In the Heat of the Night Essay For my essay I have chosen to write about the topic about Tibias and Gillespie understanding and respecting each other. In the beginning of this story Gillespie thought of Virgil as he would of thought of any other Negro, but soon he found out he was wrong, Virgil was a very gifted detective with lots of skills. When Tibias was first taken in to see Gillespie, Gillespie was yelling and screaming at Tibias for no reason but Virgil did not break down to the harassment and proved Gillespie wrong by wowing him his ID card that proved he was a cop.

I think that Virgil earned a little respect from Gillespie their by showing him that he was calm and mature. As the story unfolded Gillespie saw more and more of good qualities. Gillespie saw that Virgil was calm, educated, smart, paid attention to detail, and was qualified for his Job. Every time that Gillespie would arrest some one Virgil proved them innocent, when Borers was arrested Virgil proved Gillespie wrong by proving to him that Borers was not the murderer. When Gillespie arrested Sam Wood Virgil also roved him innocent.

Hire a custom writer who has experience.
It's time for you to submit amazing papers!


order now

Even though Gillespie din’t like to be proven wrong by anyone (none less a Negro) he respected Virgil for his great detective work. At one point in the novel Gillespie and Tibias shake hands and I think that was the high point of this mutual respect. Virgil respect Gillespie that much in the beginning and most of the middle of this story but In the end Virgil respected Gillespie. I think it was good that Virgil did not respect Gillespie because Gillespie was using Virgil for his scapegoat.

At the end of this story Gillespie finally showed everyone that he respected Tibias by telling every one the truth about the murder investigation, and giving most of the credit to Virgil. Gillespie also showed respect to Virgil by not lying to everyone and saying that he solved the murder. Another sign of the respect Gillespie had for Virgil Is the letter he sent to chief saying that he did an excellent Job. At the end of the story Virgil and Gillespie had a great deal of respect for each other and this Is a respect that I think would last for many years to come.