IV. Linguistic presentation of the theme

1. Lexical features and the according effects

a. Polysemy

“Hand” occurs six times in the story, but with different semantic meanings and in different parts of speech. By comprehending the polysemy word “hand”, readers can sense the strong sarcastic atmosphere as well as appreciate O. Henry’s ironical writing sytyle.

(1) …and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand.

(2) At the corners of four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind,…

(3) If not in coin you must pay in humiliation of spirit for every benefit received at the hands of philanthropy.

(4) 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.

(5) Would never a policeman lay hands on him?

(6) Soapy felt a hand laid on his arm.

In Sentence 1, the author uses the collocation “at hand” to describe winter’s coming as if Soapy can reach the cold by hand at any moment, creating a sense of urgency. In Sentence 2, “hand” is used as a verb, meaning “pass”. In Sentence 3, “hand” carries the meaning itself as a noun. The phrase “at the hands of sb.” tells readers that the poor could receive the gift from the charity for free. However Soapy did not accept the government’s donation. As a result, on the one hand, Soapy’s characteristic is foregrounded. It seems Soapy was proud and scorned the provisions for the reason that he chose to spend the winter in jail instead of accepting the benefit from charity even though he was a tramp with nothing and the chilly winter was just around the corner. On the other hand, it implies that the conditions for the poor to receive any benefit from charity were very cruel and strict, and the applicant’s human right was invaded. Thus it is understandable for Soapy to refuse the gifts of charity and directly reflects the loss of humanity of the so-called capitalist democratic society. In Sentence 4, a set phrase “hand sb. over to” is used in a passive voice to describe Soapy’s state of mind explicitly. It seems that he was in a passive position without any alternative choice, eager to be arrested by the policeman so that he could spend the winter in jail. The prison seemed to be a good place. Contrary to Sentence 4, in Sentence 5, the phrase “lay hands on sb.” is used in an active voice which further manifests Soapy’s desire to be put into prison, enhancing Soapy’s passive position and the ironic effect. Nevertheless, at the end of the story, when he decided to be a new man, “Soapy felt a hand laid on his arm”. In this sentence, the past participle “laid” collocated with “hand” even further implies Soapy was in a passive position without alternative choice. When Soapy wanted to be arrested, no policeman did so. It seemed a dream far away for him to be sent to prison. Yet just when he was moved by an anthem and determined to start a new life he was captured by a policeman and tried for three months captivity in prison. By comprehending these words, readers can strongly sense the ironic atmosphere and an absurd society appears in front of the readers vividly.

b. Big words

In Paragraph 3& 4, the author used a number of big words deliberately to describe Soapy’s wish, forming a sharp contrast to Soapy’s humble and despaired situation. Hence O. Henry’s humorous, and ironical writing style was created. Meanwhile, readers’ sympathy for Soapy was evoked.

“Soapy's mind became cognisant 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 there were no considerations of Mediterranean cruises, of soporific Southern skies drifting in the Vesuvian Bay. Three months on the Island was what his soul craved.”

“Big words, if used in ordinary conversation, would have a pretentious or jocular ring (Tang Ying & Qu Jing 2004:48). Soay was a hopeless and tragic tramp. The big words are inconsistent with Soapy’s humble status. However, it is the discord register that creates the ironic effect filled between the sentences.

c. Collocation deviation

“Decadent” is usually used to describe life style or ideology. However, the author used it to describe Soapy’s broken shoes, exaggerating the broken state to a laughable degree. Then the author again described the broken shoes and trousers with his humorous writing style by using the two adjectives “accusive” & “telltale”. Consequently, Soapy’s poverty and a capitalist society with a great wealth gap appear to readers vividly..

d. Verbs

The author used many verbs to describe the heroes’ actions clearly and vividly, enhancing the sarcastic atmosphere and revealing an absurd society.

First, most verbs involving Soapy’s material process are transitive verbs. That means, for the most part, what Soapy did had a clear goal. These target goals can be classified into two classes:

I. Others’ possessions: cobblestone, table, beefsteak, flapjacks, doughnuts & pie, umbrella. These target objects show that Soapy was quite peeved and eager to be put in prison so he tried to irritate others on end.

II. His own possessions: the lady missionary’s ready-made tie, his striking cuffs, eyes, his hat, his thin coat, foot. Soapy did all these only in the hope of insult his own image. It seems that there was no better place than a prison to spend the winter. Readers can further sense the essence of the so-called capitalist democracy.

However, the verbs describing Soapy’s gestures and movements are mainly intransitive verbs: turned, halted, sat, walked, stood… These intransitive verbs manifest that constant failure could not stop Soapy. On the contrary, he kept on to find new victims .

Some other intransitive verbs involves Soapy’s performance, eg. yell, danced, howled, raved. These verbs all reflects Soapy’s deliberately irritated the people and the policeman so that he could be captured.

In summary, either the transitive verbs or the intransitive verbs in relation to Soapy transfer the information to the reader that whatever Soapy did aimed at being arrested eagerly, which further reveals an absurd capitalist society, strengthening the ironic effect

Second, the verbs in relation to the policeman involve the mental process: saw, looking, looked at…. It seems that the policeman was always a looker-on. He seemed to be not only neglect of duty but also a full fool. He turned a blind eye to the real troublemaker, though he lounged everywhere and saw the evil things that Soapy did. Nevertheless, he was not hesitating to capture an innocent person. From the image of this policeman readers can see through the essence of the policeman who is said to maintain the civilization of the society as well as the essence of the so-called democracy in the capitalist society. This further reveals the society was an absurd human world without human nature.

2. Syntactic features and the according effects

a. Rhetorical questions

(7) "Don't you figure out that I might have had something to do with it?"

(8) "Ah there, Bedelia! Don't you want to come and play in my yard?"

(9) "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."

The above negative rhetorical questions express the definite meaning, reflecting Soapy’s strong desire to be arrested. However, the answers are unexpected to the questioners. In addition, Soapy used “policeman” and “cop” to refer to the same person. “Cop” is a negative word. With the policeman standing on the corner, Soapy turned to “call a cop” again in the hope of the policeman arresting him in jail. Soapy’s desire was again outstanding and further reveals the fact that the prison became a good place while the hell turned to be a heaven in the capitalist society and thus enhanced the story’s ironic significance greatly.

b. Paralledism

(10) When wild geese honk high of nights,

(11) and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands,

(12) and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand.

Three parallel constructions are coordinated at the beginning of the story, enhancing the rhyme, as if winter was just around the corner. Thus, at the beginning of the story, the readers’ emotion, particularly the readers’ sympathy for Soapy was evoked, to pave the way for Soapy’s desire to find lodging in prison and so doing a series of evil things.

c. Repetition

(13) On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily.

(14) and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park,

(15) And therefore he moved uneasily on his bench.

At the very beginning of the story, the author tells the reader that “On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily”. Then, “moved uneasily” is repeated three times in the first and the third paragraphs to emphasise Soapy’s poor situation, evoking readers’ sympathy for Soapy.

“Move” is an ambiguous word, creating the space for imagination. We see that the bench in the park was Soapy’s unique home before winter; he could do whatever he wanted conveniently. Yet when winter came he felt uneasy on his bench. It is the ambiguity word “move” that describes Soapy’s situation of distress at “home” because of the cold weather’s coming. Therefore, he left his bench and tried to find a new “home”. This is a severe satire to the so-called happiness, freedom and democracy of the capitalized society. We may suppose if Soapy was not too poor to own a house he might not have tried to break the law to find prison as his home, which is an accusation of the society.

Besides, at the last part of the story, “he would…” was repeated 8 times. Based on the concordance of the repetition, readers may sense Soapy’ strong determination to make a man of himself. This conversely strengthens the ironic implication of the story, especially on the last repetition “he would…” which shows that Soapy was captured while lost in thought without doing anything evil. Hence, an absurd society without human nature significantly appears in front of readers. Meanwhile, we can not deny O. Henry was a master of surprise endings.

d. Tense deviation

This story is about a past story. As is expected, the author should use the past simple tense to tell the story. In fact, the author did so in most part of the story. However, at the beginning of the story, tense was changed to the present simple tense from the past simple tense:

When wild geese 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.

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.

The present simple tense used here implies that such kind of situation will never be changed and that the poor will suffer forever. Therefore, it mocks the so-called democracy freedom and happiness.

But to one of Soapy's 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 Caesar 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.

Here the present simple tense brings the readers to the world of Soapy, creating the impression that they were living in the same society with Soapy. Consequently, readers feel sympathy for Soapy and resentment against the so-called capitalist society.

3. Phonological features and the according effects

a. Alliteration

When wild geese 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.

In the first paragraph, the author uses a number of alliteration [w]. These repeated use of alliterations corresponded with each other, closely combined and forming a consonant sound chain. It seems as if readers can feel the chilly winter. The constant occurrences of the sound [w] seem to be connected with readers’ sense of hearing. It seems that readers can hear the sounds of the wind and the footsteps of winter were getting nearer and nearer.

b. Vowels’ contrast

(16) and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park

(17) Women in furs and men in great coat moved gaily in the wintry air.

Sentence 16 contrasts sharply with Sentence 17, particularly when “uneasily” and “gaily” carry the same rhyme “-ly” but with nearly opposite meanings. Although quite a distance exists between the two sentences, they interact with each other. Owing to the repetition of “uneasily”in the first three paragraphs, the reader has been impressed by Soapy’s homeless situation. Therefore, when the reader reads through“gaily”,he will think of “uneasily” naturally. The vowels in “uneasily” are all monophthongs which do not sound loud prominently, while in “gaily”, the vowel [ei] sounds loud and long, attracting readers’ attention. With a comparison between the salient different sounds, the author reveals the society’s significant inequality between the poor and the rich.

C. vowels’ repetition

(18) 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.

There are many words carrying vowels [u:] or [i:] in the above sentence. The repetition of the sounds is in stark contrast to the quiet moon night and soft anthem, implying that the anthem had purified the soul of Soapy, bringing a sudden and wonderful change in his soul, and eased the tempo of the plot, serving as a foil to the unexpected final ending.

4. Semantic features/figures of speech and the according effects

a. simile

(19) It seemed that his route to the coveted island was not to be an epicurean one.

(20) Arrest seemed but a rosy dream. The Island seemed very far away.

(21) He seemed doomed to liberty.

(22) A sudden fear seized Soapy that some dreadful enchantment had rendered him immune to arrest.

(23) In his fancy the Island seemed an unattainable Arcadia

This group of sentences forms a sentence pattern: simile, creating a strong irony effect that it seems to be a good dream far away for Soapy to be sent to prison. This conversely mocks the absurd society.

b. Allusion

（24）Soapy had confidence in himself from the lowest button of his vest upward.

（25）Soapy stood still, with his hands in his pockets, and smiled at the sight of brass buttons.

In Sentence 24, “button” and “vest” are concrete nouns. However, in Sentence 25, “brass button” refers to the policeman. By using the buttons of the policeman’s uniform to refer to a person, the author creates the atmosphere of irony and humor.

5. Graphological features and the according effects

Most graphs follow the norm in the story. However, there are some graphological deviations. For example, the initial letters of “North Wind, All Outdoors” are all in capital. The author uses the graphological deviations to emphasize on the wintry weather and Soapy’s homelessness, attracting the reader’s attention to Soapy’s poverty and evoke the reader’s compassion on Soapy. As a result, an unequal society is revealed.

VI. Conclusion

This paper tries to appreciate literary work from linguistic perspective. After the study of the short story “The Cop and the Anthem”, not only can we appreciate the author’s writing techniques from linguistic perspective, but we are also provided with a motivation for reading and raising language awareness and enhancing linguistic and stylistic and literary competence. Furthermore, we can use literature as a way of increasing our knowledge of English as well as to enjoy literature as to enjoy literature in English in its own right.”(Tribble/Jones 1990:78, cited in Yang Jianmei)

There are still some limitations in this paper because of my limited capacity and knowledge. Any suggestion or criticism is welcome. Anyhow, I should thank Professor Zhang Huahong for his kind and passionate teaching.

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 1379