FINAL TEST A Summary and Analysis of O.

Henrys Short Story: The Cop and the Anthem

Citra Ayu Wardani 0810732056

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS ANDALAS UNIVERSITY PADANG 2011

Summary:
The story commences with a tramp named Soapy. He was a proud man; he did not want something for nothing and is willing to pay for his room by going to some effort to commit an act that would get him in jail. He rejected charity for he knew that he would have to pay for philanthropy by being preached at and lectured to. He tried to be arrested and to live then in a wealthy condition in jail, where he could eat some good food have a bed in which he fell on the spot fast asleep. He tried so many times to achieve his goal to be imprisoned. He went, as a first time, to a luxurious restaurant but as he was in a miserable dress with a torn shoes so that he was kicked off quickly from the place. Learned from the first failure, he went to a more modest restaurant in order not to be kicked off. He has been welcomed there and he ordered as many dishes as possible to eat. Once the waiter came to give him the bill, Soapy showed him that he has no money but he had been just pinched in the ear and then thrown out even though he had asked the waiter to call a cop. Then, he tried his third strategy to be imprisoned by acting like a masher but unfortunately the woman he disturbed was a prostitute and joyfully replied his coquettish hello. Still having his spirit, Soapy tried to act drunk on the sidewalk. Then when the police officers came, they said that they had orders to leave these kinds of guys be, because they are no harm to the public. And the last effort of Soapy was when he tried to steal a mans umbrella, but when he did, the man got scared and let him take it because the man himself just found it earlier that day, Soapy could not steal what was already stolen. Thus, Soapy seemed doomed to liberty. At last, while walking around a church he heard an anthem. He listened carefully to that melody. In the meanwhile, Soapy decided to change for the better. Ironically, a cop came to him and arrested him for loitering. The next day, the judge sentenced him to the island.

Analysis:
Character:

In The Cop and The Anthem, a man named Soapy is the main character. He is a homeless man that lives on bench in Madison Square, New York City. Since winter is coming, he is trying to go to jail to have a warm place to pass the cold nights. Although Soapy got the clothes from a charity, he is too proud to get anything else from them. Soapy says that jail is more benign than philanthropy. He thinks that although charities might not make you pay for services in coin, they always ask something of you. For example, after receiving some type of benefit, a charity might ask you to join that religion or anything else that Soapy feels is the humiliation of the spirit. Soapy is a very proud man that sticks to his beliefs. Theme: The Play of Fate People are born kind and equally and purely kind. But under the evil control, some of the people become evil, in Soapys case, its the local governments control. Though he hopes to change himself, he is not given any opportunities to do so. O. Henry delivered the theme through the major character, Soapy, whose every action that he took created a reaction opposite to the one he wished. I find this in this story when Soapy, after deciding to live better in a normal way, got arrested for a simple crime, which I do completely not consider it a crime. Setting: It took place in New York, in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Soapy originally lived on a bench in Madison Square. It was autumn and the leaves were falling. Soapy realized that winter was coming and he needed to plan something. Plot: There are four stages in this story. They are exposition, complication, climax and resolution. Exposition: the exposition is the beginning section in which the author provides the necessary background information, sets the tense, establishes the situation, and dates the action. It usually introduces the characters and the conflict, or at least the potential for conflict. In this story, the exposition is from paragraph 1 to 5. The story is begun introducing the main character, Soapy, a

tramp who was trying to do his routine every time winter came: try to be a criminal so that he would be sent to jail where, for him, he could get a wealthy accommodation during winter. Not just that, the exposition also gives a description about what kind of man Soapy was, that he was a proud man even he rejected the charity money. The complication, which is sometimes referred as the rising action, develops and intensifies the conflict. The main idea is soapy sought many ways to make cop catch him, but all in vainstarted from paragraph 6 to paragraph 31 in which he was kicked off from a luxurious restaurant, just been pinched at the second restaurant, picked a wrong target, tried to steal an umbrella and then acted drunken. The crisis (also referred to as the climax) is that moment at which the plot reaches its point of the plot, directly precipitating its resolution. The climax is from paragraph 32 to 35 tells us that Soapy came to an old church and began to reflect himself. He wanted to start a brand new day with a brand new hope to be a brand new man. He planned to go to man the man downtown who once offered him a job to be a driver. The final section of the plot is its resolution; it records the outcome of the conflict and establishes some new conclusion. The main idea is that although soapy decided to change, he was caught by the cop for nothing in the end. Point Of View: The types of point of view are omniscient point of view, limited point of view, first-person point of view and dramatic point of view. The point of view of this story is omniscient point of view. It gives its all knowing narrator, who can direct the readers attention and control the sources of information.