Symbols Found in Inherit The Wind In literature, symbols are often used to ambiguously refer to something that completely differs from what is portrayed in the text. Symbols are also used to allude to themes or characters that are prominent within stories. The play Inherit The Wind written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee is no exception. Within the play, golden dancer, the radio, and Matthew Harrison Brady are all symbols that represent the themes that can be found when one interprets the play. Firstly, the toy horse from defense attorney Henry Drummond’s childhood, symbolizes the prosecuting lawyer in the play, Matthew Harrison Brady. Golden dancer was a rocking horse that Drummond desperately sought after as a child, as it was so …show more content…
One way of showing this is that by the radio being brought to Hillsboro, it represents new technology coming from the north and spreading to south. Another example is since Tennessee, where Hillsboro is located, is a strictly religious state, its people all share the same old beliefs and virtues, and as the radio is brought to south, it can also represent the northern or modern ideas coming to the close minded south. Reporter E. K. Hornbeck is from northern America, and it explains why he finds the southern’s virtues so laughable as it is rather old-fashioned compared to where he lives. Near the end of the trial when the radio is brought in, the court’s audience were beginning to change their previous mindset that Brady is always right, and that maybe Drummond might have some valid arguments. When Drummond began to question Brady about his literal interpretation of the Bible, Brady states “ I do not think about things that...I do not think about!” ( Lawrence, Lee 97). After this, the audience starts to realize that Brady is not as great as he may seem, and begin to abandon supporting him as they laugh at Drummond’s remarks toward Brady afterward. Hence, the radio in the play is indeed a representation of modern technology and mindsets in southern