Driving Forces In Inherit The Wind

Improved Essays
There is a driving force in each of us that inspires us to achieve greater goals and desires than once accomplished. These factors vary from person to person, whether they are the extreme elements such as the strong will, belief and dedication to a given religion, or more personal aspects of our lives that force us to want something better for ourselves. Whether extreme or not, these factors affect how we interact with others, how we perceive the world and our ways of thinking. In a well known novel, “Inherit the Wind” by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, these driving factors are apparent in comparison and contrast between two main characters, who have embraced their driving forces differently. Taking place in the small town of Hillsboro,

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    John Updike’s “A&P” and Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” contain main characters who experience an unexpected change in the way they view the world from people that they’ve formed a stereotype of. In “A&P”, Sammy, the main character, is influenced by three young girls while in “Cathedral”, the husband, is influenced by Robert to bring out this change in them. In both texts, the objects for change are similar in that the narrators viewed them negatively, they unexpectedly came in to the narrator’s lives, and they represent a way of escape from the closed world the characters live in. In John Updike’s “A&P”, three teenage girls walk into a grocery store wearing only bathing suits.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Environment Means Everything Former Olympic Sprinter, Wilma Rudolph, once said “It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s all a matter of discipline. I was determined to discover what life held for me beyond the inner-city streets.” This quote by Rudolph is a prime example of how hard the inner-city life can be to overcome.…

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Internal Authority Many believe that authority is held either by the highest ranking official or, by the most convincing speaker, or even the public figure with the most support. These claims are slightly true, but there are other, much more powerful forces, that control how people act, speak or even think. These forces are the ones that must be accepted internally. For if an idea is forced upon you it could never take hold in your life and control you the same way your own ideals could, in other words an internal authority such as one’s beliefs will control a person more than an external or earthly authority. These unseen and powerful forces are human values and beliefs.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, questions how two extremely similar lives have completely opposite stories. The author and the other Wes Moore grew up in the same community. One became an accomplished author, while the other ended up in prison. At what point did their paths diverge? Do we turn into “products of our environment?”…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “I don’t believe we were put here with all our differences to conform to a uniform state of mind” (Teclai). Standing up for one’s beliefs is a conflict in Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee’s Inherit the Wind. In Inherit the Wind Bertram Cates must go against the Bible-loving citizens of Hillsboro, and dares to teach the Theory of Evolution. Cates is put on trial for his actions and the famous Henry Drummond must defend Cates and the right to thought. Henry Drummond’s fairness, empathy, and wisdom emphasizes standing up for one’s beliefs in the Cates v. State trial.…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Courage To change other passions with your own, however reasonably or unreasonable each one is it is hard. Fighting fire is with fire can sometimes be the only way a person can go by a problem. These people changed the world with their passion and courage. Courage is a power you can have when you have none. Courage is what conquers the powerful and is the essence of act in adversity.…

    • 2087 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the duration of one 's life, a person will face thousands of decisions. These decisions could be minor or major but nevertheless, could play a significant role in the outcome of their life. Recently, myself alongside my peers, were forced to make a multitude of choices that will dictate and guide the rest of our lives. These choices included: what college to attend, major, payment plans, housing, and rather to attend a higher level of learning at all. The idea of these decisions having a massive impact on our careers and lives is clearly perceived through the story of "The Other Wes Moore".…

    • 1061 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many parents and children had conflict in the Great Depression times. Many times these children ran away. When the children would come back they would hopefully give their parents a chance. Just a Josh does in “No Promises in the Wind” by Irene Hunt. Like Josh…

    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore juxtaposes the lives of two men who grew up in similar environments but ended up taking diverging paths. The author Wes Moore perseveres through the hardships he faced and ends up a Rhodes Scholar, whereas the other Wes Moore is dealt a life sentence. The author poses the question, “Do you think we are all just products of our environments?” Due to their ostensibly similar upbringings, one may suggest that the antithetical outcomes of the two Wes Moores were caused by the individual choices made by them, but upon closer look it is evident that specific subsets of their environment impacted each of them for better or for worse.…

    • 1268 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dual Nature- the main idea of the novel is the dual personality of people and how we can be “evil” and malicious one moment and kind and generous the next. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- title Good vs. Evil- this is the main theme and conflict in the novel. Throughout the novel the personalities of Jekyll and Hyde fight within his body for power and control.…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Conflict will forever be a part of society, greatly influencing it whether for the better or worse. The more positive uses for conflict are often found in literature through novels and plays. Inherit the Wind is a play in which conflicts help drive through and carry on the plot. These conflicts stem from various issues, mainly between the difference in mindsets and past relationships. However, this play addresses society’s three main conflicts; person versus person, person versus self, and person versus society through the use of characters and motifs.…

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two men with the same name who grew up in thee same part of town have very different fates based on many different aspects of their lives. The Other Wes Moore is a story written by Moore himself. He tells the story of both their lives and how they started the same but ended with him being a Rhodes scholar and the other Wes in jail for the rest of his life because he murdered a cop. Both of these men had influences that made their lives so different today. Parent influences, personal experiences, and choices they made all formed very different lives that produced different fates.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In essence through this novel I see that the success or failure of a man isn’t what he has or what he does, but rather that he lives a life of meaning, a life from which derives from the qualities those you respect implant in you. You can argue both Wes’ were told which path to take and had an equal opportunity to get there, however it was whom they appreciated and idolized that set them down different roads. From a young age the other Wes’ mother was negligent and often too involved in her own life to be involved in her sons’. The other Wes’ side of the story begins with him being sent to his grandmothers so his mother could go out to the club to blow off steam after finding out she’d recently lost her job. With his mother being so young, having no father in the home, as well as providing little guidance the other Wes’ never truly respected his mother, he often bypassed her words with little to no thought.…

    • 1565 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Thesis statement: In Richard Wright’s bildungsroman novels Black Boy and Native Son, Bigger and Richard 's different reactions to their experiences separate them and show that the ability to control one 's own impulses is key to obtaining the American dream, as seen through Richard 's determination, hard work , and education and Bigger’s lack of those qualities. Support 1: Bigger is convinced white people are keeping him from achieving his American dream so he gives up on it but Richard’s hunger for success motivates him to prove the doubters wrong. Topic Sentence: Bigger feels that he is helpless against the white people 's view of him so he choses to conform to their view of him.…

    • 2170 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through the effective interpretation of these characters, both authors portray how the acceptance of change can foster an individual’s efforts…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays