44 pages • 1 hour read
Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. LeeInherit the Wind
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1955A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Monkey
There is a monkey present on stage for much of the first act of the play. Hornbeck addresses it directly, making fun of religious misrepresentations of Darwin’s evolutionary theory. The real Scopes trial was widely known as the Scopes Monkey Trial; the monkey here is a reference to that name. Many people misrepresent Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection as claiming that humans come from monkeys or apes. Instead, humans, monkeys, and apes share a common ancestor millions of years in the past. The inclusion of the monkey in this play symbolizes the characters’ varying reactions to evolutionary theory and critical thought. Instead of engaging with Darwin’s theory in good faith, many characters (including the non-religious Hornbeck) simplify it, making it easier to mock and dismiss. Hornbeck is not interested in finding common ground with creationists, which is why he does not properly represent the nuances of Darwin’s theory.
The Bible and Darwin’s Book
The characters often reference the Bible and Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in this text. There is an ongoing debate about which of these books should be taken as truth, and which should be dismissed as a fable. For much of the play, each character seems to fall neatly on one or the other side of this debate. At the end of the play, characters like Rachel and Drummond are willing to accept the value in both texts without dismissing them. They have opened their minds to the power of critical thinking and are no longer afraid that a book will destroy their worldview or cause damage to their minds. Positioning the Bible and Darwin’s book as opposites is something of a false equivalence. The Bible is a religious text that has been translated many times over thousands of years. On the Origin of Species is a scientific textbook explaining a comparatively new but very well-supported view of biology. The books aim to accomplish different things, and they come from extremely different contexts; the equivocation of the two, and the fear of Darwin’s book threatening the Bible, speaks to the underlying fear of the unknown and new ideas.
The Apple
When Hornbeck first meets Rachel, he is eating an apple. During their conversation, he tries to give her some advice, but she is not interested. He offers her a bite of his apple, and when she refuses, he assures her that she is not Eve, he is not the Serpent, and they are not in the Garden of Eden. This direct reference to the Bible is no accident: Hornbeck really is trying to tempt Rachel to what he sees as his side of things. He pushes her to question where people came from with the implicit goal of making her question her faith. Despite his protestations to the contrary, Hornbeck is the Serpent and the Devil in the play. The apple secures this symbolism. While the play initially seems to be promoting an atheist viewpoint, it ultimately comes down in favor of open-mindedness, not any particular belief. Hornbeck’s close-minded atheism is a foil for Brady’s paternalistic Christianity: Both men are certain that they are right, and neither is able to really think critically while remaining open to other perspectives.
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