"The Cop and the Anthem" by O. Henry

 

The short story "The Cop and the Anthem" by O. Henry features one main named character and several other unnamed characters who are essential to the plot.

The main characters and groups of characters include:

  Soapy: The protagonist of the story. He is a homeless man in New York City whose main goal is to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a warm jail cell on Blackwell's Island.

  The Police/The Cop: Soapy interacts with several police officers throughout the story. They consistently fail to arrest him for his deliberate misdeeds. "The Cop" in the title typically refers to the final, unnamed officer who arrests Soapy for loitering, just after Soapy has resolved to change his life.

  The Waiters: Soapy encounters waiters at two different restaurants. The waiters in the less-expensive restaurant forcefully throw Soapy out when he cannot pay his bill, refusing to call the police.

 The Window Shopper: A woman Soapy attempts to harass on the street in an effort to get arrested.

  The Umbrella Man: A man whose umbrella Soapy attempts to steal, only for the man to offer it to Soapy without a struggle.

Note: Soapy is the only character in the story who is given a name. The other characters are identified by their roles or actions.

Brief summary 

"The Cop and the Anthem" is a short story by O. Henry, famous for its twist ending and deep sense of irony.

The story centers on Soapy, a homeless man in New York City. As autumn gives way to winter, Soapy realizes he can no longer endure the cold and decides to secure himself three months of food and shelter in the city jail on Blackwell's Island, a place he views as a temporary winter retreat. His only option is to get arrested.

The majority of the story details Soapy's repeated, and comically unsuccessful, attempts to commit minor crimes to provoke an arrest:

  Dining and Defrauding: He tries to eat an expensive meal at a luxury restaurant and then declare he has no money. However, a waiter spots his frayed shoes and trousers and throws him out before he is even served.

 Vandalism: He breaks a large plate-glass window by throwing a cobblestone at it. When a policeman arrives, Soapy happily confesses, but the officer refuses to believe a genuine vandal would stay at the scene. He concludes it must have been a student and runs off after a different man.

 Humble Meal: He tries the same dine-and-dash strategy at a less expensive restaurant. This time, he is thrown out by two brawny waiters who have no intention of calling the police.

 Disorderly Conduct: He pretends to be drunk and disorderly, yelling and causing a disturbance in front of a police officer. The cop dismisses his behavior, assuming he is a celebrating college student from Yale.

  Theft: He attempts to steal an umbrella from a man in a cigar store. The owner meekly relinquishes the umbrella, stating he himself found it and did not own it, thus removing the grounds for a police complaint.

Thoroughly discouraged by his failures, Soapy wanders by a church. He stops to listen to the beautiful, solemn melody of the organ playing a powerful anthem. The music triggers a profound spiritual revelation in Soapy. He resolves to abandon his vagrant life, seek honest work, and become a respectable member of society.

As soon as Soapy makes this life-changing decision, a policeman approaches him and asks what he is doing loitering. Soapy is no longer trying to be arrested and responds with dignity, but the police officer, mistaking Soapy's presence as a suspicious act, immediately arrests him for vagrancy.

The story ends with the ultimate irony: Soapy achieves his original goal of getting to Blackwell's Island, but only after he had resolved to change his life and no longer desired it. The next morning, the court sentences him to three months in jail.