Themes and how their revealed in “Inherit the Wind”

The story “Inherit the Wind” holds many themes which are revealed in many ways throughout the story. It is important to know the different themes of a story so there is a better understanding of the book. Appearance vs. reality, the importance of free thought, and man vs. society are few of the major themes that are revealed more than once throughout the story. Appearance vs. reality is shown in “Inherit the Wind” through Brady and Drummond. In the story, Brady is sent to fight against Cates in the monkey trial. Everybody admires Brady, you can tell this by the way they welcome Brady to town with, a parade, big feast, and a reserved room in the Mansions House. Brady appears to be confident, proud, and professional. He is very confident that he is going to win the trial, and he is proud because he has many people who admire. But this all changes throughout the book, when Drummond destroys Brady in front of all his followers. He did this by using Brady’s words and telling the people in the courtroom that Brady says that he is the prophet of God. This happened because Brady was giving false information on the Bible. Also near the end Brady quotes, “Mother, They’re laughing at me, Mother!” (2.2) He says this crying to Mrs. Brady, when the people are laughing at him in the courtroom. This shows the reality of Brady and how he acts like a little kid and is not as professional as he seems. On the other Drummond appears to be the devil, who is mean, and narrow minded. Throughout the trial Drummond makes some very good points, which make a few people believe that he is right. This show that Drummond is very smart and intelligent. Drummond quotes “A giant once lived in that body.” (3) Referring to Brady. At the end of this scene w... ... middle of paper ... ...ve him the guts to do it!” (1.2) this shows that Drummond thinks the society of Hillsboro is unwise because after this trial ends another will occur because someone else will teach evolution, and this whole process will happen again. Even though at the end Cates and Drummond lose. They accomplish their goal of opening the mind of Hillsboro’s townspeople on the society of Hillsboro and how it is wrong. These three major themes which were appearance vs reality, the importance of free thought, and man vs. society were revealed throughout the book in many different scenes, and through many different characters. These major themes gave us a better understanding of the book and the characters of the book, and what some of them wanted to achieve. Works Cited Lawrence, Jerome, and Robert Edwin Lee. Inherit the Wind. New York: Random House, 1955. Print.