The Cop and the Anthem警察与赞美诗读后感

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,

who does not want something for nothing and goes to a great deal to get thrown into prison, finally does get thrown into prison for doing precisely nothing, in the end.

I like this essay because the surprise ending is totally contrary to our expectations and I enjoy the surprise that it given me. As can be seen from the essay, Soapy is not the one who wants to live a parasitic life. He even scorned the provisions made in the name of charity for the city’s dependents. He has a proud spirit as the gifts of charity are unacceptable to him. In his opinion, the law is more benign than philanthropy. Therefore, it is not strange that he tries every means in order to enter the prison in winter. He does every effort but he fail. When he is in the church anthem music influence, and decides to give up the past life, he is caught by the police. He will be sent to prison for three months, as his original idea.

It can not deny that it is a big sarcasm. For example, Soapy has free meal in the restaurant, dashes a cobble stone into a glass, lures a woman, yell drunken gibberish and steal thing, but it is inconceivable that the policeman is tolerate these illegal act and do not punish him. While he give up his original idea, the tolerance policeman arrests him, who commits no crime and even does not do anything. However, it is a fault made by society. Soapy is not the one to be blamed. 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 his behavior and the rationality of the policeman's judgment is one of the important reasons for his misfortune. It is the accident that mirrors confusion of truth and falsehood.

In this essay, O.Henry used a relaxed and humorous style describing a tramp makes ridiculous attempt to achieve his own ridiculous purposes. He used a quantity of comparison and humor to fully display the character's wretched fate and cruelty of capitalist society.

After reading this essay, I enjoy O.Henry’s language and story extremely. The phenomenon he describing is still existence now, so he is a real outstanding writer. A good writer is whose literary works look as new. And I can imagine the life of the poor people in those days. I know I must treasure the life I own now.

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