摘 要

《警察与赞美诗》是小说家欧亨利的一部短篇作品，这部小说是一出悲喜剧，描绘了警察对违法犯罪的“包容”和对无辜者善意举动的惩罚等一系列社会不合理的现象。欧亨利在短篇小说创作中取得重要成就,他是美国著名小说家，短篇小说之父。他所创作的小说中, 大量展现幽默的语言功底, 善用讽刺的表达手法, 流露出对当时社会的改善愿望，欧亨利为美国短篇小说带来了新的面貌。《警察与赞美诗》是欧·亨利短篇小说的经典代表作，此文中幽默风趣的情节和滑稽而又讽刺的内涵使人难以忘怀。作者通过大量技巧性的写作特色,使用诙谐的语言形式对事件进行夸张描写,展现出底层劳动人民在荒诞的现实面前的弱小无助和生活难以为继的窘境及善恶颠倒的社会状况。本文中警察与赞美诗的两种不相关的事物表达作者内心真实愿望，用黑色幽默的写作方式对生活在困境中的人们表达同情以及对荒诞的社会予以批判讽刺。《警察与赞美诗》是一部又幽默又悲伤的短篇小说, 全文描写了一篇令人发笑的荒唐故事, 同时也反映了一出悲凉凄惨的社会现实。 作者以诙谐讽刺的写作技巧塑造了小说的整体特色。

关键词：主题 社会现实 写作特色 批判

1. Introduction

1.1 A basic introduction of the author

O. Henry is one of the greatest novelists of short story in the world. His unique writing style is famous for the zigzag plots and unexpected endings, which arouse many readers’ attention to him. O. Henry, who is an outstanding critical realistic writer in the 20th century in the United States, writes a lot of novels in his lifetime. Also, his short stories were crowned as the “Humorous Encyclopedia of American life”. (Gallegly, 1997: 2) His novels are interesting and significant and reflect the real situation of American society. His humorous, comedic and ironical writing techniques has lead him to an important position in the history of American literature, at the same time, exposing the miserable theme that the absurd society without humanity brings people spiritual agony. The humanity of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in O. Henry's novels contrasts with the bitterness of the life in the novel, giving readers spiritual comfort and inspiration. The age of his life coincided with the rapid development of capitalism in the United States. On the one hand, the high-speed operation of the economy did not bring spiritual pleasure to the people.On the other hand, the extreme gap between rich and poor has also accelerated the intensification of social conflicts. In this social environment, the number of people desperate for economic problems has increased sharply, crime rates have risen greatly, people's souls have gradually become distorted, and humanity has become more complex. As a result, social conflicts have also been intensifying.

1.2 A brief introduction of the novel

The story describes a New York tramp, Soapy, who manages to let himself be arrested in prison in order to acquire some place to accommodate himself before the coming winter. Thus he always intended to commit crimes, such as eating without paying, breaking down the display window, taking possession of others’ financial relief, harassing women, breaching the peace and etc. He feels a great disappointment

after six intended committing without getting expected result. In consequence, he is deeply moved by tender and leisure Anthem droned from a church. The god inspires him to give up bad habits and behaviors, as well as refresh his following lifetime. However, it is at this moment that Soapy is arrested by policemen for no reason.

The development of the storyline in The Cop and the Anthem is not twisted. Although the plainness of a small person is the main line of the novel, the reader does not feel boring. The deep meaning of the author's intention to express is thought-provoking, and some plots are also ridiculous. Through an easy way, the author satirizes the moral deterioration and black and white inversion in capitalist society. The people in the bottom of society are struggling to live in such a society.

1. Literature Review

The Cop and the Anthem has drawn a lot of attentions from many researchers and ordinary readers after its publication to today. It was published in 1904 and has been read and analyzed by researchers from many different kinds of angles.

2.1 Previous study on The Cop and the Anthem

A thesis “Writing Techniques Used in O.Henry’s Novels” which is delivered by Ma, Jun (2004) mainly discusses the various kinds of rhetoric devices adopted in The Cop and the Anthem. It points out that Black Humor is applied well to express irony with meaningfulness. The art of irony is the most frequent and successful writing technique used by the writer in the Cop and the Anthem. Through the ironic depiction of plots and characters, the readers are more deeply impressed by the absurdity of the real society, and thus achieve a profound criticism. Black humor, zigzag plots and unexpected ending are frequently used in O. Henry’s writings. Comparison, exaggeration, metaphor, personification and litotes are often applied in his novel to reach the effects of humor. For example, in the plot that Soapy ate beef and pie in a restaurant without paying, desiring of being arrested by this reason but beat by waiters. It describes as follows:

“In a moment Soapy found himself lying up on his left ear on the pavement. He arose with difficulty, and beat the dusk from his clothes.” (Harris, 1990: 25). Here, the author showed the readers the pitiful Soapy in some light words, arising readers’ sympathy to this ordinary character by his miserable struggle. The words of O. Henry seem to be relaxing and humorous, but embodies with tragic situations. For example, “for years the hospitable Blackwell prison had been his winter refuge.” (Harris, 1990: 10)

Another research perspective is also adopted to interpret this classic novel. The thesis “Theme Analysis on the Cop and the Anthem”, written by Chen, Yan (2012), is one of the typical examples of this. The author regards that through the irony of plots and characters, the author O. Henry fully demonstrated the ridiculousness of the real

society in front of readers, and made a spicy satire on them. Here the humor is different from purpose of fun instead of revealing author’s emotional tendency and attitudes to characters. It is clearly shown that the author doesn’t directly write down his tendency and then lets humorous story itself to speak. Through this kind of writing style, actually, the author can be objective and calm, hiding real emotion into the story, more easily appeals to common thoughts and emotion with readers. At first, the story is plain that Soapy’s life has experienced much misery, suddenly, the plot quickly changed to an unexpected and reasonable ending. The readers have fun while showing sympathy for Soapy’s tragic undergoing. When Soapy did bad things and wished to be arrested, the policemen didn’t punish him and even showed their generosity, which are humorous plots but also exposed ironic reality in the United States. Its humorous writing style has outlined the miserable conditions of bottom-level labor people and the helplessness in life of a homeless tramp. Through the winding plots, it greatly increases the tragic atmosphere for the main character.

Yu, Qi (2008) believed that Soapy's behavior should be punished by the law from a legal point of view, but his behavior is forced by life, caused by the coercion of the dark society. Such personal tragedies should not be repeated in others. What we should do is not just to hold individuals responsibilities, but to avoid severer social tragedies, and to solve the problem by improving the law and rebuilding social morality.

1. A Critical Analysis of the Characters

3.1 Background of writing

3.1.1 Situation of writer