In The Heat Of The Night Character Analysis

Should people make assumptions on the character traits of outsiders?

Appearances both mask and reveal the characters. Sometime a rough and tough exterior gives way to reveal a gentle and loving heart. In some novels the appearances of some characters remain relatively fixed throughout the novel, while others undergo subtle and drastic changes that force us to question. Do appearances deceive, reveal or confuse? Do characters speech and actions contrast with their appearances? People are judged by outside looks appearances and no one is stopping to promote stops promoting this myth. Discrimination also can be seen in the novel In the Heat of the Night by John Ball, where the words and appearance do not match with the personality

This thing can be seen in the characters of Virgil Tibbs, Sam and Ralph. At one place Gillespie exploded “Still examining the body! What the hell is he trying to do, find out how a man died who was hit over the head enough to break his skull?” (Ball 27). This quote tells us about important feature of Virgil Tibbs that he was a very hard working homicide investigator. He kept on examining the dead body although it was not his duty. At that time Gillespie thought that negroes can never be able to do this task and he was getting furious over Tibbs, because Virgil was doing something which was not assigned to him. For Gillespie it was a simple thing to catch the suspect but for Tibbs, the case of murder requires a lot of effort. He was putting his soul and his blood into it. Therefore, it proves that although Virgil Tibbs was a negro and Gillespie did not like negroes. But still Virgil was willing to work proving that appearances can be deceiving. Furthermore, the appearances were deceiving in the case of Sam Wood. It can be seen in this quote where John Ball says, “ He wanted to leave, but when he half started to rise, he remembered that he had offered to stay on duty and that he had not received an answer” (Ball 28). In this quote it can be seen that Sam is willing to work for longer hours. He has been working whole night and he need to go home and sleep in morning.

Person’s education can not be seen from their physical appearance.This is evident in Tibbs explanation of dead body where Tibbs Says, “It was evident that the fatal blow had been struck by a blunt instrument at an angle of about seventeen degrees from the right as the skull is viewed from the rear. That makes it almost certain that the assailant was right-handed.” (Ball 34). This quote shows that Virgil Tibbs was very confident and sure of the decisions and judgements he makes. This confidence was the result of his education. He has gained full training and was well-aware of how to catch the murderer and what things should be considered while investigating. He knew that Mr Mantoli was attacked from the back at seventeen degree angle, and to attack in this way the assailant would be right handed. He has learnt all this from his training, education and experience. On the contrary Gillespie can not differentiate between the murderer and the suspect. Hence this quote stands strongly in favor of the fact that character traits of people should not be assumed on the basis of their education and background. In addition, this theme can also be seen in another quote of Virgil Tibbs where Pete says, “Confirm Virgil Tibbs member Pasadena Police Department past ten years. Present rank investigator. Specialist homicide, other major crimes. Reputation excellent. Advise if his services needed your