting involvement and forcing him to quit the play. |
| “ | Thomas Perry: We're trying very hard to understand why it is that you insist on defying us. Whatever the reason, we're not gonna let you ruin your life. Tomorrow I'm withdrawing you from Welton and enrolling you in Braighton Military School. You're going to Harvard, and you're gonna be a doctor. Neil Perry: But, that's ten more years! Father, that's a *LIFETIME*! Thomas: Oh, stop it! Don't be so dramatic! You make it sound like a prison term! You don't understand, Neil! You have opportunities that I never even dreamt of, and I am NOT going to let you waste them! Neil: I've got to tell you what I feel! Mrs. Perry: We've been so worried about you! Thomas: *WHAT*? What? Tell me what you feel! What is it? Is it more of this, this *ACTING* business? Because you can forget that. What? Neil: Nothing. Thomas: Nothing? Well, then, let's go to bed. |
„ |
| ~ Thomas Perry's last straw, before his son's suicide. |
| “ | Thomas Perry: NOOOOOOOO!!! OH NEIL!! OH MY GOD!!! Oh my son...my son, my poor son! Mrs. Perry: He's alright, He's alright, He's alright... Thomas: Stop it, Stop it, STOP IT!! |
„ |
| ~ A heartbroken but unredeemed Thomas Perry, after his son's suicide. Also his last words. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Despite his overall antagonistic role in the film, some viewers speculate whether Thomas was pressing Neil to become a doctor out of pure selfishness or because he wanted to provide a life for the future generations of his family. Taking into account how old Thomas is, he may have had Neil's age when the Great Depression started and may have fought during World War II, so it's possible that he had to work very hard to provide Neil a decent home and just didn't want everything he had worked for to be ruined by Neil's dream to become an actor.
- This can be possibly backed up by the fact that Neil states that his family isn't as wealthy like most of the other students of Welton Academy and that Thomas points out that he didn't have the same opportunities Neil had.
- However, despite the above statement and his caring for his son, this does not mean that Mr. Perry is seen in a sympathetic light due to his authoritarian parenting and controlling nature. If he truly did feel sympathetic, he could have at least either never pushed Neil too far to the point that he committed suicide when Thomas forced him into military school (In real-life, military schools are not re-modification programs for troubled youth) or at the very least acknowledge his involvement on Neil's death and accept the fact that being an authoritarian parent was wrong, rather than blaming and accusing Mr. Keating that lead him to get fired from teaching.
- He can be seen to be very ignorant and blinded of the fact that people in professions other than doctors can be much more successful and wealthier than doctors. In Neil's case, he utterly failed to even realize that many actors and actresses who are excel in their acting job make more money and even gain massive fame and glory that no doctors can dream of attaining. Furthermore, it is possible that he views the people in the acting industry and even the industry itself are worthless in his eyes. As the result, one can argue that this fact makes Mr Perry to be utterly unsympathetic as he causes Neil's death not only because of his controlling nature but also his foolishness.
- Kurtwood Smith, the actor who played Thomas Perry, saw a family with a father domineering his son very much like his character towards Neil when the premiere of Dead Poets Society was playing. When the movie was over, Smith noticed the father was crying while leaving the theater.
- Thomas Perry is one of the most hated parents in the history of movies and series alongside Stephen Stotch of the South Park franchise, as both are the perfect personifications of the authoritarian parenting style who are very strict and controlling towards their children and reacted harshly when defied by their children, as parents who use this type of parenting style don't allow their children to question their orders, expects absolute obedience and react swift and harshly when defied. But unlike Thomas, Stephen's reaction is in the form of grounding his son Butters even for ridiculous reasons seem as a offense or rule breaking.
- Given the movie takes place in 1959, parents were generally more strict towards their children than nowadays and the authoritarian parenting style was the predominant style of parenting in that time. One can also say that conformity and tradition were more valorized at that time and Thomas was probably in the same line as many parents was.