Name: Nguyen Thi Thu Thao

School: University of Social Sciences & Humanities

Class: M.A in TESOL
Course: 2010 – 2012
Subject: American Literature
Lecturer: Le Thi Thanh, Ph.D

Topic

Improving reading and writing skills with

 CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION 3

II. RATIONALE FOR TEACHING THE STORY 3

III. AUTHOR – PIECE OF WORK 3

1. O.Henry 3
1.1 Biography 3
1.2 Pen Name 6
1.3 Works 7
2. The story – The Cop and the Anthem 8
2.1 Background Information of the Story 8
2.2 Plot Summary 8
2.3 Analyze the Story – The Elements of the Story 9

IV. SOME SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES TAUGHT IN CLASS 13

1. Learner description 13
2. Teaching objectives 13
3. Learning outcomes 13
4. Time allotments 13
5. Estimated problems 13
6. Some suggested activites taught in class 14
A. Pre – teaching 14
B. While – teaching 15
C. Post – teaching 19

V. CONCLUSION 19

VI. REFERENCES 20

VII. APPENDIXES 20
1. Literary Text 20
2. Pictures for Using in Teaching Biograyphy of O.Henry 26
3. Pictures of the Story‘s Events 27
4. Handouts for Students 33

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 I. INTRODUCTION
Literature is the best resourse for teaching language because of its avatanges.
Through literary texts, students can gather knowledge of cultures and ideologies
different from their own in time and space and to come to perceive tradition of
thought, feeling and artistic form within the heritage the literature of such cultures
endows. Additionally, literature is outcome of varied creative uses of the language so
it can be an instrument for teaching vocabulary or structures for language
manipulation. Furthermore, reading literary texts can help students grow as
individuals as well as in their relationships with the people and institutions around
them. Consequently, I believe literature is a legitimate and valuable resources for
language teaching if teacher base on their purposes and exploit literature in the most
appropriate way to help bring the best effects of learning for students.

II. RATIONALE FOR TEACHING THE STORY

O‘ Henry is a talent writer who created stories with surprise ending. His stories
make readers have mixed feelings that are a little bit disappointed and excited and
even they raise many issues for readers to think about. One of his best short stories
which have surprise ending is The Cop and the Anthem. This story helps readers have
deep view of society based on its setting, theme, ect. And readers can explore what
O.Henry‘s feeling on the society that he was living in. In addition, ironical technique
makes this story become a woderful work and is worth reading. Therefore, I choose
The Cop and the Anthem as a resource for teaching reading and writing. I believe
students will enjoy this story a lot.

III. AUTHOR – PIECE OF WORK

1. O’ Henry
1.1 Biography
O‘ Henry real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born on September
th
11 , 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney
Porter (1825–1888), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–1865).
They were married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died
from tuberculosis, and he and his father moved into the home of his paternal
grandmother.

Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter's elementary school in
1876. He then enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. His aunt continued to tutor
3
him until he was fifteen. In 1879, he started working in his uncle's drugstore and in
1881, at the age of nineteen, he was licensed as a pharmacist.
Porter traveled with Dr. James K. Hall to Texas in March 1882, hoping that a change
of air would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. He took up residence
on the sheep ranch of Richard Hall, James' son, in La Salle County and helped out as a
shepherd, ranch hand, cook and baby-sitter. While on the ranch, he learned bits
of Spanish and German from the mix of immigrant ranch hands. He also spent time
reading classic literature. Porter's health did improve and he traveled with Richard
to Austin in 1884, where he decided to remain and was welcomed into the home of the
Harrells, who were friends of Richard's. Porter took a number of different jobs over
the next several years, first as pharmacist then as a draftsman, bank
teller and journalist. He also began writing as a sideline.
Porter led an active social life in Austin, including membership in singing and
drama groups. Porter was a good singer and musician. He played both
the guitar andmandolin. He became a member of the "Hill City Quartet," a group of
young men who sang at gatherings and serenaded young women of the town. Porter
met and began courting Athol Estes, then seventeen years old and from a wealthy
family. Her mother objected to the match because Athol was ill, suffering
from tuberculosis. On July 1, 1887, Porter eloped with Athol to the home of Reverend
R. K. Smoot, where they were married.
The couple continued to participate in musical and theater groups, and Athol
encouraged her husband to pursue his writing. Athol gave birth to a son in 1888, who
died hours after birth, and then a daughter, Margaret Worth Porter, in September
1889. Porter's friend Richard Hall became Texas Land Commissioner and offered
Porter a job. Porter started as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) in
1887 at a salary of $100 a month, drawing maps from surveys and field notes. The
salary was enough to support his family, but he continued his contributions to
magazines and newspapers.
In the GLO building, he began developing characters and plots for such stories
as "Georgia's Ruling" (1900), and "Buried Treasure" (1908). The castle-like building
he worked in was even woven into some of his tales such as "Bexar Scrip No. 2692"
(1894). His job at the GLO was a political appointment by Hall. Hall ran for governor
in the election of 1890 but lost. Porter resigned in early 1891 when the new governor
was sworn in. The same year, Porter began working at the First National Bank of
Austin as a teller and bookkeeper at the same salary he had made at the GLO. The
bank was operated informally and Porter had trouble keeping track of his books. In
1894, he was accused by the bank of embezzlement and lost his job but was not
indicted. He now worked full time on his humorous weekly called The Rolling Stone,
4
which he started while working at the bank. The Rolling Stone featured satire on life,
people and politics and included Porter's short stories and sketches. Although
eventually reaching a top circulation of 1500, The Rolling Stone failed in April 1895,
perhaps because of Porter's poking fun at powerful people. By then, his writing and
drawings caught the attention of the editor at the Houston Post.

Porter and his family moved to Houston in 1895, where he started writing for
the Post. His salary was only $25 a month, but it rose steadily as his popularity
increased. Porter gathered ideas for his column by hanging out in hotel lobbies and
observing and talking to people there. This was a technique he used throughout his
writing career. While he was in Houston, the First National Bank of Austin was
audited and the federal auditors found several discrepancies. They managed to get a
federal indictment against Porter. Porter was subsequently arrested on charges of
embezzlement, charges which he denied, in connection with his employment at the
bank

Porter's father-in-law posted bail to keep Porter out of jail, but the day before Porter
was due to stand trial on July 7, 1896, he fled, first to New Orleans and later
to Honduras. While holed up in a Tegucigalpa hotel for several months, he
wrote Cabbages and Kings, in which he coined the term "banana republic" to describe
the country, subsequently used to describe almost any small, unstable tropical nation
in Latin America. Porter had sent Athol and Margaret back to Austin to live with
Athol's parents. Unfortunately, Athol became too ill to meet Porter in Honduras as
Porter had planned. When he learned that his wife was dying, Porter returned to
Austin in February 1897 and surrendered to the court, pending an appeal. Once again,
Porter's father-in-law posted bail so Porter could stay with Athol and Margaret.
Athol Estes Porter died on July 25, 1897, from tuberculosis (then known as
consumption). Porter, having little to say in his own defense, was found guilty of
embezzlement in February 1898, sentenced to five years jail, and imprisoned on
March 25, 1898, as federal prisoner 30664 at the Ohio Penitentiary inColumbus, Ohio.
While in prison, Porter, as a licensed pharmacist, worked in the prison hospital as the
night druggist. Porter was given his own room in the hospital wing, and there is no
record that he actually spent time in the cell block of the prison. He had fourteen
stories published under various pseudonyms while he was in prison, but was
becoming best known as "O. Henry", a pseudonym that first appeared over the story
"Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" in the December 1899 issue of McClure's
Magazine. A friend of his in New Orleans would forward his stories to publishers, so
they had no idea the writer was imprisoned. Porter was released on July 24, 1901, for
good behavior after serving three years. Porter reunited with his daughter Margaret,
now age 11, inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Athol's parents had moved after

5
Porter's conviction. Margaret was never told that her father had been in prison—just
that he had been away on business.

Porter's most prolific writing period started in 1902, when he moved to New
York City to be near his publishers. While there, he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote
a story a week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine. His wit,
characterization and plot twists were adored by his readers, but often panned by
critics. Porter married again in 1907, to childhood sweetheart Sarah (Sallie) Lindsey
Coleman, whom he met again after revisiting his native state of North Carolina.
However, despite the success of his short stories being published in magazines and
collections (or perhaps because of the attendant pressure that success brought), Porter
drank heavily.
His health began to deteriorate in 1908, which affected his writing. Sarah left
him in 1909, and Porter died on June 5, 1910, of cirrhosis of the liver, complications
of diabetes and an enlarged heart. After funeral services in New York City, he was
buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina. His daughter, Margaret
Worth Porter, died in 1927 and was buried with her father.
1.2 Pen Name

Porter gave various explanations for the origin of his pen name. In 1909 he
gave an interview to The New York Times, in which he gave an account of it:
It was during these New Orleans days that I adopted my pen name of O. Henry. I said
to a friend: "I'm going to send out some stuff. I don't know if it amounts to much, so I
want to get a literary alias. Help me pick out a good one." He suggested that we get a
newspaper and pick a name from the first list of notables that we found in it. In the
society columns we found the account of a fashionable ball. "Here we have our
notables," said he. We looked down the list and my eye lighted on the name Henry,
"That'll do for a last name," said I. "Now for a first name. I want something short.
None of your three-syllable names for me." "Why don‘t you use a plain initial letter,
then?" asked my friend. "Good," said I, "O is about the easiest letter written, and O it
is."
A newspaper once wrote and asked me what the O stands for. I replied, "O
stands for Olivier the French for Oliver." And several of my stories accordingly
appeared in that paper under the name Olivier Henry.
Writer and scholar Guy Davenport offers another explanation: "The pseudonym that
he began to write under in prison is constructed from the first two letters of Ohio and
the second and last two of penitentiary."

6
 1.3 Works

O. Henry's stories are famous for their surprise endings, to the point that such
an ending is often referred to as an "O. Henry ending." He was called the American
answer to Guy de Maupassant. Both authors wrote twist endings, but O. Henry stories
were much more playful and optimistic. His stories are also well known for witty
narration. Most of O. Henry's stories are set in his own time, the early years of the
20th century. Many take place in New York City and deal for the most part with
ordinary people: clerks, policemen, waitresses.
Fundamentally a product of his time, O. Henry's work provides one of the best
examples of catching the entire flavor of an age written in the English language.
Whether roaming the cattle-lands of Texas, exploring the art of the "gentle grafter," or
investigating the tensions of class and wealth in turn-of-the-century New York, O.
Henry had an inimitable hand for isolating some element of society and describing it
with an incredible economy and grace of language. Some of his best and least-known
work resides in the collection Cabbages and Kings, a series of stories which each
explore some individual aspect of life in a paralytically sleepy Central American town
while each advancing some aspect of the larger plot and relating back one to another
in a complex structure which slowly explicates its own background even as it
painstakingly erects a town which is one of the most detailed literary creations of the
period.
The Four Million was his first collection of stories. It opens with a reference
to Ward McAllister's "assertion that there were only 'Four Hundred' people in New
York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has arisen—
the census taker—and his larger estimate of human interest has been preferred in
marking out the field of these little stories of the 'Four Million.'" To O. Henry,
everyone in New York counted. He had an obvious affection for the city, which he
called "Bagdad-on-the-Subway‖, and many of his stories are set there—but others are
set in small towns and in other cities.
Among his most famous stories are:

"The Gift of the Magi" about a young couple who are short of money but
desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. Unbeknownst to Jim, Della
sells her most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy a
platinum fob chain for Jim's watch; while unbeknownst to Della, Jim sells his
own most valuable possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's
hair. The essential premise of this story has been copied, re-worked, parodied,
and otherwise re-told countless times in the century since it was written.

7
 "The Ransom of Red Chief", in which two men kidnap a boy of ten. The boy
turns out to be so bratty and obnoxious that the desperate men ultimately pay
the boy's father $250 to take him back.
"The Cop and the Anthem" about a New York City hobo named Soapy, who
sets out to get arrested so he can avoid sleeping in the cold winter as a guest of
the city jail. Despite efforts at petty theft, vandalism, disorderly conduct, and
"mashing" with a young prostitute, Soapy fails to draw the attention of the
police. Disconsolate, he pauses in front of a church, where an organ anthem
inspires him to clean up his life — and is ironically charged for loitering and
sentenced to three months in prison.
"A Retrieved Reformation", which tells the tale of safecracker Jimmy
Valentine, recently freed from prison. He goes to a town bank to case it before
he robs it. As he walks to the door, he catches the eye of the banker's beautiful
daughter. They immediately fall in love and Valentine decides to give up his
criminal career. He moves into the town, taking up the identity of Ralph
Spencer, a shoemaker. Just as he is about to leave to deliver his specialized
tools to an old associate, a lawman who recognizes him arrives at the bank.
Jimmy and his fiancée and her family are at the bank, inspecting a new safe,
when a child accidentally gets locked inside the airtight vault. Knowing it will
seal his fate, Valentine opens the safe to rescue the child. However, the lawman
lets him go.
2. The story – The Cop and the Anthem
2.1 Background information of the story
"The Cop and the Anthem" is a December 1904 short story by the United
States author O. Henry. It includes several of the classic elements of an O. Henry
story, including a setting inNew York City, an empathetic look at the state of mind of
a member of the lower class, and anironic ending.
2.2 Plot Summary
There is only one main character in ―The Cop and the Anthem‖, Henry gave
his name ―Soapy‖. He a homeless man in New York city, he sleeps on park bench.
When winter comes, he plans to do series of tactics with purpose to encourage the
police classify him as a criminal and arrest him. Soapy‘s six attempts include
swindling the restaurant into serving him an expensive meal, vandalizing the plate-
glass window of a luxury shop, repeating his eatery exploit at a humble diner, sexually
harassing a young woman, pretending to be publicly intoxicated, and stealing another
man's umbrella. But all his attempts fail. However, all of these attempts are quickly
exposed as failures. The upper-class restaurant looks at Soapy's threadbare clothes and

8
refuses to serve him. A police officer responds to the broken window but decides to
pursue an innocent bystander. The diner refuses to have Soapy arrested, and instead
has two servers throw Soapy out onto a concrete pavement.
Soapy's failures to earn his desired arrest continue. The young woman, far from
feeling harassed, proves to be more than ready for action. Another police officer
observes Soapy impersonating a drunk and disorderly man, but assumes that the
exhibitionistic conduct is that of aYale student celebrating their victory over "Hartford
College" in football. Finally, the victim of the umbrella theft relinquishes the item
without a struggle.
Based on these events, Soapy despairs of his goal of getting arrested
and imprisoned. With the autumn sun gone and night having fallen, Soapy lingers by a
small Christian church, considering his plight.
As O. Henry describes events, the small church has a working organ and a
practicing organist. As Soapy listens to the church organ play ananthem, he
experiences a spiritual epiphany in which he resolves to cease to be homeless, end his
life as a tramp afflicted withunemployment, and regain his self-respect. Soapy recalls
that a successful businessman had once offered him a job. Lost in a reverie, Soapy
decides that on the very next day he will seek out this potential mentor and apply for
employment.
As Soapy stands on the street and considers this plan for his future, however, a
policeman taps him on the shoulder and asks him what he is doing. When Soapy
answers ―Nothing,‖ his fate is sealed: he has been arrested for loitering. In the
magistrate‘s court on the following day, he is convicted of a misdemeanor (in the
courtroom, he is pronounced guilty of "vagrancy, no visible means of support"), and is
sentenced to three months in Riker's Island, the New York City jail.
2.3 Analyze the story – elements of the story
Plot
There are four stages in this story. They are exposition, complication, climax
and resolution. Exposition: the exposition is the beginning section in which the author
provides the necessary background information, sets the tense, establishes the
situation, and dates the action. It usually introduces the characters and the conflict, or
at least the potential for conflict. Complication: the complication , which is sometimes
referred to as the rising action, develops and intensifies the conflict. Crisis: the crisis
(also referred to as the climax) is that moment at which the plot reaches its point of the
plot, directly precipitating its resolution. Resolution: the final section of the plot is its
resolution; it records the outcome of the conflict and establishes some new conclusion
or the denouement, the latter a French word meaning ―unknotting‖ or ―untying‖. In
this story, the exposition is from paragraph 1 to 5. The main idea is Soapy desired to

9
spend the winter in the prison. The main idea is soapy sought many ways to make cop
catch him, but all in vain. The climax is from paragraph 32 to 36 tell us that soupy
came to an old church and began to reflect himself. The resolution is from paragraph
37 to 41. The main idea is that although soapy decided to change, he was caught by
the cop for nothing in the end.
Character
There are two kinds protagonist and antagonist. Protagonist is the major or central
character of the plot and easy enough to identify. Antagonist is the opponent of protagonist
and may not be a living creature at all but rather the hostile social or natural environments.
The other is the indirect. The direct methods are characterization through the we of names,
characterization through appearance and characterization by the author. The indirect
characterization are characterization through dialogue, characterization through action. In this
story, there are three characters: soapy, the policeman and the whole society. Soapy is the
protagonist. The cop or the whole society is the antagonist. The author used for methods to
portray the characters in this story characterization through appearance, characterization
through the author‘s comments, characterization through the dialogue and characterization
through the actions.
Setting
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 function of setting; setting as a background
for action, setting as antagonist, setting as means of creating. The first paragraph of
this story described of the wild geese honk high of nights. That is setting as means of
creating appropriate atmosphere. In the paragraph 34 to 35, there is a description of
the church, this is setting as a means of revealing character.
Point of view
The method of narration that determines the position, or angle or vision, from
which the story is told.The type of point of view: Omniscient point of view, Limited
point of view, first-person point of view and Dramatic point of view. The point of
view of this story is Omniscient point of view. The great advantage of the Omniscient
point of view is the flexibility. It gives its ―all knowing‖ narrator, who can direct the
reader‘s attention and control the sources of information.
Theme
The theme is the central idea or statement about social criticism that the poor
people are ignored by other people and by the government.
Conflict
The conflict may be either external, when the protagonist is pitted against some
object or force outside himself, or internal, in which case the issue to be resolved is
one within the protagonist‘s own self. The conflict of this story: the struggle between
Soapy and Cop and between man and society and the struggle inside Soapy mind. The
man and the society is the external one. The struggle inside Soapy mind is internal
one.

10
Lexical Repetition
One of O.Henry‘s means of deepening his theme is his lexical repetition. While
reading through the story, the reader may be repeatedly reminded by certain individual
words. These words enjoy such a high frequency that readers are impelled to feel his
strong irony and humor. For example, words referring to the ‗prison‘ such as ‗the
island‘, ‗jail‘ and ‗winter quarters‘ occur altogether 11 times in such short story;
words like ‗cop‘, and ‗policeman‘ appear 15 times; In ―The Cop and the Anthem‖,
prison symbolizes a refuge, which is a comfortable winter quarters for Soapy to
receive lodging and food easily. Therefore, lexical repetitions or high frequence has
effectively emphasized this theme.
Irony
Irony is the best tool in this story. Life is full of unexpected, when Soapy wants
to be a good man and have a better life, he is suddenly arrested for trespassing and
sentenced six months in jail.
Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs are excessively used in this story and most of them are those of
degree, revealing the plots and the characters‘ actions clearly and vividly. Thus
readers can comprehend the excellent descriptions of the plots well. O.Henry uses
adverbs to characterize the characters. According to the story, most of the adverbs that
refer to Soapy are clearly negative and remain so throughout the story: uneasily,
brazenly, boldly, disorderly, sternly, viciously, wrathfully. They all reflect Soapy‘s
annoying state of mind of not being able to be put into prison. Yet in order to enhance
the ironic effect, O.Henry mostly use positive words such as timely, luxuriously,
quietly, excitedly, sprightly, joyfully, gaily, grandly to modify other characters. These
two groups of words are a striking contrast between the poor‘s and the rich‘s life.
In general, the frequent use of adverbs not only contributes to the painstaking
description which greatly impresses the readers but also establishes the popularity
style of O.Henry.
Words to speaking manner
O.Henry portrays not only the characters‘ behaviour and action but also his
internal mind and his speaking manner. Moreover, he uses many positive and direct
words to Soapy‘s speaking manner to the cop.
„Don‟t you figure out that I might have had something to do with it?‟ said Soapy,
not without sarcasm, but friendly.‘
‗Ah,there! He said sternly.‟ „…he said viciously.‘
„I hope you‟ll --- of course it‟s mine.‟ Said Soapy, viciously.
These direct words are used to show the eagerness to be put into prison. It
highlights the sense of irony.

11
 From the collocations of Soapy ‘ speaking manner, readers can sense his state
of mind explicitly. He was so eager to be put into prison. Yet it seemed to be a dream
far away. Therefore Soapy was quite peeved. Thus he may speak sternly or viciously
or not without sarcasm but friendly
Alliteration
Alliteration refers to the repetition of initial identical sounds at the beginning of
words. In this story, alliteration is often used by the author to create a harmony of
sound. Consider several examples:
board and bed; soporific skies; Boreas and bluecoats; congenial company;
contiguity conscientious; instantaneous and impulse; telltale trousers; smiled and
smirked; degraded days;
In alliteration, phonaesthetic effect is created, since in these pairings, the
similarities of sound connote similarities of meaning.
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike
elements having at least one quality in common. Often the resemblance only exits in
our minds, and words like as, as… and like are employed. As a result, the imaginative
component has also been emphasized. Some examples are cited below:
“No cop for you,” said the waiter, with a voice like butter cakes and an eye like the
cherry in a Manhattan cocktail.
He arose joint by joint, as a carpenter‟s rule opens.
They seemed to regard him as a king who could do no wrong.
“Don‟t you figure out that I might have had something to do with it?” said Soapy,
not without sarcasm, but friendly, as one greets good fortune.
For years the hospitable Blackwell‟s had been his winter quarters. Just as his more
fortune fellow New Yorkers had bought their tickets to Palm Beach and the Riviera
each winter.
In his fancy the island seemed an unattainable Arcadia.
Metaphor
A metaphor is different from simile only in that the comparison is implied
rather than stated. Apart from what has been mentioned above, O.Henry also uses
metaphors regularly to make his story ironic. Note the example:
With the young woman playing the clinging ivy to his oak Soapy.
At the corners of four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind, footman
of the mansion of All Outdoors, so that the inhabitants thereof may make ready.
A dead leaf fell in Soapy‟s lap. That was Jack Frost‟s card. (here, a falling leaf is
compared to card)

12
 IV. SOME SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES TO TEACH
1. Learner description
Age: Students who are third year major in English at universities. The average
age is from 21-24.
Background: Some of them come from urban, but some come from suburban.
For that reason, they may have different interest and condition for studying.
Level of proficiency in English: They have experienced many years studying
English in secondary and high school as well as in university entrance so they
must have good basic of English skills which are reading, writing, speaking and
listening.
Class size: 25-30 students
2. Teaching objectives
1. Help students enrich their vocabulary and understand meaning in specific
context;
2. Give students chance to use those words in their discussion and in writing
task;
3. Involve students in the story by having them work in group, pairs to discuss
the story;
4. Give students chance to recall their vocabulary store to use in discussion
and in expressing their ideas on the story;
5. Students connect to practical society and compare with the society in the
story and raise the issues of the practical society that they know;
6. They can improve their writing skill through writing the story summary.
3. Learning outcomes
After the lesson, students will achieve:
1. Skill of reading for specific information;
2. Knowledge about American literature and the society in the story time
3. Have more interest in reading literature than before.
4. They enjoy surprise ending style of O.Henry.
4. Time allotment: 90 minutes
5. Estimated problems

Literature is an interesting subject but not easy subject to teach. Because

English is not their first language, they find more difficult to understand the story
in English than in Vietnamese-their mother tongue. In addition, many students
have limited experience of literature as well as of the world in general, and this
may make many texts puzzling, remote or inaccessible. For those reasons, teacher

13
plays an important role in providing meanings of words in texts as well as in make
the connection between the student‘s experience and the particular point that can
be compared in the literary text either by prompting or questioning.

6. Suggested activities taught in class

- Extra material: pictures, handouts, literary text

A. Pre-teaching:
Aims:
- To heat up the environment of the class and give students‘ interests
in involving in the lesson.
- To provide students enough information so that they then can work
on more easily the story.
- Give students targets for reading.

Activities:

 Activity 1: Give questions about O.Henry biography:

Handouts are delivered to students. They have to read biography and
answer questions about him (see handout in appendixes). When students are
reading they can ask teacher to explain words that they do not know. After
reading O.Henry biography, students are asked to work in pairs and answer
questions.
Some words in O.Henry biography text that the students may ask:
peculiar stamp, slangy, exaggerated, embezzlement, panicky, sympathy, etc.
Questions
1. What makes O.Henry‘s story famous?
2. What can we often see in his short story?
3. Why did he take purishment three years in a federal prison?
4. Can you name some more stories of O.Henry that you know?
 Activity 2: Pre-reading activity
Students are invited to select from a list of statements on LIFE
and SOCIETY theme those which they agree. These two themes are
related to the story which is taught later. Students should choose three
on life and three on society. They should then work in pairs and agree
on two for each topic. They should then work in groups of five or six
and agree one quotation for each topic which they would accept as a
member of the whole group. The whole class might then vote on one
statement for each topic. The vote will probably involve class discussion

14
 of pros and cons and will draw on ideas which will have been
exchanged in pairs and in groups.
Reason: Students will be better motivated to read literary text if
they can relate it to their own experience.

Statements

LIFE:

A. Life is always beautiful and smooth.

B. Life is ironical with sudden events that surprise people disappointedly.
C. Life is good if you know how to control it.
D. You can have an excellent life if you have a lot of money.
E. Optimists have better life than pessimists.
F. Life is not bad, only people are bad.

SOCIETY

A. Society is never fair to poor people.

B. People in society are always friendly to each other.
C. Government does have good policy to help people sustain their life.
D. Homeless and poor people means that our society is degenerating
E. We should neglect homeless and poor people because they have no
contribution to our society.
 Activity 3: Predict the title
Read the title aloud and ask students to predict what the story is
about.
Students may say it is a story about the police and their courage
in catching criminals or about the loyalty of police officials to their
country, etc.

B. While-teaching:
Aims:
- Help students understand the theme of the story;
- Help students to know how many characters there are in the story
and who is protagonist and who is antagonist;
- Help students understand the main character through the way or
words the author used to describe character‘s appearance, manner,
point of view;
- Help students understand irony is the best tool in the story.

15
Activities: Divide the story in 26 paragraphs so it is easier for teaching later.
Then ask students to read the story and do the following tasks.
 Activity 1: After reading the story, students work in 5 groups to
discuss these following questions in 10 minutes and then each
group will be responsible for presenting two questions in frond of
the class and other members give comments on their answers.
Finally, teacher gives feedbacks to students‘ answers and
explains more about the story to help students have clear
understanding of this story.

Questions
1. How many characters are there in the story? Who are they?
2. What does the phrase ―mansion of All Outdoors‖ refer to?
3. What does ―Jack Frost‘s card‖ mean?
4. How does Soapy think about the charity‘s donation?
5. How many attempts did Soapy did? What are they?
6. Does Soapy think his desire so simple and attainable? Is he right?
7. What are ironical expressions refers to Soapy‘s desire to get to the
Island?
8. What kind of childhood did Soapy have?
9. What words did the author use to describe Soapy?
10. What expressions are used to refer to the police?

Suggested Answers to the questions:

1. there are three characters: soapy, the policeman and the whole society.
Soapy is the protagonist. The cop or the whole society is the antagonist.
2. “Mansion of All Outdoors” refers to Square with a lot of benches for
homeless people can sleep at night. This is a humorous comparison.
3. “Jack Frost‟s card” is a dead leaf falling in Soapy‘ lap and means the
winter is coming. This is a metaphor
4. Soapy despises the charity, he felt insult if he receive donation for any
organization.
“Caesar had his Brutus”, “bed of charity must have its toll of a bath”,
“every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal
inquisition.”
For that reason, he wants to be ―a guess of the law which, though conducted
by rules, does not meddle unduly with a gentleman‘s private affairs.
5. Soapy did 6 attempts. They are swindling a restaurant into serving him an
expensive meal, vandalizing the plate-glass window of a luxury shop,
16
 repeating his eatery exploit at a humble diner, sexually harassinga young
woman, pretending to be publicly intoxicated, and stealing another
man's umbrella.
6. He is right when he thinks that his desires are simple and attainable but life
is ironical and full of unexpected things so all his attempts were failed.
7. “Island”, “winter refuge”, “rosy dream”, “unattainable Arcadia”,
“hospital Blackwell”
He thinks prison is such a good settle for him in the winter.
8. He had a very good childhood with mother, roses, ambitions and friends.
9. According to the story, most of the adverbs that refer to Soapy are clearly
negative and remain so throughout the story: uneasily, brazenly, boldly,
disorderly, sternly, viciously, wrathfully. They all reflect Soapy‘s annoying
state of mind of not being able to be put into prison. O.Henry portrays not
only the characters‘ behaviour and action but also his internal mind and his
speaking manner. Moreover, he uses many positive and direct words to
Soapy‘s speaking manner to the cop.
„Don‟t you figure out that I might have had something to do with it?‟ said
Soapy, not without sarcasm, but friendly.‘
‗Ah,there! He said sternly.‟ „…he said viciously.‘
„I hope you‟ll --- of course it‟s mine.‟ Said Soapy, viciously.
These direct words are used to show the eagerness to be put into
prison. It highlights the sense of irony.
From the collocations of Soapy ‘ speaking manner, readers can sense
his state of mind explicitly. He was so eager to be put into prison. Yet it
seemed to be a dream far away. Therefore Soapy was quite peeved. Thus he
may speak sternly or viciously or not without sarcasm but friendly.
10. “cop”, “policeman”, “the officer”, “bluecoats”, “the sight of brass
buttons”, “law‟s minions”, “the men who wear helmets and carry clubs”.

 Activity 2: Ask students to check (√) the theme of the story:

Social criticism that is the poor people are ignored by the

government and other people.
Homeless people want to get in the prison for winter refuge.
Life is unexpected.
The police always do not finish their tasks.
Life never gives bad people a chance for restart their life.

17
 Activity 3: Ask students to re-order pictures of the story‘s events by
numbering and then teacher shows pictures in the correct order. (see
appendixes)

 Activity 4: Ask students to retell the story base on those pictures so

that they can use their own words and can remember this story
better.

18
 C. Post-teaching
Aims:
- To help students express their own ideas and give feedback to the
story that they have been taught;
- Students have chance to improve their writing skills afterwards;
- Students can use their own words to retell the story;
- Students can remember the story better.
Activities:
 Activity 1: Give students open questions about the story
1. Is Soapy real in life? Why?
2. Is he educated or uneducated? Why?
3. Do you think prison is good for Soapy? Why?
4. Do you think after coming from the prison Soapy will continue his
restart life plan or he will remain live as a hobo like before?
5. Do you like this story? Why?
6. Which characters do you like best in the story? Why?
7. Do you like the story ending? Why?
 Activity 2: Ask students to write a brief summary of the story.

V. CONCLUSION

I still remember the feeling of the first time I read this story. It was excited and
also a little dissapointed because I think Soapy deserved to have a chance of living a
better life since he was wakened by the anthem and wanted to restart new life with
looking for a job. But this kind of surprise ending alert me that life is always tough
and full of unexpected things. Its ending brought me despair feeling about life,
however, I can see the light of hope for Soapy‘s life because he was put in prison only
three months not a whole life so he still had a oppoturnity of restarting his life after
being in prison. I really enjoy this story and I hope my students have the same feeling
like I have. Whether they feel excited or dissapointed about this story because of its
unexpected ending, I believe they do enjoy it. They have to experience ―The Cop and
the Anthem‖ and use their sensitivity, personal perception, creativity, and so on to
explore this story. In my opinion, students can get varied knowledge of language
through this story as well as other literary resources.

19
 VI. REFERENCES
O. Henry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;

Le. Thanh (2007). American Literature. HCMC: Education Publishing House;

Ronald Carter and Michael N. Long (1991). Teaching Literature. New York:
Longman Publishing;

http://www.simtalk.com/bibliRR2/sudeshna2/the_cop_and_the_anthem

VII. APPENDIXES

1. Literary text
THE COP AND THE ANTHEM

On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily. When wild goose
honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their
husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know
that winter is near at hand.

A dead leaf fell in Soapy‘s lap. That was Jack Frost‘s card. Jack is kind to
the regular denizens of Madison Square, and gives fair warning of his annual call.
At the corners of four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind, footman of
the mansion of All Outdoors, so that the inhabitants thereof may make ready.

Soapy‘s mind became cognizant of the fact that the time had come for him to
resolve himself into a singular Committee of Ways and Means to provide against
the coming rigour. And therefore he moved uneasily on his bench.

The hibernatorial ambitions of Soapy were not of the highest. In them were
no considerations of Mediterranean cruises, of soporific Southern skies or drifting
in the Vesuvian Bay. Three months on the Island was what his soul craved. Three
months of assured board and bed and congenial company, safe from Boreas and
bluecoats, seemed to Soapy the essence of things desirable.

For years the hospitable Blackwell‘s had been his winter quarters. Just as his
more fortunate fellow New Yorkers had bought their tickets to Palm Beach and the
Riviera each winter, so Soapy had made his humble arrangements for his annual
hegira to the Island. And now the time was come. On the previous night three
Sabbath newspapers, distributed beneath his coat, about his ankles and over his lap,
had failed to repulse the cold as he slept on his bench near the spurting fountain in
the ancient square. So the Island loomed large and timely in Soapy‘s mind. He
scorned the provisions made in the name of charity for the city‘s dependents. In
Soapy‘s opinion the Law was more benign than Philanthropy. There was an endless
round of institutions, municipal and eleemosynary, on which he might set out and
receive lodging and food accordant with the simple life. But to one of Soapy‘s
20
proud spirit the gifts of charity are encumbered. If not in coin you must pay in
humiliation of spirit for every benefit received at the hands of philanthropy. As
Cæsar had his Brutus, every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of
bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition. Wherefore it is better
to be a guest of the law, which though conducted by rules, does not meddle unduly
with a gentleman‘s private affairs.

Soapy, having decided to go to the Island, at once set about accomplishing

his desire. There were many easy ways of doing this. The pleasantest was to dine
luxuriously at some expensive restaurant; and then, after declaring insolvency, be
handed over quietly and without uproar to a policeman. An accommodating
magistrate would do the rest.

Soapy left his bench and strolled out of the square and across the level sea of
asphalt, where Broadway and Fifth Avenue flow together. Up Broadway he turned,
and halted at a glittering café, where are gathered together nightly the choicest
products of the grape, the silkworm and the protoplasm.

Soapy had confidence in himself from the lowest button of his vest upward.
He was shaven, and his coat was decent and his neat black, ready-tied four-in-hand
had been presented to him by a lady missionary on Thanksgiving Day. If he could
reach a table in the restaurant unsuspected, success would be his. The portion of
him that would show above the table would raise no doubt in the waiter‘s mind. A
roasted mallard duck, thought Soapy, would be about the thing—with a bottle of
Chablis, and then Camembert, a demi-tasse and a cigar. One dollar for the cigar
would be enough. The total would not be so high as to call forth any supreme
manifestation of revenge from the café management; and yet the meat would leave
him filled and happy for the journey to his winter refuge.

But as Soapy set foot inside the restaurant door the head waiter‘s eye fell
upon his frayed trousers and decadent shoes. Strong and ready hands turned him
about and conveyed him in silence and haste to the sidewalk and averted the ignoble
fate of the menaced mallard.

Soapy turned off Broadway. It seemed that his route to the coveted island
was not to be an epicurean one. Some other way of entering limbo must be thought
of.

At a corner of Sixth Avenue electric lights and cunningly displayed wares

behind plate-glass made a shop window conspicuous. Soapy took a cobble-stone
and dashed it through the glass. People came running round the corner, a policeman
in the lead. Soapy stood still, with his hands in his pockets, and smiled at the sight
of brass buttons.

―Where‘s the man that done that?‖ inquired the officer excitedly.

21
 ―Don‘t you figure out that I might have had something to do with it?‖ said
Soapy, not without sarcasm, but friendly, as one greets good fortune.

The policeman‘s mind refused to accept Soapy even as a clue. Men who
smash windows do not remain to parley with the law‘s minions. They take to their
heels. The policeman saw a man halfway down the block running to catch a car.
With drawn club he joined in the pursuit. Soapy, with disgust in his heart, loafed
along, twice unsuccessful.

On the opposite side of the street was a restaurant of no great pretensions. It

catered to large appetites and modest purses. Its crockery and atmosphere were
thick; its soup and napery thin. Into this place Soapy took his accusive shoes and
tell-tale trousers without challenge. At a table he sat and consumed beefsteak, flap-
jacks, doughnuts, and pie. And then to the waiter he betrayed the fact that the
minutest coin and himself were strangers.

―Now, get busy and call a cop,‖ said Soapy. ―And don‘t keep a gentleman
waiting.‖

―No cop for youse,‖ said the waiter, with a voice like butter cakes and an eye
like the cherry in a Manhattan cocktail. ―Hey, Con!‖

Neatly upon his left ear on the callous pavement two waiters pitched Soapy.
He arose, joint by joint, as a carpenter‘s rule opens, and beat the dust from his
clothes. Arrest seemed but a rosy dream. The Island seemed very far away. A
policeman who stood before a drug store two doors away laughed and walked down
the street.

Five blocks Soapy travelled before his courage permitted him to woo capture
again. This time the opportunity presented what he fatuously termed to himself a
―cinch.‖ A young woman of a modest and pleasing guise was standing before a
show window gazing with sprightly interest at its display of shaving mugs and
inkstands, and two yards from the window a large policeman of severe demeanour
leaned against a water-plug.

It was Soapy‘s design to assume the rôle of the despicable and execrated
―masher.‖ The refined and elegant appearance of his victim and the contiguity of
the conscientious cop encouraged him to believe that he would soon feel the
pleasant official clutch upon his arm that would ensure his winter quarters of the
right little, tight little isle.

Soapy straightened the lady missionary‘s ready-made tie, dragged his

shrinking cuffs into the open, set his hat at a killing cant and sidled toward the
young women. He made eyes at her, was taken with sudden coughs and ―hems,‖
smiled, smirked, and went brazenly through the impudent and contemptible litany
of the ―masher.‖ With half an eye Soapy saw that the policeman was watching him
fixedly. The young woman moved away a few steps, and again bestowed her

22
absorbed attention upon the shaving mugs. Soapy followed, boldly stepping to her
side, raised his hat and said:

―Ah there, Bedelia! Don‘t you want to come and play in my yard?‖

The policeman was still looking. The persecuted young woman had but to
beckon a finger and Soapy would be practically en route for his insular haven.
Already he imagined he could feel the cosy warmth of the station-house. The young
woman faced him and, stretching out a hand, caught Soapy‘s coat sleeve.

―Sure, Mike,‖ she said joyfully, ―if you‘ll blow me to a pail of suds. I‘d have
spoke to you sooner, but the cop was watching.‖

With the young woman playing the clinging ivy to his oak Soapy walked
past the policeman overcome with gloom. He seemed doomed to liberty.

At the next corner he shook off his companion and ran. He halted in the
district where by night are found the lightest streets, hearts, vows, and librettos.
Women in furs and men in greatcoats moved gaily in the wintry air. A sudden fear
seized Soapy that some dreadful enchantment had rendered him immune to arrest.
The thought brought a little of panic upon it, and when he came upon another
policeman lounging grandly in front of a transplendent theatre he caught at the
immediate straw of ―disorderly conduct.‖

On the sidewalk Soapy began to yell drunken gibberish at the top of his
harsh voice. He danced, howled, raved, and otherwise disturbed the welkin.

The policeman twirled his club, turned his back to Soapy and remarked to a
citizen:

―‘Tis one of them Yale lads celebratin‘ the goose egg they give to the
Hartford College. Noisy; but no harm. We‘ve instructions to lave them be.‖

Disconsolate, Soapy ceased his unavailing racket. Would never a policeman

lay hands on him? In his fancy the Island seemed an unattainable Arcadia. He
buttoned his thin coat against the chilling wind.

In a cigar store he saw a well-dressed man lighting a cigar at a swinging

light. His silk umbrella he had set by the door on entering. Soapy stepped inside,
secured the umbrella and sauntered off with it slowly. The man at the cigar light
followed hastily.

―My umbrella,‖ he said sternly.

―Oh, is it?‖ sneered Soapy, adding insult to petit larceny. ―Well, why don‘t
you call a policeman? I took it. Your umbrella! Why don‘t you call a cop? There
stands one on the corner.‖

23
 The umbrella owner slowed his steps. Soapy did likewise, with a
presentiment that luck would run against him. The policeman looked at the two
curiously.

―Of course,‖ said the umbrella man—‖ that is—well, you know how these
mistakes occur—I—if it‘s your umbrella I hope you‘ll excuse me—I picked it up
this morning in a restaurant—If you recognize it as yours, why—I hope you‘ll—‖

―Of course it‘s mine,‖ said Soapy viciously.

The ex-umbrella man retreated. The policeman hurried to assist a tall blonde
in an opera cloak across the street in front of a street car that was approaching two
blocks away.

Soapy walked eastward through a street damaged by improvements. He

hurled the umbrella wrathfully into an excavation. He muttered against the men
who wear helmets and carry clubs. Because he wanted to fall into their clutches,
they seemed to regard him as a king who could do no wrong.

At length Soapy reached one of the avenues to the east where the glitter and
turmoil was but faint. He set his face down this toward Madison Square, for the
homing instinct survives even when the home is a park bench.

But on an unusually quiet corner Soapy came to a standstill. Here was an old
church, quaint and rambling and gabled. Through one violet-stained window a soft
light glowed, where, no doubt, the organist loitered over the keys, making sure of
his mastery of the coming Sabbath anthem. For there drifted out to Soapy‘s ears
sweet music that caught and held him transfixed against the convolutions of the iron
fence.

The moon was above, lustrous and serene; vehicles and pedestrains were
few; sparrows twittered sleepily in the eaves—for a little while the scene might
have been a country churchyard. And the anthem that the organist played cemented
Soapy to the iron fence, for he had known it well in the days when his life contained
such things as mothers and roses and ambitions and friends and immaculate
thoughts and collars.

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.

And also in a moment his heart responded thrillingly to this novel mood. An
instantaneous and strong impulse moved him to battle with his desperate fate. He
would pull himself out of the mire; he would make a man of himself again; he
would conquer the evil that had taken possession of him. There was time; he was
comparatively young yet; he would resurrect his old eager ambitions and pursue

24
them without faltering. Those solemn but sweet organ notes had set up a revolution
in him. To-morrow he would go into the roaring down-town district and find work.
A fur importer had once offered him a place as driver. He would find him to-
morrow and ask for the position. He would be somebody in the world. He would—

Soapy felt a hand laid on his arm. He looked quickly round into the broad
face of a policeman.

―What are you doin‘ here?‖ asked the officer.

―Nothin‘,‖ said Soapy.

―Then come along,‖ said the policeman.

―Three months on the Island,‖ said the Magistrate in the Police Court the
next morning.

25
2. Pictures for using in teaching biography of O.Henry

26
3. Pictures of the story’s events

27
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29
30
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32
4. Handout for students

THE COP AND THE ANTHEM

O.Henry (1862 – 1910)

I. Biography of O.Henry

O.Henry put his peculiar stamp upon the short story. An O.Henry story never fails of
plot, each detail being careful planed. But the surprise ending was the trick that O.Henry
made his special trademark. His use of conversation, often humorous or slangy and
sometimes exaggerated, is alive in its reporting and in revealing character.

O.Henry‘s real name was William Sydney Porter. Before setting down to newspaper
work and writing, he worked as a drugstore clerk, went to a Texas ranch for his health, and
became a teller in a bank in Austin, where he was charged with embezzlement. He protested
his innocence, but becoming panicky, he fled trial. His wife‘s illness caused him to return,
stand trial, and take the purnishment three years in a federal prison. There he wrote some of
his stories. From his own life he drew the material for his account of the everyday people, the
hard luck souls that he describes with a warmth of human understanding and sympathy.
O.Henry died on June 5th, 1910, in New York.

Some of his most famous stories are: ―The gift of Magi‖, ―The Ransom of Red
Chief‖, "A Retrieved Reformation", "The Cop and the Anthem"

II. Read the biography of O.Henry and answers the following questions

1. What makes O.Henry‘s story famous?

2. What can we often see in his short story?
3. Why did he take purishment three years in a federal prison?
4. Can you name some more stories of O.Henry that you know?

III. Read the following statements on LIFE and SOCIETY theme then do as teacher’s
instructions

LIFE:

G. Life is always beautiful and smooth.

H. Life is ironical with sudden events that surprise people disappointedly.
I. Life is good if you know how to control it.
J. You can have an excellent life if you have a lot of money.
K. Optimists have better life than pessimists.
L. Life is not bad, only people are bad.

33
 SOCIETY

F. Society is never fair to poor people.

G. People in society are always friendly to each other.
H. Government does have good policy to help people sustain their life.
I. Homeless and poor people means that our society is degenerating
J. We should neglect homeless and poor people because they have no contribution to
our society.

IV. Questions for group discussion

1. How many characters are there in the story? Who are they?
2. What does the phrase ―mansion of All Outdoors‖ refer to?
3. What does ―Jack Frost‘s card‖ mean?
4. How does Soapy think about the charity‘s donation?
5. How many attempts did Soapy did? What are they?
6. Does Soapy think his desire so simple and attainable? Is he right?
7. What are ironical expressions refers to Soapy‘s desire to get to the Island?
8. What kind of childhood did Soapy have?
9. What words did the author use to describe Soapy?
10. What expressions are used to refer to the police?

V. Check (√) the theme of the story

Social criticism that is the poor people are ignored by the government
and other people.

Homeless people want to get in the prison for winter refuge.

Life is unexpected.

The police always do not finish their tasks.

Life never gives bad people a chance for restart their life.

34
VI. Put those following pictures of the story’s events in right order by numbering.

VII. Questions

1. Is Soapy real in life? Why?

2. Is he educated or uneducated? Why?
3. Do you think prison is good for Soapy? Why?
4. Do you think after coming from the prison Soapy will continue his
restart life plan or he will remain live as a hobo like before?
5. Do you like this story? Why?
6. Which characters do you like best in the story? Why?
7. Do you like the story ending? Why?

VIII. Homework
Writing a brief summary of the story ―The Cop and the Anthem‖

35