1.3 The Cop and the Anthem

 

1.3 The Cop and the Anthem

The title of the text:

 

The title does not give any clear idea of the content. Cop and Anthem are just nouns. The word ‘Cop’ stands for a policeman and ‘Anthem’ for a religious song or a prayer mostly sung in a church. We can just imagine that the text is related to the police and the religious song. If we go through the text, we will get the clear idea about the text.

 

ICE BREAKERS

1) Suppose you have gone to a place where the winter season is very severe, suggest the ways in which you would protect yourself in the cold climate.

Answer:  Ways to protect from cold climate:

 

a) To wear woolen clothes. 

b) To do exercise and keep body warm     

c) To sit near bonfire.           

d) To drink hot drinks and soups.

e) To use room heaters

f) To take steam bath

g) To stay inside the closed room

 

2) When you see a cop approaching, you feel either ‘relieved’ or ‘scared’. Give the situations when you felt ‘relieved’ or ‘scared’.

Answer:

a) I felt relieved seeing the cop approaching:

i) When I was walking alone in a dark street.

ii) When I saw a thief stealing my friends bag.

iii) When I was attacked by anti – social elements.

iv) When I missed the correct road.

 

b) I felt scared seeing the cop approaching:

i) When I was riding a bike without a valid driving license.

ii) When I was driving a car on the wrong side.

iii) When I broke the red signal at the crossing.

iv) When I was carrying two friends on a motorcycle.

 

3) Write some of the motivating things that can change a person's life. 

Answer:

The motivating things that can change a person's life:

a) Listening to an inspiring speech

b) Attending career development and inspirational seminars.

c) Reading success stories of eminent persons

d) Participating extra-curricular activities in the college

e) Seeing the films having inspirational themes.

f) Participating in social work

g) Helping the weaker sections of the society.

h) Becoming a creative participant of the organizations working for the well-being of others.

i) Watching inspirational videos on social media.

 

Synopsis of the text:

Soapy wanted to go in jail to live idle life. He tried to break law but his attempts were failed. He was not caught by the Cop. He came near the church yard. He heard a musical note of an anthem. Hearing it he remembered his past wonderful days. It brought a sudden and worth change in his soul. He decided to fight and change his life. He also decided to find work. While Soapy was daydreaming, a policeman taped him on the shoulder and asked what he was doing. He was arrested for loitering and the following day sentenced to three months in Blackwell's Island (jail). 

 

New words and meanings:

Asphalt – gravel, grit, small granules of stone used in road development.

Vest – sleeveless shirt, coat, jacket, banyan 

Shaven – trimmed the beard, done shaving

Trim – neat, tidy, orderly 

Bow – a knot used for to a tie (tie-knot)

Thanksgiving Day – the fourth Thursday of November which is marked by religious observance and dinner.

Roasted – baked, cooked, heated

Mallard duck – a duck mostly used as food in western part of the world

Revenge – avenge, retaliation

Filled – satisfied, fulfilled, content

Winter Island – Here it means jail

Tattered – torn, rags, rugged, worn-out

Decadent – degraded, gone bad

Avert – stop, turn away, ward-off

Ignoble – dishonorable, shameful, disgraceful, insulting 

Menaced – forbidden, threatened 

Coveted – highly desirable

Coveted island – here, the jail

Limbo – dividing line, midpoint here, boarder between heaven and hell

Devise – set up, plan, formulate 

Cunningly – artfully, craftily 

Brass buttons – a policeman, a cop

 

Brainstorming Activities

(A1) (i) Find out the different ways in which Soapy tried to get arrested. 

(a) Soapy tried to enter a luxurious cafe.

(b) Soapy took a stone and dashed it through the glass of shop window. (c) Soapy ate meal in a common restaurant and declared that he had no money to pay the bill.                      

(d) Soapy yelled like a drunken person and made noise on public place.

(e) Soapy grabbed the umbrella of one person and asked him to call the police.                        

 

(ii) Describe the atmosphere when Soapy reached near the Church.

(a) A soft light glowed through the violet-stained window.

(b) It was a quiet corner with an old church, quaint, rambling and gabled.

(c) The moon was above, full and radiant creating brightness.     

(d) Sparrows twittered sleepily in the eaves in the country churchyard             

(A2) (i) Read the story and match the incidents given in Column A with the consequences given in Column B.

 

Column A	Column B
(1) Soapy tried to enter a cafe.	Strong and ready hands of the head waiter turned him around.
(2) Soapy broke a glass window.	The cop ran after another man.
(3) Two waiters pitched Soapy on the callous pavement.	He stood up slowly beating the dust from his clothes.
(4) Soapy heard the anthem being played in the Church.	Suddenly a wonderful change came in his heart.
(5) Cop arrests Soapy for hanging around.	Dream of turning around in life was shattered.

 

(ii) Give reasons and complete the following:

(a) Soapy had confidence in himself because - The portion of him that would show above the table was neat. He was shaven. His appearance would raise no doubt in the waiter’s mind.  

(b) The head waiter of the luxurious cafe did not allow Soapy to enter because – when Soapy set foot inside the restaurant door, the head-waiter’s eye fell upon his tattered trousers and decadent shoes.

(c)The cop did not arrest Soapy for breaking the glass window because – according the cop men who smash windows do not remain to chat with the police. They run away from the place.

(d) The cop did not arrest Soapy for shouting and dancing because – he considered Soapy as the young person coming from a party at the Hartford College. The police had the instructions to neglect these young persons. 

 

(iii) Pick out the lines from the text which show that:

(a) Soapy wants to enter the cafe for two reasons.

Answer: 

i) The cafe catered to large appetites and modest purses.

ii) Now, get busy and call a cop”, said Soapy. “And don’t keep a gentleman waiting.” Soapy wanted to enter the jail.

 

(b) Soapy was afraid that he won't be able to enter the prison.

Answer: Soapy was seized with a sudden fear that some dreadful enchantment had rendered him immune to arrest.

 

(c) Soapy was not caught by the cop for throwing stones at the glass.

Answer: The policeman refused to accept Soapy even as a clue.

 

(d) Soapy actually did not want the umbrella.

Answer: He hurled the umbrella angrily into an excavation.

 

(e) Listening to the anthem, Soapy remembered his good old days.

Answer: 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.

 

(iv) ‘He would make a man of himself again’ – The word ‘man’ in the sentence means  

Answer: A working person living worthy and respectable life.

 

(v)Soapy’s earlier life was much different from his present life. Complete the table to show this contrast. 

 

Answer:

Earlier life	Present life
(a) Contained friends and roses	(a) Unworthy desires
(b) Love of family	(b) Dead hopes
(c) Ambitions and good clothes	(c) Wrecked faculties
(d) Pure and flawless thoughts	(d) Valueless motives

 

(vi) After listening to the sweet and solemn organ notes, Soapy decides to:

(a) bring back his old eager ambitions and pursue them without losing confidence and determination.

(b) go into the noisy downtown district and find work.

 

 (A3) Vocabulary

(i) O’Henry has used different words to indicate prison where Soapy wants to reach. Make a list of those words.

Answer: 

1) Winter island

2) Coveted island

3) Limbo

4) Unattainable Arcadia

5) Island

 

(ii) Find out the words used for the 'degraded state of Soapy'.

Answer: 

1)The pit into which he had tumble

2)Unworthy desires 

3)Dead hopes 

4)Wrecked faculties

5)Base motives that made up his existence

 

(iii) The specific meaning of word 'anthem' in the content of the story is.......

Answer:

1) A religious instrumental song or a prayer played by the organist in a church for the celebration of coming Sabbath.

2) An influential musical note played by the organist to inspire an idle person to become a worthy person.

 

(A4) Language Study

(i) Convert the following sentences into negative without changing their meanings.

(a) The policeman refused to accept Soapy even as a clue.

Ans. The policeman didn't accept Soapy even as a clue.

(b) Soapy drifted along twice unsuccessful.

Ans. Soapy drifted along twice with no success.

Ans. Soapy drifted along twice but wasn't successful. 

Ans. Soapy drifted along twice but he didn’t succeed.

(c) Soapy stopped his unavailing racket.

Ans. Soapy didn't continue his unavailing racket.

(d) The island seemed very far away.

Ans. The island did not seem close by.

Ans. The island didn't seem very close.

(e) The island seemed an unattainable Arcadia.

Ans. The island seemed like an Arcadia which could not be attained.

Ans. The island did not seem attainable in Arcadia. 

 

(ii) Convert the following sentences into affirmative without changing their meanings.

(a) Men who smash windows do not remain to chat with the police.

Ans. Men who smash windows hardly remain to chat with the police.

Ans. Men who smash windows avoid to chat with the police.

Ans. Men who smash windows fail to remain to chat with the police.

Ans. Men who smash windows run away instead of chatting with the police.

 

(b) Why don’t you call a cop?

Ans. Why do you hesitate to call a cop?

Ans. You should call a cop.

 

(c) On the opposite side of the street was a restaurant of no great pretensions.

Ans. On the opposite side of the street was a restaurant without any great pretensions.

Ans. On the opposite side of the street was restaurant with a very low pretentious.

 

(d) Noisy; but no harm.

Ans. Noisy; but harmless.

 

(e) They seemed to regard him as a King who could do no wrong.

Ans. They seemed to regard him as a king who could hardly do any wrong.

Ans. They seemed to regard him as a King who could do only right.

Ans. They seemed to regard him as a king who was unable to do any wrong.