Adventure; Realism
"The Cop and the Anthem" is the story of one adventurous night in the life of our main character, Soapy. A story about a guy trying to get arrested would have to be a little bit adventurous, right? Readers in the 2000s might find Soapy's adventures a tad bit tame (dining and ditching, breaking a window, hitting on a woman, stealing an umbrella). Still, the "Writing Style" and "Themes" of the story give these adventures meat and substance.
The story is set in New York City and presents a realistic look at that famous place back in the early 1900s, over a hundred years ago. The narrator even gives us the names of the streets Soapy walks down in his quest for arrest. This means we could use the book as a map and retrace most of Soapy's steps if we felt like it. We say most because the restaurants Soapy visits, and the street and church where Soapy hears the anthem coming from, aren't named. Why do you think this is?
We think it might have to do with O. Henry's desire to make his stories feel like they could happen anywhere. Omitting, for example, the details about where to find the church might keep readers from focusing on a particular place in New York City as the site of Soapy's epiphany, or moment of clarity. We talk about this more in "Setting," so feel free to join the conversation going on over there.