Inherit the Wind Lesson Plan

Why do you think Brady overeats? What do Lawrence and Lee mean to suggest with this image/trait? What is the significance of his cause of death?

According to the stage directions, Brady overeats to "drown his troubles with food--" he is compared to an alcoholic trying to escape reality through his vice. There is a comic and absurdist element to the fact that this causes Brady's death--dying of a "busted belly" is outlandish and funny. It also relates to the idea of gluttony as one of the Seven Deadly Sins--how ironic that a man as concerned with sin would die of one. Furthermore, the image of Brady filling his body with food instead of allowing himself to open his mind to...