AbstractAmerican classic novel Dead Poets Society mainly tells the story of the teacher and a group of young students with a personal independence of conduct of the story. The writer shows some contradictions and conflicts between the school and the students, parents and students, teachers and students with unadorned style. This is a part of life and freedom, and the traditional related educational novel, also is a classical literature which questions and challenges the traditional teaching, is a symbol of youth and vitality, is the freshness of the deep spring of life.The novel describes the process in detail that Neil fights against with the school, the parents and the tradition in order to pursue ideal and freedom. However the ideal is good, the reality is cruel, Neil fails to revolt and ends with suicide. The tragedy of Neil reflects from one aspect the influence of school education and family education on teenagers.The paper consists of the five parts: The first part gives a general idea of the novel Dead Poets Society. The second part describes the tragedy of Neil and its embodiments in the novel. The third part discusses the causes of the tragedy of Neil in the novel. The fourth part states Neil’s tragedy in the novel to the enlightenment of current education in our country. The last part is the conclusion of the paper.Key Words: education; freedom; Neil; tragedy摘 要美国经典小说《死亡诗社》主要讲述了一个特立独行的老师和一群年轻学生的故事。作者用朴实的文风展现了学校与学生，家长与学生，老师与学生之间所发生的冲突矛盾。这是一部关于传统，生命，自由的教育小说，也是一部向传统教学提出质疑和挑战的文学经典，是青春和活力的象征，是生命春意正浓时鲜活的记忆。小说详细叙述了尼尔为追求理想和自由，与学校，父母，传统相抗争的过程，然而理想是美好的...
