eug+six

Monkey business  The Scopes Trail is undoubtedly one of the most famous cases in American history. Built upon a minor wrongdoing of a high school science teacher, the trail pitted the increasingly popular theory of evolution against the set in stone traditions of religion. The weight of 2 books sat on the shoulders of America: were we to accept the Bible or Darwin’s On the Origin of Species? At that period, to accept one meant to deny the either, so society waited on their toes for the critical decision of the court. So who really won the trail? If you look solely at the verdict then one would say Bryan because evidently Scopes received the one hundred dollar fine. But with closer inspection, all Darrow has to do is bring publicity to the idea of evolution and he has won or at least made progress. In fact, he goes on to do much more by discrediting Brady. “The confrontation between Bryan and Darrow was reported by the press as a defeat for Bryan. According to one historian, ‘As a man and as a legend, Bryan was destroyed by his testimony that day.’” In calling Bryan to the court, in high tide drama, Darrow was able to skillfully contest Bryan’s literal interpretation of the Bible.  Taking a step back to look at the bigger picture, I believe Darrow fights for more than to win the public’s opinion of evolution. He wants to rid society not of religion but rather rigidity in thought. As is apparent, his primary selling point was to undermine the narrow minded, literal interpretations of the Bible. Darrow understood the intolerance for individual free thought that accompanied this view. “The prosecution, Darrow contended, was ‘opening the doors for a reign of bigotry equal to anything in the Middle Ages.’” Realizing this dire quandary, the defense recognized that by substantiating evolution, it would pull America away from a conservative and dogmatic attitude. This can be illustrated with a dialogue towards the end of Inherit the Wind. “You see, I haven’t really thought very much. I was always afraid of what I might think—so it seemed safer not to think at all. But now I know. A thought is like a child inside our body. It has to be born. If it dies inside you, part of you dies too!”  