Whistleblowers, Men of Courage, but Term Paper

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Teaching the theory of evolution to broaden the minds of the young people of his community likewise not only destroys the life of the teacher Bertram Cates, but also the life of his fiancee, and ruins the reputation of Hillsboro, where the national presses tar and feather the town as a place populated by narrow-minded religious zealots. Although the play may sympathize with Cates' desire to open up his students' minds, it shows that not every supporter of evolution is as equally high-minded. There is also: "E. K. Hornbeck of the Baltimore Herald, who has championed Cates in his columns and is greatly and haughtily amused at the spectacle of ignorance and bigotry before him" (Iannone, 1997). Hornbeck simply wants to sell newspapers at Hillsboro's expense.

Unlike Stockmann, Drummond sways the opinion larger public support of the nation, if not the jury of Hillsboro and contributes to wider public's perception of Hillsboro as a backwater. "Though the jury brings in the inevitable guilty verdict, it is clear that Drummond has triumphed -- and along with him, freedom of thought. The judge charges Cates a token fine of one hundred dollars" (Iannone, 1997). But there clearly is a social and financial loss to the sense of community of the town. "In discussing Brady's death after the trial, Drummond repudiates the journalist Hornbeck's scathing ridicule.

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As Drummond sees it, Brady was a once-great man who had ceased to move forward....In its closing scenes, the play emphasizes again what it suggested throughout: Brady's fundamentalism is wrong, but so is Hornbeck's godless cynicism" (Iannone, 1997).

Narrow-mindedness, the play suggests, is the true crime, but to win, all protagonists must to some degree display some of this quality. Drummond as an attorney must focus on winning in the courtroom, or at least in the courtroom of American popular opinion, not upon showing two sides of the issue. He calls for progress and for Hillsboro to "abandon our faith in the pleasant poetry of Genesis," thus reinforcing Hornbeck's portrayal of Hillsboro and Brady as behind the times, even if Drummond personally sees merit in the town's way of life and Brady's point-of-view. But there is no 'pure' way to win a political battle, without hurting someone. If someone is too single-minded, they risk harming and alienating people like Stockmann harms his family's livelihood, and like Brady at the end of "Inherit the Wind," who alienates most of the newspaper-reading American public. To gain a moral victory like Drummond for his client, an advocate must sometimes act against his own better, moral impulses, like making his courtroom opponent seem like a fanatic in the interests of persuasion.

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