Inherit the Wind Study Guide

1. What is the setting for the action of Inherit the Wind?

• Tennessee, yesterday or tomorrow
• A small town, not too long ago
• Hillsboro, 1925
• The South, thirty years ago

2. What were the real names of the "giants" who clashed in the trial upon which the play is based?

• Drummond and Brady
• Bryan and Drummond
• Darrow and Bryan
• Darrow and Drummond

3. When does the play begin?

• the evening, on the first of August
• noon, the Fourth of July
• an hour after dawn, on a July day
• at the convening of court on a summer day

4. What does the boy Howard say to tease Melinda in the first scene?

• Her grandparents were monkeys.
• She and her whole family were once worms.
• She is going to hell for learning about evolution from Cates.
• The devil is coming to town for the trial.

5. Who does Meeker, the bailiff, consider the "best catch" the town jail has ever had?

• An Ohio man who committed a brutal crime and was defended by Drummond
• Bertram Cates, the teacher who taught evolution
• Two Chicago child murderers
• A Minnesota man who killed his wife and was extradited

6. What does the banner that Rev. Brown makes the workmen hang over the entrance to the courthouse say?

• Read Your Bible
• Where Will You Spend Eternity?
• Down With Darwin
• Inherit the Wind

7. What paper does E.K. Hornbeck write for?

• The Baltimore Herald
• The New York Times
• The Hillsboro Ledger
• The Chicago Tribune

8. How many times has Brady run for President?

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

9. What is Brown's impression of Drummond?

• He is a worthy opponent, a Goliath that will make Brady's victory even more impressive.
• He is a creature of the Devil, perhaps even the Devil himself.
• He is a gentleman from Chicago, out of place in a small Southern town.
• He is one of the most agile legal minds of the twentieth-century.

10. Which of the following men is chosen to be a juror?

• Dunlap
• Corkin
• Bollinger
• Bannister