English

In The Heat of The Night

In the small, sleepy town of Sparta, Mississippi, where they roll up the sidewalks at night, a police officer on a routine, boring nighttime patrol through the downtown stumbles across a dead body, a murdered man. The victim is a rich, white Chicago industrialist who was building a controversial factory in the town. The primary suspect, at least to this cop's black-and-white eye, is a lone black man, well dressed and carrying a wad of cash, whom the cop discovers waiting at the deserted train station.

The "suspect" turns out to be Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia cop who just happens to be an expert on homicide. Police Chief Gillespie, at the urging of the victim's widow, grudgingly asks for Tibbs's help in solving the crime.

The racism factor during sixties in the United States of America was huge. To the American people, the black people had only one purpose and that was as slaves. But we know that the only difference between black and white people is color. The apparent theme in the film/novel is racism and how people would deal with it in the 1960s. The novel, In the Heat of the Night, besides dealing with the issue of prejudice, focuses on the major differences that exist between the two main characters.

In the beginning of In the Heat of the Night, we are introduced to Virgil Tibbs. Virgil is shown as a police officer that is wealthy, proper and an intelligent young black man. He is first brought into the story as a suspect for the murder of Enrico Mantoli, in the city of Wells. Soon after, he is introduced as a police officer from California, and slightly embarrasses Gillespie and Wood with their false accusations. Tibbs is a very well-educated man who is patient with others and rarely talks back to those addressing him in a rude manner. Just after Gillespie had been awfully rude and had a little temper tantrum, Tibbs politely replies "Good morning, Chief Gillespie", right before he walks out of Gillespie's office. Then when he is talking to Gillespie once more, he kindly says "After you sir", as Gillespie walks through the doorway in front of him. Even though there is very little respect shown towards Tibbs despite all his help, he still continues to act in a civilized and well-behaved manor towards his peers.

On the other hand, the character Bill Gillespie is quite different. He is an older, narrow-minded and racist chief of police from the city of Wells. Gillespie thinks that Tibbs is a nuisance and a distraction to the city. He has never met someone who is better then he is at his own job, especially a black man. "Nobody could tell him (Gillespie) that a coloured man could do anything he couldn't do". The problem is that not only is Tibbs more competent then Gillespie, but he is better educated. Also, his initial reaction to having Tibbs work on the case with their police force is very negative. He expresses these feelings quite often in the book. "Who in hell asked you to open your big black mouth", Gillespie demanded. More over, racial comments and remarks such as this are found throughout the novel and are often expressed by the characters.

Southern Police Chief Bill Gillespie

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