Interpretation of the text «The Cop and the Anthem» by O’Henry Контрольная

The plot is a series of interlinked events in which the characters of the story participate. The plot of this short story coincides with the story. 

The structure of the story is simple and clear. Plot structure arranged as a straight line narrative presentation, when the events are arranged as they occur, in chronological order.

There are two types of conflict in the story. The external conflict of this story: the struggle between Soapy and Cop and between man and society.

The second one is internal in which case the issue to be resolved is one within the character’s own self. The internal conflict is localized in the inner world of the character and is rendered through his thoughts, feelings, intellectual processes. So, the internal conflict of Soapy’s character is expressed by the struggle between his desire to spend three months in prison and his thoughts about becoming “somebody in the world”. 

For the setting the writer selects the relevant detail which would suggest the whole scene. The action takes place in late autumn, in night New-York City. The setting places the character in a recognizable reality. The effect of verisimilitude is very strong in the short story. It is achieved by author’s wide usage of toponyms (New York City, Madison Square, Broadway and Fifth Avenue).

New York City winters are notoriously harsh. This is a big problem for people like Soapy who live outside. He decides to solve his problem the same way he's solved it for a few years: by getting arrested and sentenced to three months in jail. In jail he can wait out the winter and not have to worry about food or shelter for a while.

The author wanted to create realistic background to the events in the story. The setting evokes the mood of the society of that time. Such realistic background helps the author to emphasize a gap between poor and rich people. As a result, an unequal society is revealed. 

In its broadest sense, encompasses both the physical locale that frames the action and the time of day or year, the climatic conditions, and the historical period during which the action takes place. 

The role of exposition is to introduce the main character of the story and describe the conditions of his life, surrounding. We first meet Soapy on his bench in Madison Square in New York City. A dead leaf falls on his shoulder making him realize that winter is coming very soon. Also exposition creates the general atmosphere of the story. Soapy’s life is compared with all of a sudden leaf blown by cold wind. It helps the author to evoke the readers’ mildness on Soapy.