24 pages • 48 minutes read
O. HenryThe Cop and the Anthem
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1904A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Repetition
O. Henry uses repetition in various ways throughout “The Cop and the Anthem.” The opening sentences, for example, twice describe Soapy moving on his park seat, emphasizing his desire to be somewhere else.
O. Henry also uses repetition to describe Soapy’s response to hearing the anthem:
He would fight to change his life. He would pull himself up, out of the mud. He would make a man of himself again.
There was time. He was young enough. He would find his old purpose in life, and follow it. That sweet music had changed him. Tomorrow he would find work. A man had once offered him a job. He would find that man tomorrow. He would be somebody in the world. He would— (40).
This use of anaphora (the repetition of the same words at the beginning of successive sentences) underscores Soapy’s newfound hope and seems to build toward a triumphant emotional climax. The hand of a cop on Soapy’s arm interrupts both the repetition and Soapy’s plans for the future in a way that emphasizes Social Class and the Cycle of Poverty and Crime. To everything that Soapy imagines “he would” do, society responds by saying he will not.
Simile
A simile is a form of figurative speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things. O. Henry uses one such comparison to capture Soapy’s anger and frustration in the wake of his failed attempt to get arrested for stealing an umbrella: “Because he wished to be arrested, they seemed to believe he was like a king, who could do no wrong” (39). The comparison of Soapy to a “king who could do no wrong” is ironic, as Soapy is anything but king-like. Kings are powerful and important, and everyone pays attention to them; Soapy is invisible and ignored, lacking the power to control even his own destiny, let alone anyone else’s. The simile also highlights the role social class plays in perceptions of morality. As the well-dressed man’s own theft of the umbrella demonstrates, the rich and powerful are as likely to “do wrong” as anyone else, but they are less likely to be judged for it.
Irony
Irony is a literary device that involves a mismatch between expectations and reality. O. Henry uses irony throughout “The Cop and the Anthem”: The very premise of Soapy’s quest for arrest—a desire to be “freed” of his freedom—is ironic. This apparent contradiction is meant to feel discordant; Soapy’s unhappiness as a free man stems from poverty and reflects the hollowness of “Freedom” and the American Dream.
Irony also underpins the story’s twist ending. After several desperate attempts to get arrested, Soapy has a change of heart and vows to turn his life around—only to end up being arrested after all. The irony underscores Soapy’s utter lack of agency, as he only achieves his goal once it is no longer his goal at all.
Setting
Turn-of-the-century New York City plays a pivotal role in “The Cop and the Anthem.” O. Henry emphasizes the bitter cold that sets in during winter as he shows not only Soapy’s response but everyone else’s as well: “Richer New Yorkers made their large plans to go to Florida or to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea each winter. Soapy made his small plans for going to the Island” (36). The harshness of New York’s winters is what motivates Soapy to seek seasonal imprisonment.
The nature of city life also brings the gap between the rich and the poor into sharp relief, as everyone from rich businessmen to unhoused people like Soapy exist there side by side. This allows O. Henry to emphasize the upper and lower classes’ vastly different experiences of the same people, places, and institutions—for example, the law, which arrests Soapy simply for sitting quietly in a church while allowing wealthy college students to yell and be publicly disruptive.
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