Heather Shertzer
KEY:
*major support*
Mr. Hershey
*minor support*
English II
*topic sentence*
September 24, 2008
*clincher*
Characterization in Inherit the Wind
The characterization of Henry Drummond helps to reveal the theme that
appearance is not always reality. At the start of the book, Drummond was described by
Mathew Harrison Brady as, “a vicious, godless man”(27). That description offsets the
town’s opinion of Drummond right off the bat. Everyone in the town despised
Drummond so much so, that one little girl screamed and called him the devil when she
first saw him. It seemed as if Drummond did not even have one supporter during most
of the trial since every time Brady stated something, people cheered or a ‘hallelujah’ was
shouted. The townspeople did not even want to let Drummond into the town. When
Hornbeck commented to Drummond, “Hello devil, welcome to hell,”(36) he was
definitely correct with that analogy. Although, as the trial ended, Drummond was
discovered to be mostly opposite from the appearance people had made him out to be.
When Drummond heard the news of Brady’s death, he was sympathetic as he stated how
he, “couldn’t imagine the world without Mathew Harrison Brady”(125). This too was a
shock to Hornbeck since he, like the rest of the town, did not think Drummond cared
about Brady. Little did they know there was a lot more to Drummond then he let on.
After the case was over, when Drummond restated the verse in Proverbs without looking
it up, Hornbeck even accused, “You hypocrite! You fraud! You’re more religious than
Brady was!”(128). As concluded by Lawrence and Lee’s characterization of Drummond,
sometimes no matter how someone might appear to be at first, it is not always their true
personality.