Is everything an argument? Well according to Chapter 1 of “Everything Is an Argument” it is. “Everything Is an Argument” outlines the purposes of arguments, the types of arguments, occasions for arguments, and also, kinds of arguments. Arguments are everywhere from street signs to popular non-fiction novels. There is no getting away from them. The western world, however, often times misuses or is ignorant of the word “argument”. “Argument” does not necessarily mean a fight or debate, as it is perceived to be sometimes. Rather an argument could simply be an interpretation or thesis of a writer, or any person’s, point of view. Arguments can also “make nuanced, sometimes implicit, arguments about who you are and what you value.” For instance, “A nurse assures a youngster eyeing an approaching needle, ‘This won’t hurt on bit.’” This line from “Everything Is an Argument” argues how little kids are scared of needles, or even deeper, their fear of doctors. So many things can be told through arguments.
Types of arguments include: arguments to convince, arguments to inform, arguments to explore, arguments to make decisions, and last but not least, arguments to meditate or pray. Arguments to convince are mainly persuasive statements. If you are trying to get someone to do something this would be a good argument t use. The writer or speaker will make their side sound good to make readers or listeners to join them. Arguments to inform are basically showing your point of view for others to learn about. Arguments to explore could be to find things out about a topic. These arguments can be deeply personal. Arguments to make decisions refer to the process of decision making, and finally arguments to meditate or pray are used to change something about themselves.
There are special words used to describe arguments and when they are about. An argument about the past is referred to as a forensic argument; these arguments are common in politics and business. Arguments based in the present are called ceremonial arguments mostly because they are presented to the public. Sermons are an example of an argument of the present. Deliberative arguments refer to arguments in the future. Groups that decide what will happen in the future are called deliberative groups; like Congress.
“Inherit the Wind”, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is a prime example of an argument to inform and convince. This play takes place in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. In this town, church was the basis on the culture, which is why a teacher by the name of Bertram Cates was thrown into jail for teaching his class about evolution. As one would imagine, this did not go well in a highly religious town where they undoubtedly taught The Creation Theory. But Bertram was not one to conform to society, he believed in teaching different opinions. Society has changed an awful lot since the 1920’s. Now-a-days the teaching method is completely different in public schools. Teachers have to teach about evolution and cannot even mention the religious views on creation. But during that period of time and especially in a very religious town like Dayton, Tennessee teaching about evolution was completely unacceptable. After a long trial fought by two famous and intelligent lawyers the decision was made regarding Cates’s fate. Since there was a jury of men from the small town, the verdict did not seem to be in favor of Cates, although his attorney put up a really good argument and even got people in the courtroom to question the veracity of the religious views on creation. Cates was fined 100 dollars for disobeying a Tennessee law that allowed o teaching of evolution in schools. 100 dollars was barely anything in those days and the prosecuting lawyer was livid. Even though Cates had lost the case, in some ways he had won. As the whole town watched the public trial, they began to believe that Cates should not be imprisoned for the crime and some even started to believe the theory of evolution.
The arguments produced in this book are arguments to convince and to inform, as I mentioned before. The controversy over the theory of evolution and the theory of creation has been ongoing for over a century. And the debate still continues. The pro-creation people use biblical references to convince more people to join their views and the pro-evolution group draws people using scientific fact. In “Inherit the Wind” the defense lawyer unintentionally draws people to believe that evolution may be more accurate than the religious views that God created the world in seven days.
Up until the days of Charles Darwin, most everyone believed in the creation story in the Bible. The reason for this is that there were no opposing arguments of points of view. Then came Darwin who brought up his whole theory of how men evolved from a species of ape. Along with that he thought up his theory of survival of the fittest. These theories were the first to oppose church doctrine. Darwin started off having no followers until people started losing faith in the church and that’s when the theory of evolution became popular with a lot of people and eventually made it way into schools where the younger generation of kids learned about Darwin’s ideas instead of the religious views.
After reading the play “Inherit the Wind” my sophomore year, I really began to think about what theory was more accurate. This book pushed me to educate myself on the topic. I read the Bible more and also was very intrigued during the evolution section in my science classes. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee used the arguments to inform and the arguments to convince, not only to describe the debate going on inside the book but also to make the readers think about what they agree with in their personal lives.
Arguments are everywhere and finding them in literary texts and analyzing them is the job of the reader. Once analyzed, the reader will understand better the author’s intent and also the meaning of the work.
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