Inherit the Wind

2 Pages 586 Words

In 1955, Laurence and Lee wrote Inherit the Wind to emphasize Conflicts that arose during the Scopes Trial and the McCarthy era. They illustrated these themes/conflicts by manipulating the events of the Scopes trial and creating characters that effectively convey the themes.
Although the Scopes trial already on its own conveys conflicts suck as: Science Vs. Faith but Laurence and Lee manipulated the story to convey an even bigger theme of Acceptance vs. Fundamentalism. In Dayton where the actual Scopes trial took place the towns people where slightly different from what the authors had made them, for example a quote from an article says, “The people of Dayton were portrayed as charming, friendly, polite, and open-minded, and the atmosphere throughout the trial was festive and circus-like.” In contrast to what is says above, the towns people of Hillsboro were the exact opposite of what the article says on the citizens of Dayton. They are narrow minded and inscrutable in their actions. By manipulating the plot of the Scopes trial this way, the playwrights emphasize the fact that people are would benefit from being more accepting of other cultures, rather than have strict fundamentalism values. The consequences of not being accepting are recognized at the end when all said is done and the town of Hillsboro looks like a joke to the rest of the world.
Not only the towns people portrayed fundamentalist values, but Laurence and Lee chose to give the towns priest, Reverend Brown, strict fundamentalist values as well. This is shown in Act Two, Scene One, when Brown is preaching during the meeting where he says, “Lord we call down the same curse on these who ask grace on this sin though they be blood of my blood and flesh of my flesh.”(Pg #66, Lee, Laurence) Here we see the Reverend basically stating his beliefs are so strong that he is willing to wish an eternity of hell upon his own daughter. Furthermore, from the precedin...