The Cop and the Anthem
The Cop and the Anthem is one of O.Henry's representative works. O.Henry is one of the most famous American critical realist short story writer, and one of the world's top three masters of the short stories. He is known as the father of modern American short story. O. Henry's short stories are famous for their surprise endings. The ending of his story is not only reasonable, but also in unexpected. His literary works is original in conception, and his language is humorous. He is good at describing American society, especially the living in New York City. As his interesting characters description, he is hailed as the humor Encyclopedia of American life.
The Cop and the Anthem is a ridiculous story about Soapy, a tramp living in New York City. This story happens in a late fall in the early of the twentieth century. As winter is coming, Soapy faces the urgent necessity of finding some sort of shelter. The hibernator ambitions of he is not of the highest. He just expects to be arrested so that he could live in the warm prison during the cold season as in previous years. To spend three months on the Blackwell Island is what his soul craved. As the result, he does every effort to commit crime on purpose so that he can be put into prison in winter, only to find that is not as easy as it used to be.
The first time, Soapy plans to set foot inside a restaurant for a free meal but he fails in a waiter’s sharp eyes. The waiter has driven him away because the waiter saw his frayed trousers and decadent shoes.
The second time, he dashes a cobblestone into a glass. The policeman refuses to accept he even as a clue because men who smash windows do not remain to parley with the law’s minions.
The third time, he successfully has a big meal in a restaurant which is of no great pretentious yet he is just beaten instead of being sent to the prison. Although a policeman stands before a drug store two doors away, he just laughs and walks down the street.
The fourth time, he even lures a woman in order to be arrested by the policeman, but the woman is a prostitute. And he does not shake off his companion until passing a corner.
The fifth time, he begins to yell drunken gibberish at the top of his harsh voice but the policeman disregarded him as a Yale student and forgive him. He fails one more time.
The sixth time, in a cigar store he takes a man’s umbrella in public yet the man is not the true owner of it, too. The umbrella is ill gotten originally and the man retreats quickly. Obviously, the addition problem is that he breaks the law for six times, he does not act like a criminal. As he stands on the street, with an anthem flies into his ears from the church, he decides to start a clean slate and plans his future. Ridiculously, Soapy,
