William Jennings’s Bryans’ defense against Clarence Darrow in the famous scopes trial of 1925 is one that has gone down in the history books for the United States. Bryan was questioned about his belief that the earth was created the way the Bible said it was. The questions that Darrow brought up were that of a logical nature. “Was Eve really created out of Adam’s rib?” “Where did Cain’s wife come from?” Simple questions that any person would like to know the answers too.
Bryan’s approach to Darrow’s questions is that a calm and collected man that knows what he is talking about. Bryan demonstrated a deep knowledge of the Bible, as Darrow demonstrated a knowledge of the evolution and ancient civilizations. Both them used this information in the way that they thought suitable to the case. When Bryan was asked a question that he had no answer he simply said that he did not know, and he didn’t seem to care much that he didn’t. Darrow was not satisfied when he gave comments such as “I do not know” or “ I simply go by what I read”. When that was his answer, Darrow pursued Bryan even more with little follow up questions that could almost be seem as pointless at times. Even if Darrow did ask a ridiculous question, Bryan answered it to the best of his knowledge.
Only few times did the questioning get out of hand by emotions towards the others point of view. Darrow seemed to have had the hardest time with such a task. A simple little phrase like “your fool religion” are the things that emotions seemed to get in the way. Bryan, I feel managed to keep himself well contained in his emotions, his responses demonstrated that he was there simply to answer the defendants questions and prove that he “was not afraid to answer any questions” that they may have.
All in all, Bryan defended himself and his beliefs very well in my opinion. The fact that he was able to keep up in the questioning based on knowledge that he learned from just the bible impressed me. Though I did feel that Darrow did seem to beat around the bush with the detail that he went into the when wanting to retrieve the answer he wanted. Besides that, Bryan defended himself well.
I agree with you saying that Bryan defended himself and his beliefs well but Darrow also did a good job. You made many good points which I support and agree with one-hundred percent. One example of this is how Darrow would keep trying to get an answer out of Bryan. Also how Bryan always answered the questions to the best of his abilities. I do not think you made a statement that I don't agree with. One of the things I wrote about in my TA of the trial was how Bryan knew a lot about his religion but also how Darrow knew a lot about evolution. I thought this allowed them both to have great arguments against each other although they were sometimes a little heated (eg: "... your fool religion.")
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you when you say that Bryan defended himself well! I think that Bryan defended himself well, not only by his knowledge of the bible, which impressed me as well, but also by the confidence that he had when he was answering the questions!“ I simply go by what I read”. I loved it when Bryan declared on the witness that he indeed believed that the world had been created in six days and that Jonah had lived in the belly of a whale. I think he was very brave. I believe that his confidentiality is what really served him his victory. I am on Bryan’s side because I myself am a Christian and as well don’t believe in the theory of evolution, but I also agree with you Theron when you say Darrow did a good job, because I do think Darrow made a very good approach. He seemed very confident, and as well very knowledgeable about evolution. He also did very well when he questioned Bryan asking questions such as; if Eve was actually created from Adam's rib, where did Cain get his wife, and how many people lived in Ancient Egypt. And sometimes, at some times it looked like some questions asked by Darrow were a little hard for William Jennings Brown to answer like the question of the flood. But Bryan still did the best he could! I just don’t think that Darrow should have been so aggressive ""You insult every man of science and learning in the world because he does not believe in your fool religion." when Bryan remained calm!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your statement that Bryan did a good job in defending his beliefs. Bryan did worked hard not only to defend his beliefs, but he also was defending the word of the bible. Bryan had such confidence when answering Darrow's questions, and when Bryan was unsure how to answer the questions being pressed, he simply stated that he did not know the answer. Bryan was going against Darrow, who was very educated and confident with his arguments on Darwinism. Although I personally do not agree with Bryan's arguments, I do believe that Bryan did an exceptional job while defending himself. He was able to remain calm, even when Darrow's questions and statements seemed to be slightly out of hand, or disrespectful.
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