A dramatic convention Lawrence and Lee use to portray a benighted South is a chorus character -- a Greek chorus reduced to one character. In classic Greek drama, the chorus sings its lines as it comments on the action of the play and predicts the future of the characters. In Inherit the Wind, Hornbeck's character has the effect of being a chorus character. His lines, written in the form of poetry, allow him to function as a commentator. He is a vehicle for comic relief as he moralizes and relays information to the audience. Hornbeck is amused at the lack of sophistication and narrow-mindedness he observes in Hillsboro. He mocks Hillsboro, the residents, their fundamentalist beliefs, and their leader, Brady, throughout the play. In Act I, Scene 1, he comments to a community member:
"The unplumbed and plumbing-less depths!
Ahhhh, Hillsboro -- Heavenly Hillsboro.
The buckle on the Bible Belt."
He tells Rachel that there are "A few ignorance bushes (in Hillsboro). . .(but) No Tree of Knowledge." He makes fun of fundamentalism when he sees a monkey and exclaims, "Grandpa!" Hornbeck claims that Brady arrived in Hillsboro "to find himself a stump to shout from. That's all." He did not show up to be the "champion of ordinary people." After Brady dies, Hornbeck says:
"How do you write an obituary
For a man who's been dead thirty years?"
Hornbeck's commentary on the fundamentalists in Hillsboro illustrates the perceived differences that exist between the North and South and between cosmopolitan and rural areas within the United States.
