The Cop And The Anthem

416 Words2 Pages
The Cop and the Anthem I think the theme of the cop and the anthem by O. Henry is that sometimes you try hard to achieve your goals, but in vain whatever you do. You won’t get what you want if you extremely hunger for it. However, when you don’t crave it anymore, it will come to your side mysteriously and naturally. As the old saying goes,” Don't cross a bridge till you come to it”, it tells us not to worry about things which seem to be untouchable even if you have already tried your best. Sometimes it just happens to you when you don’t want it anymore. For instance, when you fall for a girl and would like to chase her, you are definitely kind to her in any ways. Unfortunately, somehow she just can’t have the “sparks” on you no matter how great you are. One day, you stop being kind to her and give up; instead, she will start to miss you and think about maybe you are the Mr. Right for her. There is a great chance that she becomes impressed by you and then fall in love with you after you leave her resolutely and determinedly. Many things always happen like this. This story takes place in late autumn, in night New-York City, in 19th century. Homeless Soapy is the protagonist. To emphasize a gap between poor and rich people, the author created realistic background to the events in the story. The setting evokes the mood of the society of that time. An unequal society is totally revealed. The description of frozen weather is used to stress Soapy’s solitude. In addition, Soapy’s life is compared with dead leaf blown by cold wind. It does help to evoke the reader’s compassion on Soapy. The plot of this short story is really interesting, especially for its surprising, humorous, ironic ending. O’ Henry is a master of short novels with unexpected ending for sure. He leaves out the falling action in order to make an astonishing ending for the reader. Besides, this

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