In both "A Separate Peace" and "The Dead Poet's Society", there were individuals who stood as nonconformity against the strict rules that their school had to present. In "A Separate Peace", Finny had surrounded himself with his utopia which was everything against the teaching of Devon. Respectively, in "The Dead Poet's Society", Neil chose his own path against the little choice his father had given him. But in the end, both of the boys were led to their own demise by the nature in which their characteristics root.

Finny was an individual who believed and done things that no others would dare to in Devon. He created his own mental utopia with his idealistic views of life, genuine caring for others, and charismatic abilities to make people love him. Finny thought that everyone was caring and honest, as if goodness just comes out from the bottom of their...