Where It All Goes Down
New York City, Fall, Early 1900s
Like many of O. Henry's stories, "The Cop and the Anthem" is set in New York City in the late part of the 1800s and first ten years of the 1900s. The story features one night in the life of Soapy, a homeless man trying to get arrested to he can have a warm place to be during the winter.
In this story, the setting is very realistic. Henry is trying to give us a realistic impression of New York City, one that will ring true to New Yorkers and even to people who have never been.
Although O. Henry's New York City setting is detailed, it is also minimal. O. Henry doesn't give us a lot of description. A shop window is simply a shop window—we don't know the name of the shop and aren't told what the window displays. Maybe this vagueness is part of Henry's attempt to make the story feel like it could happen anywhere.
Contrast Between Soapy and Where He Lives
Soapy lives on a park bench in Madison Square, which is on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway in New York City. Even a hundred years ago, this was a center of money and power, a shopper's paradise. Soapy is surrounded by all the finest things money can buy. He sees wealthy, powerful people eating in fancy restaurants, wearing fancy clothes, and enjoying expensive entertainments.
Soapy's life seems the reverse of this. He only looks for enough to get by. He doesn't seem to envy or desire money or what it can buy. Perhaps this lack of desire for material things is part of why Soapy became homeless. Maybe he had nothing to motivate him to work, and realized he could survive without doing much at all.
But, as you know by now, Soapy does become motivated to work. But what motivates him is not money, or even better living conditions. Soapy finds nothing appealing in the lives of New York City's wealthy and fabulous. What actually inspires Soapy is something very different (keep reading).
A Quiet Street With a Church
Picture it:
The moon was above, lustrous and serene; vehicles and pedestrians were few; sparrows twittered sleepily in the eaves—for a little while the scene might have been a country churchyard. (41)
Aha—this is a big change in our setting, right? It's this contrast between two very different settings, both of which contain very different types of wealth, that makes setting very important in this story. Before this we get the impression that New York City is all parks, shops, restaurants, busy streets, and taxicabs—or carriages, rather…this is the early 1900's after all.
Here we see another side. New York City and surrounding areas are actually home to many a natural paradise. Other than the fact that the leaves are falling and it's getting cold, this is the first time we've seen Soapy observing nature. Notice also that the writing style becomes a bit more melodic as Soapy's mood changes along with the setting. This tells us that Soapy values nature, natural beauty, and quiet.
The next passage really brings home the contrast. Check it out:
The conjunction of Soapy's receptive state of mind and the influences about the old church wrought a sudden and wonderful change in his soul. He viewed with swift horror the pit into which he had tumbled, the degraded days, unworthy desires, dead hopes, wrecked faculties, and base motives that made up his existence. (42)
Due to this change of scenery, Soapy is able to gain a new perspective on life. He is able to realize what he really does value—nature, quiet, churches, music, and friends and family. See what a little change of scene can do? Here it reveals Soapy to himself, and reveals Soapy to the readers.