Inherit the Wind

1196 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Controversies in religion and public education

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 devilish thoughts through evolutionism. Matthew Harrison Brady is the fundamentalist hero to the locals. He prides himself on doing what’s right in his eyes, and according to him, doing what’s right is doing exactly what the Bible says without question. Brady has a very strong following from the people of Hillsboro, to include a parade and marching band. The mayor of Hillsboro names Brady an honorary colonel in the state militia. This later comes up as an issue in the trial in which the mayor ends up temporarily honoring Drummond as a colonel as well. Brady is portrayed throughout the movie as a leader. He is highly respected and honored by the locals. This rubs off on Brady, making him extremely pompous and arrogant. His ego eventually gets the best of him as it literally compromises his prosecution in the trial. Brady resembles many of the same characteristics of a cult leader. He has a strong following by speaking to the issues that the locals want to hear. However, he is smart, charming in a ... ... middle of paper ... ...rvative and fundamentalist Christian perspective. They are content with their elected officials and church leaders as their day-to-day environment never presents them with any new or contrary ideas. This presents a problem to anyone attempting to try something new. In small, closed up communities like Hillsboro, free thinking is met with opposition and criticism as a sign of fear for the unknown. Leaders of a new movement or way of life will continue to be faced with this opposition throughout life. The good leaders will meet the opposition with patience, sincerity and respect; while other leaders will attempt to force their beliefs on others, making people apprehensive to join or share the same beliefs. These forceful leaders although usually few and far between, make a shoddy name for those looking to just preach their beliefs and thoughts to willing followers.

Show More
Related

  • Review of Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reverend Jeremiah Brown - Hillsboro's minister. He is a hard- hearted man who feels no qualms about convincing the town to condemn Bert Cates and his daughter as incorrigible sinners.

    Read More

  • Liberal Views on Society Depicted in Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe and Stanley Kramer’s Inherit the Wind

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    First Off, In Inherit the Wind, Bert Cates is originally just an average school teacher who teaches evolution in a state where it is illegal to do so. He then is charged and to be tried in a court of law whom Harrison Brady, prosecutor, is a purebred Christian. While Mr. Cates defence lawyer is an atheist. It is a battle between both beliefs but Mr. Cates is seen to be the devil of it all. Just because he wishes to teach something he believes in makes him a bad man. In the Film, the director perceives Mr. Cates to be this average man whom is against them all. Mr. Cates is nothing but a lone soul that must fight against the world for what he believes in.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    As implied by the title, kites play a major role in the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. They appear numerous times within the text and prove to be surprisingly versatile in their literary function. They provide common ground for characters whose interests do not normally intersect. They are also present as a very powerful symbol, which adds an extra dimension to this already literary rich novel. Reversing the roles transcending generations, it shows itself to be a multifaceted medium.

    Read More

  • Inherit The Wind

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s tense drama, “Inherit the Wind”, three strong characters express powerful opinions: Bertrum Cates , Henry Drummond, and Mathew Harrison Brady. First, Bert Cates, the defendant, is charged with teaching “Darwinism” to his sophomore class . Second, Henry Drummond, the defense attorney for Cates, displays his beliefs of the right to think. third, Mathew Harrison Brady, the “big-shot” prosecuting attorney, illustrates his bigotry of creationism. To conclude, these three essential characters are fighting for their personal beliefs.

    Read More

  • Inherit The Wind

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main theme of Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee is taking a

    Read More

  • Kite Runner

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel is told by Amir, one of the novel's main characters. Amir is an Afghan man living in Fremont, California remembering his childhood in Kabul in the 1970s.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    Book of Genesis in the Old Testament or from the Hebrew Torah. What may be less familiar to

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: "Inherit the Wind"

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    Can moral obligations be blinded by religious views? For some, the sense of religious pride reigns stronger than the moral belief. In the beginning, citizens of Hillsboro from the novel Inherit The Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, acknowledged religion as something far more valuable than the moral truth. As the novel continues the prosecuting attorney, Matthew Harrison Brady, enters the scene which reveals the prejudice of the courtroom regarding the case of Bertram Cates. When Brady takes on the challenge, the exposure of excessive pride and boasting of recent cases won can be seen as a certain Dramatic Personality Disorder from a medical standpoint. Throughout the novel, more symptoms of the disorder are revealed through Brady, who continuously proves to have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder or otherwise known as NPD.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Black Lives Matter

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    The underpinning of his essay is that the First Amendment, freedom of speech and expression should be used to expand people’s minds with new or opposing ideas. “The strange beauty of American freedom is that it is ungovernable, that it always runs slightly ahead of human temperament” (Rosenblatt 484). He believes that free is how people’s minds are made to be and is their natural state of being and attempting to control people’s minds is

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Kite Runner focuses on the relationship between two Afghan boys Amir and Hassan. Amir is a Pashtun and Sunni Muslim, while Hassan is a Hazara and a Shi’a. Despite their ethnic and religious differences, Amir and Hassan grow to be friends, although Amir is troubled by Hassan, and his relationship with his companion, one year his junior, is complex. Amir and Hassan seem to have a "best friend" type relationship. The two boys, Hassan and Amir, are main characters in the book titled, The Kite Runner. The two boys have a relationship that is significantly different compared to most. There are many different facets that distinguish the relationship the boys possess. The boys do write their names in a pomegranate tree as the "sultans of Kabul" (Kite Runner 27) but, their friendship is not strong and it is one sided. Hassan has love for Amir. He loves him like a brother. Hassan is exceedingly loyal to Amir. The relationship between the two boys is emotionally wearing and rather gloomy for the most part. The main reason for their complicated relationship is the fact that Amir is Pashtun, and Hassan is Hazara. The Afghan society places Hassan lower than Amir. Hassan is Amir's servant. The placement of Hassan in the Afghan society disenables Amir from becoming Hassan's true friend. Amir sees Hassan as lower than human. Amir ruins the chance for friendship between himself and Hassan because he is jealous of Hassan, he thinks of Hassan as a lower human, and because Amir possesses such extreme guilt for what he has done to Hassan. Amir is an unforgivable person overall.

    Read More

  • Kite Runner

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. For most of the book, Amir attempts to deal with his guilt by avoiding it and refusing to own up to his mistakes. Because of his past, Amir is incapable of moving forward. His entire life is shaped by his disloyalty to Hassan and his desire to please his father over helping his friends. Throughout the novel, his attempts to atone for his sins end in failure, as neither physical punishment nor rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from Assef prove to be enough for Amir to redeem himself. Only when he decides to take Sohrab to the United States and provide his nephew with a chance at happiness and prosperity that was denied to his half-brother does Amir take the necessary steps toward atonement and redemption. Khaled Hosseini uses a series of symbols to reinforce the message that atoning for one’s sins means making up for past mistakes, rather than simply relying on forgiveness from either the person one betrays or from a higher power.

    Read More

  • kite runner

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, grew up in prejudiced Afghanistan during the 1960’s as a middle-class Pashtun living with Hazaras working for his family. His move to America after the Communist Coup proved difficult for his family, especially his father. In his novel, Hosseini writes through a young boy, Amir, very similar to himself, who grows up with his father and two Hazara servants in Afghanistan at the time of the Taliban attacks. Both Amir and his father, Baba, treat their servants, Hassan and Ali, like family. Society, however, does not approve of such relationships between Pashtuns and Hazaras. As Amir hides and watches horrified, another Pashtun boy rapes Hassan. This leads to the continuation of Amir’s internal conflict about the treatment of Hazaras by the public, and also makes him feel guilty and self-conscious throughout his entire life. In addition, Amir strives for affection and attention from his rather indifferent father. Amir’s outward conformity to societal values in his relationships with both Hassan and Baba, as a result of his inner struggle and guilt, contribute greatly to the significance of The Kite Runner.

    Read More

  • Symbols of Americans in Inherit the Wind

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Certain criminal proceedings have had an enormous impact in the ideal American character. One example was the 1925 Monkey Scopes Trial in which John Scopes was being prosecuted for teaching Evolution. In a similar vein the speeches led by Senator Joseph McCarthy and the trials known as the “Red Scare” enraged many American authors and producers, leading these individuals to spread their own ideas and to defend civil rights. Two playwrights who lived through the “Red Scare” trials, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, addresses the oppression of the McCarthy trials by a meek character called Bert Cates throughout their play named Inherit the Wind. A nationally recognized lawyer, Henry Drummond, uses his gift of freedom of speech to support Cates. Cates love interest, Rachel Brown, grows intellectually and portrays the change that Lawrence and Lee want to see in Americans. Furthermore, Brady comes to prosecute Cates for teaching Evolution throughout the schools in Tennessee. In this allegorical play Lawrence and Lee’s use of symbolic characters challenges the status quo and inspires American intellectual growth.

    Read More

  • Why people join cults

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    A cult is a structured group, most of whose members demonstrate unquestionable loyalty to a dynamic leader. The cult leader governs most, if not all, aspects of the lives o...

    Read More

  • Is Religious Fundamentalism Always Totalitarian and Prone to Violence?

    1863 Words  | 4 Pages

    Religious Fundamentalism is not a modern phenomenon, although, there has received a rise in the late twentieth century. It occurs differently in different parts of the world but arises in societies that are deeply troubled or going through a crisis (Heywood, 2012, p. 282). The rise in Religious Fundamentalism can be linked to the secularization thesis which implies that victory of reason over religion follows modernization. Also, the moral protest of faiths such as Islam and Christianity can be linked to the rise of Religious Fundamentalism, as they protest the influence of corruption and pretence that infiltrate their beliefs from the spread of secularization (Heywood, 2012, p. 283). Religious Fundamentalists have followed a traditional political thought process yet, have embraced a militant style of activity which often can turn violent (Heywood, 2012, p. 291). To be a fundamentalist is to wholly believe in the doctrine they are preaching or professing and will go to any lengths possible to have these beliefs implemented by their government , even using force or violence ( Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson, 2007, p. 149). All religions have a fundamentalist element, however, there is more of a significant conflict with Islamic fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists. It is wrongly thought fundamentalism is exclusively linked to Islamic fundamentalist such as the jihadi group al-Qaeda nonetheless Christianity is the world's largest religion and is bond to have some fundamentalist component such as the Christian New Right in the Unites States of America (Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson, 2007, p. 150).

    Read More

More about Inherit the Wind

Open Document