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Anne Dalke's picture

What does it mean to "inherit the wind"?

Submitted by Anne Dalke on Wed, 04/25/2007 - 6:20am.

E.B.--

here's an interesting question of 'translation'/interpretation, posed to me by a colleague in another department. One of her children had just participated in a school production of "Inherit the Wind," and her family, having been to see the performance, was debating the meaning of the title. Her husband and kids both thought it meant--in accord with the Biblical source, "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart" (Proverbs 11:29)--that if you cause trouble @ home, you will end up w/ nothing. But my colleague had a wonderful alternative reading: that if you stir up trouble, you will have the wind @ your back, a force to drive you forward into the future. Interesting double meaning for the Scopes' conviction/McCarthy-era ramifications of the play, perhaps? A momentary set-back, and/but a long-term evolution?

 

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