Inherit the Wind Karen Moreno

Rachel brown  The daughter of Reverend Brown. Twenty-two-year-old Rachel teaches the second grade at the school where Cates also taught. Rachel is close friend of Cates, and their relationship has a romantic element. Rachel fears her fathers disapproval and becomes upset when Brady calls on her to testify about her personal conversations with Cates.

Matthew Harrison Brady  A national political figure and a three time loser in presidential campaigns who arrives in Hillsboro to lead the prosecution in Cates’s trial. A Christian fundamentalist. Brady defends the literal truth of the Bible against what he labels Cates’s big-city agnosticism. Drummond, however, exposes the obvious contradictions of this viewpoint, much to Brady’s embarrassment.

Howard Blair  A student in Cates’s science class. Howard grasps the idea of evolution in only a rudimentary way, as we see when he asks a worm in the play’s opening scene what it wants to be when it grows up. At the trial, Howard gives testimony that is used against Cates.

Quotes  “The man who has everything figured out is probably a fool. College examinations notwithstanding, it takes a very smart fella to say “I don’t know the answer!”  “The individual human mind. In a child’s power to master the multiplication table there is more sanctity than in all your shouted “Ames!”, “Holy Hollies!” and “Hosannahs!” An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man’s knowledge is more of a miracle than any sticks turned to snakes, or the parting of waters!”

Man vs. Society  Cates challenges the law and, with it, the norms of Hillsboro society. Feelings of isolation, “People look at me as if I was a murdered. Worse than a murderer!” Both Cates and Drummond experience a struggle against mainstream society.

Love  The romance between Rachel and Cates complicates Rachel’s personal development and frames the main conflict. It revolves around the preacher not only frightening Rachel from a young age but also publicly damns her soul for supporting Cates. And forces Cates and Rachel between their love and making others happy.

Freedom of thought  Cates had to stand for his freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others’ viewpoints. Although there were many who supported his way of thinking there were those who went against it and did what ever it took to bring him down.