Hillsboro is usually a small, quiet, Southern town, but not anymore. People from all over are flocking to see the trial of Bertram Cates. Cates is a school teacher who is being prosecuted for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution to his students because, despite scientific proof, it is against the law. For the prosecution, the town brings in none other than the former presidential candidate, Matthew Brady. The town is filled with excitement as it prepares for Brady's arrival, and they hold a celebration when he arrives. Brady is ready to speak out for the community and defend the Bible. In his first speech to the town, he says, “My friends of Hillsboro, you know why I have come here. Not merely to prosecute a lawbreaker, an arrogant youth who has spoken out against the Revealed Word, but to defend that which is most precious in the hearts of all of us: the Living Truth of the Scriptures!” (19). It is clear what Brady stands for, but he is not the only one ready to stir up the town. Cates writes to the Baltimore Herald for some help, and the infamous Henry Drummond is sent to be his attorney. The newspaper also sends the outspoken reporter E.K. Hornbeck, whose cynical view creates even more chaos in the town.
After everyone arrives and the jury is selected, the trial begins. Everything is against Cates' favor, but Drummond is determined to prove that he did nothing wrong. Ironically enough, Cates and the Reverend's daughter, Rachel, are school teachers together and have been involved with each other for quite some time. She begs Cates to say that he was wrong so that this can all be over, but he refuses and along with Drummond, stands up for what he believes in.
The trial continues, and there are many witnesses including one of Cates' students that says Betram told them that men descended from monkeys and mentioned nothing about the Bible or God creating the Earth and its organisms. Brady also calls Rachel to the stand, and she explains why Cates stopped going to church. Further trying to prove evolution wrong, Brady brings in scientists to share their ideas. But the turning point of the trial is when Drummond calls Brady to the stand because he is an “expert” on the Bible. Drummond weaves his way into the mind of Brady. Brady contradicts himself, while proving that everyone should be free to think what they want. The Bible is not the law of the land and should not be the basis for education in the U.S. Whether or not Cates is found guilty or not, there is a lesson to be learned by everyone in the town from this trial. Since everyone in Hillsboro believes in following the Bible, maybe they should reread the section that gave this play its name. “He that troubleth his own house/ Shall inherit the wind” (Proverbs 11:29)
Questions:
1) The characters in the book overlook scientific research that has been proven and blindly follow the Bible without thinking at all for themselves. Are there any other issues, besides evolution, that people over look due to religious beliefs even though there are facts that they are real?
2) This book is set in the 1920's, but was published in the 1950's during the time of the Red Scare and McCarthyism. Why do you think the authors felt this was a good time to publish this work? Are the ideas and lessons in the play still relevant to society today?
13 comments:
1. I think some people might say that there is evidence that the universe was started by the Big Bang while others have different theories on how the universe began.There is also fossil evidence that shows that Earth has been around for 4 or 5 billion years but some people's religions tell them that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.
Religion tells us that the universe was created by God in 7 days and is only a couple thousands of years old, but scientific data shows us the universe was created from the Big Bang and that it is about 5 billion years old. People who blindly follow the bible are overlooking true scientific fact to follow a thousand year old book. People who follow the bible blindly are less likely to believe in scientific findings.
Yes, you are both right. People need to step back sometimes and realize that many things are advancing in our lives. The Bible is not supposed to refute other knowledge that we have of the world. The goal of the Bible or any religious scripture is to teach people morals and for guidance. People should not just follow everything that they are told. They need to learn how to think for themselves.
1. There are a few theories on how the world was created, but some religions say that God must have created everything. God must have created the world in 6 days and rested the 7th. God must have created humans and all life form in general. God must control all of our lives and watch over us constantly. Always looking to God for answers instead of thinking for yourself is just foolish i believe. Sure, everyone needs some closure, but to think that God created everything and totally deny anything on the spot that conflicts with their "knowledge" are facts that some others believe to be true.
Well people that just believe everything they are told are going to get nowhere in life. For instance, during the 1950's, everyone listened to McCarthy that Communists were plotting to take over the U.S. Everyone just believed what they heard and did not trust anyone anymore. This put the country in turmoil when even government officials were being tried for conspiring against the government.This fear could have been avoided if people stepped back and thought how irrational it was.
First of all, the bible is not meant to be taken completely and utterly literally, and the people who do that are not very smart. For instance, who can say how long a "day" was during the time of creation anyway. Maybe a "day" during creation corresponds to 750 million years of time as we think of it now.
1) I guess that you could say the existence of the universe if you consider atheism a religion and assume that an objective reality exists. Remember, something cannot come from nothing. Also, I guess you could say that people who believe in biological predestination overlook the existence of objective moral values, purpose, and the word "should" of course assuming an objective reality exists.
To answer question one, oh my science yes. The fact is that some people refuse to believe in dinosaurs, earth's history, physical geological evidence of past happenings. No matter what, this is always going to be the case. There is always going to be culture, and with culture comes religion, and with religion comes radical followers, and with radical followers comes ignorance. Until our sun engulfs the earth in 10 billion years, there will always be ignorant, radical, mindless masses of religious zealots who refuse to accept science for what it is: reality.
For question two, I believe the authors published this book at this time to show there can be conflicting ideas concerning the lives of people. There will always be controversy about change, like evolution changing the view of an idea believed to be true for thousands of years. For example, now there is stem cell research. Most people believe we are not meant to "play God" but others believe we should help enhance our lives.
2. I believe that the author was wise to publish the work in the 1950's, because a parallel can be drawn to the people in the 50's blindly accusing their neighbors of being communists under McCarthy's manipulation. Like the protesters in this book who blindly follow their religion, the people of the 50's blindly follow in a politicians concerns for communism without taking a moment to think about how rational their accusations were. I believe that if people took the time to formulate their own opinions before following the word of others, a lot of the mocked times of stupidity in our country would never have happened.
I believe that it was a perfect time to publish the novel. It shows what can happen in a society where accusations are made and everyone blindly follows the accusor. In a way I believe that this novel could be satirizing mcarthyism.
2. It was set in that time period for during mcarthyism people were wrongly accused and prosecuted wrongly and they got away with it too for the people blindly followed Mcarthy through fear. And that was exactly what the church did with the "heretics" of the faith.
1. There are plenty of issues that are overlooked due to religion, the problem is that religious texts are meant to be taken for the lessons and not the facts, but some choose to look at them literally.
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