Wang1 Wang Mengmeng
Professor Li Kang
English 09110314
12 March 2012
The Cop and the Anthem
The Cop and the Anthem is one of O.Henry's representative works. This novel
describes a vagrant who is jobless, homeless and commits crime on purpose so that he can be put into prison in winter. However,things don't goes as he expected. But when he makes up his mind to give up evil and return to good, he is arrested.
Based on the whole text, the author's humor is present in various ways, one of
which is through irrationality during the development of plots. Soapy, the vagrant who has stirred up trouble for six times, is eager to go to prison. But he is always out of luck and get policeman's forgiveness. When Soapy is touched by the anthem and wants to be a good citizen, he is arrested for groundless reasons. This way is a kind of black humor manifesting social reality profoundly. We can see something gloomy, desperate,but simultaneously, we can't help laughing when reading the vivid description.
Once, Soapy wants to reach his goal by molesting a woman, Soapy
straightened the lady missionary’s ready-made tie, dragged his shrinking cuffs into
the open, set his hat at a killing cant and sidled toward the young women(20).but
the seeming virtuous and quiet woman begin to seduce him in reverse.“Sure,
Mike,” she said joyfully, “if you’ll blow me to a pail of suds. I’d have spoke to you
sooner, but the cop was watching.”With the young woman playing the clinging ivy
to his oak Soapy (22). Besides, Soapy steals an umbrella from a neatly dressed
customer, but the umbrella is ill-gotten originally.''Of course,''said the umbrella
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man''that is—well, you know how these mistakes occur—I—if it’s your umbrella I
hope you’ll excuse me—I picked it up this morning in a restaurant—If you recognise
it as yours, why—I hope you’ll—''(31).So the modest and lady and gentleman turn
out to be someone that we cannot imagine, which is not rational. Nonetheless, as a
matter of fact, they just hide their dirty acts under a beautiful veil and a small sign
can indicate a great trend, we can learn that the so-called noble upper class goes
more serious than the two. These plots reveals awful mood of that capitalist society.
In addition, the conflict between the irrationality of Soapy's behavior and the
rationality of the cop's judgment is one of the important reasons for Soapy's
"misfortune". For example, Soapy breaks the glass and wait for the policeman to
come and arrest him, but the cop reckons that a man who commits evil won't sit
and wait for arrest, men who smash windows do not remain to parley with the
law’s minions(14) then he excludes Soapy. Besides, he wants to break the peace
by virtue of kicking up a fuss in the street, identically, the cop deems that only
college students dare to be so unbridled and boisterous''Tis one of them Yale lads
celebratin’ the goose egg they give to the Hartford College. Noisy; but no harm.
We’ve instructions to lave them be.''(25). His abnormal conducts is determined by
his distorted mentality, which exactly reflects torture and agony both in life and
mind oft he low-class. When the poor guy intends to do good the moment he is
moved and inspired, the cop believes a vagrant will never something to do with
the quiet atmosphere around a church, the soft lamplight and the touching music.
Consequently, Soapy is caught unexpectedly. “What are you doin’ here?” asked
the officer. ''Nothing,'' said Soapy(42). ''Then come along.''said the
policeman(43). ''Three months on the Island.'' said the Magistrate in the Police
Court the next morning.(44). It is the accident that mirrors confusion of truth and
falsehood, black and wright.
Needless to say,there are many ways to represent humor, they have one thing in
common--where there is humor, there is specific implication. The writing style of the author is humorous, the disclosure of the society is deepgoing, the reflective life and
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mental distress are mirky. O.Henry uses a quantity of comparison and humor to fully display the character's wretched fate and cruelty of capitalist society.
Notes
1.Jack Frost (Para.2): Jack Frost is a personification of frost.
2.Blackwell (Para.5): An island with prisons on East River in New York
3.Palm Beach and the Riviera (Para.5): A tourist attraction in winter.
4.Cesar (Para.5): A famous statesman, strategist and commander in chief assassinated by Republicans.
5.Brutus (Para.5): Roman politician, the chief plotter to assassinate Cesar.
6.the choicest products of the grape, the silkworm and the protoplasm(Para.7): It indicates upper-class life.
7.brass buttons (Para.5): It refers to policeman, as the fasteners of police uniform are made of brass.
Work cited
1.
2.Henry,O.O Henry 100 Selected Stories [M]. Hertfordshire: Wordworth,1995.
3.Voss,Arthur. The American Short Story: A Critical Survey[M].
Norman:Oklahoma UP,1973:123-124
4.田艳.欧亨利短篇小说精选[M]. 大连：大连理工大学出版社，2005.
5.王青松.倪勤.轮欧亨利小说的比喻特色[J].安徽教育学院学报.2006,24(4):82-85.
About The Author
O. Henry is one of the most famous American critical realist short story
writers, and one of the world's top three masters of the short stories. O. Henry's
real name was William Sydney Porter.
O. Henry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on September 11,
1862. At age of 20 (1882) he moved to Texas, where he had various jobs.
He married Athol Estes in 1887, in 1894 while working for First National Bank in
Austin, Porter was accused of stealing $4000. He went to prison in Columbus,
Ohio for 3 years eventually. While in prison Porter first started to write short
stories and believed that he has found his pseudonym there. After Porter was
released from the prison in 1901, he changed his name to O. Henry and moved to
New York in 1902. From December 1903 to January 1906 o. Henry wrote a story
a week for the New York World magazine, and published several short stories in
other magazines.
O. Henry's short stories are famous for their surprise endings, his wit, wordplay
and humor. He wrote such classic short stories as The Ransom of Red Chief, The
Gift of the Magi, The Furnished Room, The Four Billion, Cabbages and Kings,
The Last Leaf, The Cop and the Anthem,etc.
In his last years O. Henry had financial and health problems. An alcoholic, O.
Henry died on June 5, 1910 in New York City, virtually broke.
第二篇：警察与赞美诗的英文读后感[1]1
The Cop and the Anthem
The key word:Cop/vagrant/crime/prison/winter/arrested.
The Cop and the Anthem is one of O.Henry's representative works. This novel
describes a vagrant who is jobless, homeless and commits crime on purpose so that he can be put into prison in winter. However,things don't goes as he expected. But when he makes up his mind to give up evil and return to good, he is arrested.
Based on the whole text, the author's humor is present in various ways, one of
which is through irrationality during the development of plots. soap, the vagrant who has stirred up trouble for six times, is eager to go to prison. But he is always out of luck and get policeman's forgiveness. When soap is touched by the anthem and wants to be a good citizen, he is arrested for groundless reasons. This way is a kind of black humor manifesting social reality profoundly. We can see something gloomy, desperate,but simultaneously, we can't help laughing when reading the vivid description.
Once, soap wants to reach his goal by molesting a woman, soap straightened the
lady missionary’s ready-made tie, dragged his shrinking cuffs into the open, set his hat at a killing cant and sidled toward the young women.but the seeming virtuous and quiet woman begin to seduce him in reverse.“Sure, Mike,” she said joyfully, “if you’ll blow me to a pail of suds. I’d have spoke to you sooner, but the cop was watching.”With the young woman playing the clinging ivy to his oak soap . Besides, soap steals an umbrella from a neatly dressed customer, but the umbrella is ill-gotten originally.''Of course,''said the umbrella man''that is—well, you know how these mistakes occur—I—if it’s your umbrella I hope you’ll excuse me—I picked it up this morning in a restaurant—If you recognise it as yours, why—I hope you’ll.So the
modest and lady and gentleman turn out to be someone that we cannot imagine, which is not rational. Nonetheless, as a matter of fact, they just hide their dirty acts under a beautiful veil and a small sign can indicate a great trend, we can learn that the so-called noble upper class goes more serious than the two. These plots reveals awful mood of that capitalist society.
In addition, the conflict between the irrationality of Soap's behavior and the
rationality of the cop's judgment is one of the important reasons for Soap's "misfortune". For example, soap breaks the glass and wait for the policeman to come and arrest him, but the cop reckons that a man who commits evil won't sit and wait for arrest, men who smash windows do not remain to parley with the law’s minions then he excludes soap. Besides, he wants to break the peace by virtue of kicking up a fuss in the street, identically, the cop deems that only college students dare to be so unbridled and boisterous''Tis one of them Yale lads celebrate’ the goose egg they give to the Hartford College. Noisy; but no harm. We have instructions to lave them be. His abnormal conducts is determined by his distorted mentality, which exactly reflects torture and agony both in life and mind oft he low-class. When the poor guy intends to do good the moment he is moved and inspired, the cop believes a vagrant will never something to do with the quiet atmosphere around a church, the soft lamplight and the touching music. Consequently, soap is caught unexpectedly. “What are you doing here?” asked the officer. ''Nothing,'' said soap''Then come along.''said the policeman. ''Three months on the Island.'' said the Magistrate in the Police Court the next morning.. It is the accident that mirrors confusion of truth and falsehood, black and wright.
Needless to say,there are many ways to represent humor, they have one thing in
common--where there is humor, there is specific implication. The writing style of the author is humorous, the disclosure of the society is deepgoing, the reflective life and mental distress are mirky. O.Henry uses a quantity of comparison and humor to fully display the character's wretched fate and cruelty of capitalist society.
About The Author
O. Henry is one of the most famous American critical realist short story
writers, and one of the world's top three masters of the short stories. O. Henry's
real name was William Sydney Porter.
O. Henry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on September 11,
1862. At age of 20 (1882) he moved to Texas, where he had various jobs.
He married Athol Estes in 1887, in 1894 while working for First National Bank
in Austin, Porter was accused of stealing $4000. He went to prison in Columbus,
Ohio for 3 years eventually. While in prison Porter first started to write short
stories and believed that he has found his pseudonym there. After Porter was
released from the prison in 1901, he changed his name to O. Henry and moved to
New York in 1902. From December 1903 to January 1906 o. Henry wrote a story
a week for the New York World magazine, and published several short stories in
other magazines.
O. Henry's short stories are famous for their surprise endings, his wit, wordplay
and humor. He wrote such classic short stories as The Ransom of Red Chief, The
Gift of the Magi, The Furnished Room, The Four Billion, Cabbages and Kings,
The Last Leaf, The Cop and the Anthem,etc.
In his last years O. Henry had financial and health problems. An alcoholic, O.
Henry died on June 5, 1910 in New York City, virtually broke.