Analyzing the Wind
Inherit the Wind, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E.
Lee
Plot:
Cates is thrown into jail for teaching the beginning of the world contrary to what the bible says.Brady is coming to Hillsboro for the trail.Hornbeck announces he will bring Drummond to defend Cates.Both sides choose the remaining members of the jury.Cates almost pulls out but doesnt.Howard is called to testify.
Rachel is called to testify and the end of Bradys questioning emotionally destroys her. So Cates doesnt let Drummond question her, loosing a big part of the case.The judge rejects all of Drummonds witnesses.Drummond calls Brady to testimony about the bible.Drummond uses the bible and Bradys testimony on is favor and turns many followers at least less biased.
The court found Cates guilty and sentenced to a hundred dollars fine
Drummond wanted to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.Brady while giving a speech to get his followers back died.Drummond took both the theory of evolution and the bible home.
Characters:
Drummond: Supposed atheist, defendant lawyer and friend of Matthew Brady.
Brady: Religious leader, lawyer against Cates and presidential candidate.Cates: Schoolteacher accused of teaching the theory of evolution, Rachels boyfriend and believed the church had some wrong thoughts about some things.Hornbeck: Cynical reporter, paid all the expenses of the defendant, hated ignorance, hence he hated Hillsboro.
Setting:
Hillsboro, around summer of 1925, July to be exact.
Conflict:
The main characters difficulties were mainly each other, or the way they saw the world. Drummonds greatest difficulty is to open peoples minds about everything.
Bradys difficulty was to prove God or the bible right against such a powerful speaker, as was Drummond. And Cates conflict is to prove to everybody he has not done wrong by teaching the theory of evolution.
Point of View:
It is a play, so there is no point of view. Or theres everybodys point of view.
Themes:
One should always keep an open mind to new ideas, no matter how absurd they may sound. (Drummond says it all the way through the book).
People with different point of views may be thinking in the parallel but seem to differ. (The bible tells the story of the beginning of the world not in the same way as Darwins Theory of Evolution does. That doesnt mean one of them is incorrect, simply, the story is told from different points of view. The Theory of Evolution is a fact book. The bible isnt, the bible is a book that explains events in an easy way for the commune people to understand and be able to relate to).Mass beliefs easily change sides.
(Masses and the commune people throughout history have always been ignorant, and still are. They trust a certain leader or group, in this case Brady and the church, to a level beyond normal when everything is running fine. But when that person or group commits an error only human they turn their backs on them, because they expect more than just human behavior from these leaders, they expect infallible actions and omniscient thinking. And they go from group to group or leader to leader, without ever thinking for themselves).
Techniques:
Humor: The authors use abundant humor as a comic relief, to decrease the stress of the characters and the trial.
In fact, one of the main uses of Hornbeck in the play is to bring some cynical humor into it.Differing Characters: Though it is not exactly a technique, it did capture my attention how the character who did accustom with changes and was open to all new ideas ended better than he who was faithful yet stubborn with old ideas.
Vocabulary:
He that troubled his own house shall inherit the wind: He who brings disorder to his family shall inherit nothing.Hogwash: any worthless stuff.Agnostic: a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause as God.Heresies: opinion.Hex: practice witchcraft.
Words
/ Pages : 643 / 24
