in the heat of the night

Response Journal: 1 In The Heat Of The NightVocabulary Word:
Corpse (noun) - A deceased being.Vocabulary Sentence: When they
arrived, Jane screamed, she was the first one to notice, the corpse laying
on the ground.Response: This was a very interesting first chapter to this
book, that really tells a lot. It starts off in a small town called Wells. You
can tell Wells, is a small town, by the way only one officer is used to
patrol the city in the evening, if it had been a big town like Vancouver, a
whole bunch of officers would have been patrolling the city. Well it starts
off, with Sam Wood doing his night patrol, checking out the
neighbourhoods, and making sure everything was calm. When Sam is
about to finish his last part of his route, he sees a object laying in the
middle of the road. When he takes a closer look, he sees it is the corpse
of Mr. Mantoli, a file celebrity of the town who was to conduct the big
music festival for the town. I liked the way everything was going nice and
calm in the chapter, then all of a sudden, wham! A murder pops out of
nowhere. I think this book promises to be a good read, with a lot of
surprises.=================================================
============================Response Journal: 2
In The Heat Of The NightVocabulary Word:
Misdialed (adjective) - to dial the wrong telephone number.Vocabulary
Sentence: The blind man screamed in frustration, as he once again
Misdialed the phone number.Response: They finally find a suspect for
the murderer of Mr. Mantoli. The suspect is a black man who was caught
in the towns railway station. The man was loaded with money. He was
well dressed with freshly ironed pants. The police thought that a black
man couldn't possibly make that much money so they suspected that the
wallet of Mantoli had to have been stolen by this man, too bad that Officer
Sam Wood didn't look at the identification. This must have been a really
bad time for black people in America. This man who was arrested turned
out to be a policeman himself, who was working in Pasadena, California.
If this would have happened in real life, I can only imagine the

embarrassment of the police officer, Sam Wood, after he found out he
had arrested a cop! I think that this story is going to be a rough ride for
Virgil Tibbs, because of the way everyone is treating him. I think if Virgil
has to face racism through out what ever ordeal he goes through, (I am
making this guess because of the fact that I think Virgil is the main
character) he is going to crack and retaliate at whoever is making him
mad, after all he is only human.
==========================Response Journal: 3
In The Heat Of The NightVocabulary Word:
Fraternal (adjective) - friendly, brotherly.Vocabulary Sentence: This will be
the first meeting of the Disco Dudes, a fraternal club of disco dancers.
Response: We have now confirmed that the black suspect found at the
train station was indeed an officer in Pasadena California. Of course the
officers were shocked about this. They thought that the blacks couldn't
get decent jobs anywhere, especially a job as a police officer! They are
pretty choked about this incident and the whole department thinks badly
of the situation. They returned Mr. Tibbs back to the train station and let
him go back to where he had to go. As this was happening the another
officer caught a man by the name of Harvey Oberst who was found with
the wallet of the deceased Mr. Mantoli. He is their number one suspect
now and it looks as though he did it. He has been in trouble before for
petty robbery and he has been known to hang out with the sixteen year
old girl Delores Purdy. I really think this man is the one who killed the
Mantoli, I mean how else would he be carrying the dead guys wallet?!? If
my little idea is true, then the story would be over by now so this can't be
the guy committed the homicide. This novel is becoming more interesting
than I originally thought it would
be.=========================================Response
Journal: 4 In The Heat Of The Night
Vocabulary Word: Ambidextrous (adjective) - using both

hands with equal ease.Vocabulary Sentence: The man was telling me
that it took him four years of hard work to become ambidextrous, I think I
am going to start practising to be ambidextrous. Then I will be
cool.Response: At this point in the story Virgil gets called back from
being kicked out of the station and has breakfast with the chief. Sam
Wood got Mr. Endicott to identify the body of Mr. Mantoli. When they
were finished he wanted to speak to the chief about the incident. The
man named Harvey Oberst was acquitted because the person who struck
the deceased was right handed. When Mr. Endicott was talking to the
chief about the murder, Virgil jumped in and started to tell a whole bunch
of things about the murder to Endicott. Then when Endicott left, the Chief
Gillepsie blasted Virgil for opening his big black mouth. I think that was
uncalled for and that the chief might be involved in the whole murder
situation, or at least not wanting to let people see that he was jumping to
conclusions. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about the chief, he is getting
to act a bit strange. That would also explain for how much he yelled at
Virgil for blabbing information to people. I really think that this chief is the
one who murdered the Maestro. But what would be the motive? Uh-oh,
this novel is starting to get me thinking
2:-)===============================Response Journal: 5
In The Heat Of The Night
Vocabulary Word: Panorama (noun) - a view from every
direction.Vocabulary Sentence: I looked over the panorama, it was
beautiful.Response: I thought it was hilarious the way the chief kicks out
our hero, Virgil, and ends up begging for him to come back. The mayor
over there called up the Pasadena department and insisted Virgil stay
until the case was over. I think Chief Gillespie and the mayor are both
involved in some sort of tricky scheme. My suspicions are starting to rise
again about the chief committing the murder. But there is absolutely no
motive for him at all. To me, the chief seems like the type of person that

would perform such an act. I also think that Mantoli's daughter has
something to do with it. She sounded a bit suspicious to me. But why
would she kill her own dad? Virgil is quite the investigator, he notices
details. Those are the sort of things that let you solve murders. If the town
was bigger, this wouldn't have been such a big deal. I think that is why
the author described the size of the town so well at the beginning of the
book. Now I am really starting to like this novel. I wonder if their is a
movie out? I would like to see it! I can't wait to find out who really killed
Mantoli! ============================Response Journal: 6In
The Heat Of The NightVocabulary Word: Downgrade (noun) - A slope, a
decline. Downward.Vocabulary Sentence: Mark, raced down the
downgrade on his brand new skiis.Response: Now, Virgil finally gets to
ask some questions about the murder to Harvey Oberst. He knows little
about it and he seems to be clear of all charges so they will let him go
now. The killer is still at large and he could strike again at any time. That
night when Sam wood was patrolling the town he caught a man trying to
get out of town. I think this man could also be a suspect because why
would he want to leave town at such an hour. The man was in no
condition to be out driving either. The man was out on his way to Atlanta
to find a new parade conductor to fill in for Mr. Mantoli. But why is the
guy going at such a time, that is what I think is wrong with the situation.
This chapter was quite hard to write about because so little happened in
it. I think that there will be another murder within the novel. There will
need to be something for us to cling onto for more suspense. The last two
chapters have seemed to be pretty boring. I thought that they had too
little action to them. If I were the author I would make another murder in
the story to really get the reader going. I think a totally surprise ending for
this story would be if we found out Virgil was the one who committed the
murders! Holy Moly! Would that be an ending to a novel or
what?=============================Response 7In The Heat Of

The Night Vocabulary Word: Astonishing
(adjective) - Breath taking, beautiful. Very surprising.Vocabulary
Sentence: Jane's mouth started watering at the site of the astonishing
buffet. Response: In this chapter, Chief Gillespie interviews a man at the
hotel. The man said that their was a guy named Kaufmann that came into
the hotel at around the time of the murder. The man had a stain on his
pants and his only excuse was that, "He was unwise while eating his
cherry pie." That could explain for the red stuff on his pants. This man
was later released on account of not being guilty. Then they caught
another suspect by the name of Mr. Gottschalk. He was in town, passing
by at around the time of the murder. He has no sufficient alibi, as far as
we know, to prove this though. He was in the town of Wells because he
was on his way to the Cape Kennedy Centre. He decided to take his car
because he was going to go on a week long vacation with his wife, Mrs.
Gottschalk. He was supposedly driving in the night because he didn't
want to drive in the extreme heat of the day so he decided to go in the
cooler part of the day, night time. In the end, the fact of the matter was
that the police didn't have him there by the law, he wasn't made clear of
that in the beginning of the interview. One thing that I have noticed is that
the author always leaves a big clue at the end of each chapter. That's
good stuff, because now I am going to have my eyes peeled when I get to
ends of chapters.
========================Response Journal: 8 In The Heat
Of The Night Vocabulary Word:
Outskirt (noun) - The outer part of a town, far from the center of the
town.Vocabulary Sentence: The house was located in the lonley outskirts
of the town.Response: Once again, Virgil does a very smart thing. He
went to a black reverend and talked to him about the murder. They
talked about the murder and how the youth group could help find out who
murdered the man. The reverend said that it was a small miracle that a

black man didn't do the murder. This once again goes to show the racial
factor of the story, (just incase you didn't know there was one to begin
with 2:-). The reverend had a great idea, he could send all the youth
group out to look for firewood for the church. The weapon had to be a
piece of wood about the size of firewood. This way if the found the piece
used by the killer, the could pin it to the man who did it. This in my
opinion is a very smart thing to do, but there is a lot of wood out there. I
think that the reason that Virgil is trying so hard to find out the murderer is
that he wants to show the police that a black men can be just as good at
things as white men. If this is the case I can only imagine the pressure
he must be under. After he left the reverend's place, he went on the
patrol with Sam. As they were going along the route, Sam started to feel
like a suspect in the murder. When they were going along, Sam would
snap at Virgil for asking so many questions. This is a side of Sam that we
have not seen yet. Why is Sam so
defensive?=========================Response Journal: 9
In The Heat Of The NightVocabulary Word:
Wearily (adjective) - worn out of strength, endurance, and
freshness.Vocabulary Sentence: "Ahh, Captain! I can't dance no more! I
have danced all night long! I cannot feel me legs! Please have mercy,
Captain!" Said Ezekiel wearily to his captain.Response: We sure got a lot
of stuff going on now! The main thing is that our friend and hero: Virgil
Tibbs found the weapon used to kill Mr. Mantoli. As this was happening,
Sam Wood was being put in the slammer for the murder of the man. The
murder was not done by Sam, as pointed out by Virgil. The reason they
thought that the officer did the crime was that he had installed the rest of
his six hundred dollar mortgage payment all in one go. The money had to
have come from somewhere, but where? The police think that the money
was stolen from the deceased, and then used to pay off the mortgage.
That would be a good plan to get the money, seeing as how this old man

always carried lots of cash. It has been made clear that the chief is a bit
scarred of the people who sent him the note about Virgil, that is why he
has Sam in the jail because he is desperate to solve the case and get
Virgil out of the town. The note was probably sent by the members of the
council. Why do they think so badly of Virgil if he is doing so much good
for the case? That is why I think that the killer had to be on the
council.=====================Response Journal: 10 In The Heat
Of The NightVocabulary Word: Captivating (adjective) - To attract by
special charm or art.Vocabulary Sentence: The way the girl could sing
proved mighty captivating.Response: As we near the end of the novel,
quite a few things occur. The first thing is that a man named Mr. Purdy
came into the police department and told the people a very shocking
story. This mans daughter was in the mid stages of her pregnancy and
she had obviously been with a man. The father was complaining about
how she was seduced and the girl said the offender was the one and only
Mr. Wood! This put another burden on the chiefs shoulders, knowing that
Sam was guilty. He was looking for one solid piece of evidence that Sam
was innocent. But the piece of the puzzle he wanted so badly was not
there. Poor old Sam must have been in the pits for the whole day. Then
the daughter of Mr. Mantoli came in and talked to Sam about the murder.
Sam said that he was innocent of the murder charges. She then told him
to look her in the eyes and tell her that he didn't do it. Now that he
passed that test he became more happy. But as fast as those happy
thoughts came, they then disappeared. He knew that he still had one
more charge on his hands. I don't think that Sam could have done it, but
we will see what happens in the end now won't we?
==========================Response Journal: 11In The Heat Of
The NightVocabulary Word: Distinctive (adjective) - Special
characteristics of an object or being.Vocabulary Sentence: I new it was
him by his distinctive high pitched voice.Response: The last two chapters

all come together will Ralph, that's right Ralph, the night guy at the
dinning place being the murderer! What an ending! I am very glad that
Officer Sam Wood, the one and only was out of the line of fire and found
not guilty for the murder of Mantoli. This books was one of the coolest
books I have ever read. I can't wait to see the movie version of it. The
only thing about watching the movie is that is now will limit my
imagination, and set a preset for all the characters in the novel. So now
what I thought of the characters, what they looked like, what they
sounded like, and how they acted like will be set. That kind of sucks, but
it is cool none the less. I know that this novel is old, but darn is it not
cool! I didn't think books this old would be so cool. The author did a
really neato spartific job!