Inherit The Wind Themes

Louisiana legislators established the Louisiana Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act. The Act forbids the teaching of the theory of evolution and the theory of “creation science” in public elementary and secondary schools unless accompanied by the instruction of the theory other. The Act defines the theories as the scientific evidence for creation or evolution and inferences from those scientific evidence. The lower courts established that the Act violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because it lacked a clear secular purpose.

The Play Inherit the Wind is filled with individuality and opinions. These opinions and ideas show the importance of being your own person and that is the main purpose of the play. The play sends the message of individuality many times and it truly makes an impression on readers. These ideas are portrayed through the characters by the unique things, ideas, views and quirks of all the characters throughout the trial and the play as a whole.

Can you imagine not learning how to multiply or divide or anything else that you find necessary to help you succeed in school? Then maybe you can visualize living in the state of Tennessee, where public schools could not teach Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. It all started when the teachers Butler Act was passed, it banned the teaching of the Evolution. Most people were indignant because of how the law favored those who acclaimed the bible. The conviction of John Scopes in the Scopes Trial was caused by political factors like the laws passed and the trial itself, the geographic factors such as the location also known as the Bible Belt and lastly the primary factor is social factors, such as religious beliefs.

Whether you are a believer in the Bible, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, or both. Inherit the Wind is a play that expands on the importance of being able to accept both in society. Bertram Cates was a teacher of Hillsboro, Tennessee, who was arrested for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution to his biology class. Anything that is said against the creation of man and the Bible was considered a crime. The prosecutor of the case was Matthew Harrison Brady, a beloved politician and religion enthusiast. Mr. Brady had a variety of characteristics, positive and negative ones, which greatly influenced the outcome of the case. He can efficiently manipulate and influence the opinions of others, he was overconfident, and ignorant. Despite these inferior

On January 20, 1925, a Tennessee state senator named John A. Shelton proposed a bill to make the teaching of evolution in the state’s public schools a felony, or a criminal act. Fundamentalists had been supporting and pushing the passage of laws such as this for years, because the teaching of evolution and Darwinism contradicts the religious beliefs of creation in Christianity. Popular evangelist, Billy Sunday, undertook an eighteen-day crusade in Memphis in support of the prospective bill. Night after night, Sunday’s audiences grew until more than two-hundred thousand people heard him preach against the evils of evolution. The bill, known as the Butler Act, was officially passed on March 21, 1925, just 3 months after its proposal. Just as state legislators suspected, the ink had hardly dried on the Butler Act before its first challenger emerged.

While the main facts of the case are those stated above, there are several other peripheral facts that are significant in this case. One of those peripheral facts is Arkansas’s “Anti-evolution” law appeared to be a product of an increase in “fundamentalism” in the State. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, fundamentalism is a form of Christianity that believes in the historic accuracy of the Bible. Therefore, fundamentalist generally oppose the theory of evolution. (Sandeen & Melton) Another peripheral fact is Arkansas location in the “Bible belt” of America, which added to the religious tension surrounding the case. The final peripheral fact worth mentioning is the Arkansas “Anti-evolution” law was seemingly an adaptation of the “monkey law” in Tennessee, which was upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court in the famous Scopes case of 1927.

In order to engage an audience in a piece of work, an effective beginning must be implemented so that the reader is inclined to continue being invested in the work. In both Francis Bacon’s The Four Idols and Charles Darwin’s Natural Selection, an effective beginning is introduced to grab the attention of the audience. Both authors then use other rhetorical strategies, such as comparison and deductive reasoning to strengthen their argument, enabling the reader to engage in the work.

Throughout the twentieth century, numerous dramas that were written in the United States presented ideas and situations that had the purpose of changing a reader’s attitude towards a specific subject. This is the case of the play “Inherit the Wind”, a piece written by the playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Throughout the years, many literary scholars have argued whether or not “freedom of thought” has stood as a predominant theme in the play. While this issue may bring about countless debates, my respect towards others’ viewpoints has allowed me to pick a side and to defend it with textual evidence from the play itself. From my perspective, the main theme in Inherit the Wind is freedom of thought.

The evolution that Darwin’s theories had brought in science world, also gain religious backlash. Soon, many states legislature passed the anti-evolution bills, making it illegal to teach in public school and colleges. The twelve-day trial was the strongest example of war against fundamentalist and modernist. John T. Scopes, substitute science teacher was arrested for teaching evolution theory. The Scopes trial in Dayton, Tennessee had gain all sorts of publicity across the world. Massive publicity had also brought people from all around the world in court. His attorney argued that, “Scopes is not on trial. Civilization is on trial”. Meanwhile, Bryan said it as “Contest between evolution and Christianity, a dual to the death”’. After a long

Inherit the Wind is about a 24-year-old teacher named Bertram T. Cates, who is arrested for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution to his junior high-class. Some high-profile Hillsboro town’s people press charges and have Cates arrested for teaching evolutionism in a stringent Christian town. A famous lawyer named Henry Drummond defends him; while a fundamentalist politician Matthew Harrison Brady prosecutes. The story takes place in Hillsboro, which is a small town in Tennessee. Cates is merely trying to teach to his class that there is more to life than just what the Bible teaches. He is not trying to be nonreligious; rather he is just teaching his class to think outside the box. The town’s people think that Cates is trying to push

In early 1925, Tennessee passed a law that made it illegal to teach evolution. In the summer of 1925, a young schoolteacher named John Scopes stood trial in Dayton, Tennessee, for violating the state law against the teaching of evolution (The Scopes Trial).The jury found Scopes guilty of violating the law and fined him $100 (Scopes Trial). The Scopes trial resulted in two enduring conclusions: that legislatures should not restrain the freedom of scientific inquiry, and that society should respect academic freedom (The Scopes

Starting with the Scopes Trial, many more cases have occurred concerning the teaching of evolution. “By 1928 every southern state except Virginia had debated or was considering legislation banning the teaching of evolution in the

On April 24, 1925, John Thomas Scopes was charged with the teaching of evolution, which went against the Butler Act. The Butler Act made it illegal to teach any theory denying the divine creation of man in all of Tennessee’s public schools. Up until then, it was widely accepted that the origin of man hadn’t derived from wild animals.

When the boundary between Church and state is clouded, men may begin to “believe they are performing a bold action in killing anyone who does not accept its gods”

Public schools are a place to learn proven facts and some very well—known and accepted theories. These schools have been led this way for a long time and show no signs of changing. Many states around the country have rejected the teaching of creationism in public schools, since the subject is so controversial among teachers and parents. In Ohio, a bill to develop new science content standards was not successfully passed. Many creationists were upset when they discovered that the first drafts of the standards were filled with evolutionary content, without any allowance for alternative explanations of life’s origins. In the uproar, the state board held a special meeting to investigate the process that the writing team and advisory committee used to draft the science standards (Matthews, Answering Genesis). This is why learning the facts about evolution should be taught at school. By doing this, there would be much less confrontation between teachers, students, and parents. If one has the desire to learn about creationism or any other beliefs of how the world came to be, one should learn it at a place outside of school, such as church or at home.