Examples Of Prejudice In The Heat Of The Night

Although prejudice is wrong many people have been guilty of doing it, prejudice is prejudgment, or forming an opinion before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case. The novel In The Heat Of The Night, takes place in southern United States in the sixties, unfortunately at this time there is many cases of prejudice, Virgil Tibbs is a victim to this. Prejudice has no benefits to either sides, prejudice happens based on many qualities, it 's harmful for those who are prejudice and harmful to those discriminated against. Prejudice happens based on many qualities. In In The Heat Of The Night prejudice is based on appearance. The narrator says, “The first was a rawboned man with an extremely lean face which had been weathered into a maze …show more content…
A person who experiences prejudice is denied a chance to explain who they are. When Sam arrests Virgil he said, “Get in the back seat and shut the door. Make one false move and I’ll drop you right then with a bullet in your spine (16)”. When Virgil gets arrested he does not say anything about who he was or where he was going because he did not get a chance to. Sam was very strict at that time so he would have listened to virgil because he already judged him of being guilty of something later as a reader you learn that Virgil is actually a cop. Secondly, people who are victims of prejudice feel like minority. In this text you can see how Virgil feels "Excuse me, gentlemen, but can you tell me where I can wash? Gillespie answered immediately 'the colored washroom is down the hall to your right ' Tibbs nodded and disappeared (28)". Virgil Tibbs just finished examining the dead body and needs to wash his hands. When reading this the reader can see that Virgil feels uncomfortable to Gillipies answer. Virgil just nodded and accepted it when he told him to go to the colored washroom, although Virgil does not say it, he feels less of a person when he can not go the normal washroom, this is also an example of segregation. Lastly, prejudice makes victims vulnerable to violence. Frank Schubert, member of city hall said, “A few of the boys are getting ready to teach him his place, and they will, too (86)”. In this text the city hall members are discussing and threatening the black man (Virgil) that has entered the town of Wells, and are not happy that he is going around asking people about the Mantoli murder. Furthermore, it shows Virgil is vulnerable to violence because with orders from City Hall he can get terribly injured by a group of people that dislike him prejudice because he is