Soapy’ s way of defending his dignity

Appreciation of The Cop and the Anthem

Once we look at the title, we may have a picture that in a stable country, the people, both physical or mental, led a stable life under the guard of the cop and the enlightenment of the anthem. However, inversely, things happen beyond our imagination.

The short story's narrative is set in an unstated day in late fall. Soapy lingered on the lounge by the street with people going and by, thinking how to suffer from the cold winter in the hustle and bustle of the indifferent city. With the spirit of arrogance, Soapy racked his brain trying to find the shelter during the winter as well as defending his dignity. .Accordingly, the self-dignity of Soapy becomes the clue of this story. Then, it comes the question what is dignity? Dignity means the self- judgment after the contrast to the other people. In the story, there is discrimination between Soapy and others. For example, a luxury shop that Soapy once vandalized as well as the noble woman the cop curried favor by helping her cross the road. There are the rising distinctions between various rank people. In the sake for protecting his dignity as one of the lower classes, though with some indecent behaves, Soapy came up with the odd idea.

Lingering on the lounge with newspapers covering his body, Soapy was thinking of the ways that can help him suffer from the frozen winter as well as protect his dignity. The first idea that came to Soap’s mind is the charity. It can provide the homeless people as Soapy with the shelter to overcome the winter. Though Soapy in all likelihood could get the chance of the charity, he refused to concede that he is one of the disadvantage groups. It is his way to protect his dignity. Namely, though the charity can provide the accommodation as well as the food to help the homeless suffer from the frozen winter, Soapy did not quite in sympathy of this kind of solution, for Soapy can feel the discrimination come from the others, thus he confuse to stay this winter in the shelter of the charity. As a homeless people, he dislikes the process of the charity’s judgment on the grounds that his self-dignity refused to accept other’ s giving alms. In his point of view, you finally concede that you are inferior to the other people if you accept the help of charity. In the light of this statement, the legislation was more merciful than the charity as to Soapy.

The jail is the ideal place for Soapy to suffer from the coming winter. However, the premise of being put into the poison is not easy for Soapy to accomplish. Soapy' s ploys include swindling a 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.

However, all of these attempts are quickly exposed as failures. The upper-class restaurant looks at Soapy's threadbare clothes and refuses to serve him. A police officer responds to the broken window but decides to pursue an innocent bystander. The diner refuses to arrest Soapy and instead has two servers throw Soapy out onto a concrete pavement. Soapy's failures led to 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 a Yale student celebrating a victory over "Hartford College" in football. Finally, the victim of the umbrella theft relinquishes the item without a struggle.1

Due to all these events, Soapy reflected of his goal of getting arrested and imprisoned. With the autumn sun gone and night having fallen, Soapy lingered by a small Christian church, suddenly, he immersed himself into the anthem of the church. By the enlightenment of the anthem, Soapy changed his mind of being arrested and imprisoned to the jail. On the contrary, he decided to inverse his fate by his own effort. The anthem served as the match that lights the powder of Soapy’ s heart and waked up his latent possibility. In any cases, the dignity is built up by one’s own endeavor, neither charity nor prison but yourself. He has just built up his blueprint of his tomorrow life. However, the cop came to him and asked him: “What are you doing here?”, by the answer of : “Nothing.”, Soapy was arrested and was sentenced to the prison for three months just as his initial intention.

With the extraordinary ending in satire tone, we can imagine that it will be not easy for Soapy to protect his dignity. During the way Soapy defended his self-dignity as a homeless people, first intending to be arrested and then changing his mind of building his dignity by his own effort, it serves as a reflection of the background of his society. There are rising distinctions between the various classes, rich and poor, eventually lead to the discrimination towards the lower classes. Combined with determinism as well as discrimination, Soapy’ s way of defending his self-dignity seems being trapped into the dead end. However, what we should keep in mind is that we can not abandon our dignity any more than we can abandon the air that we breath.

 

第二篇：警察与赞美诗教案2

18、警察与赞美诗

教学目标：

(一)分析小说曲折、巧妙的情节安排，欣赏“欧?亨利手法”的艺术特色。

(二)品味小说幽默、辛辣的语言风格，理解语言运用和题材、主题的内在关系。

(三)了解美国社会中下层人民的生活贫困和精神痛苦，认识其社会道德、法律是非混淆、善恶颠倒的虚伪本质。

教学重点：

目标(一)、(二)

教学过程：

一、导入：

有一部电视连续剧叫《北京人在纽约》，电视剧开头有这么一段话：“如果你爱他，那么就把他送到纽约，因为那里是天堂；如果你恨他，那么也把他送到纽约，因为那里是地狱。”这句话深刻地反映了纽约甚至是美国社会的那种巨大的贫富差距，对于有钱的人来说，那里是淘金的天堂，而对于穷人而言，那里则是人间的地狱。今天我们来学习《警察与赞美诗》来进一步地了解美国的社会现实。

二、作者介绍：

作者欧亨利，出生于美国南部的一个乡镇医师家庭，从小受教育少，一生经历曲折而丰富，是个多产的小说家。与法国的莫泊桑《羊脂球》、俄国的契诃夫《套中人》、并称为“欧美短篇小说三大家”。他的小说常常通过合乎情理的艺术夸张，出乎意料的故事结局，收到“含泪的笑”的艺术效果。被人称为“欧?亨利笔法”。代表作有《麦琪的礼物》《警察与赞美诗》《最后一片叶子》等。

三、分析小说的情节结构

小说的三大要素是人物，环境和情节。我们很喜欢看小说主要是被其中的曲折的情节所吸引。小说的情节一般分为开端、发展、高潮和结局。那么这篇小说的开端、发展、高潮和结局各是什么？请同学阅读小说，来分一下。

明确：学生议论、思考并回答：

1、故事开端(第1-5自然段：苏比躺在麦迪生广场他那条长凳上——自有一位识相的推事来料理)，苏比为逃脱严冬的威胁，筹划着怎样才能被捕入狱。

2、发展(第6-38自然段：苏比离开长凳——而我们偏偏认为他是个永远不会犯错误的国王)，苏比屡次惹是生非，都没有达到被捕入狱的目的。

3、故事高潮(第39-47自然段：最后，苏比来到通往东区的一条马路上——“那你跟我来。”警察说)。苏比伫立于教堂外良心发现，决心重新做人时，突然被捕。

4、故事结局(第48自然段)，苏比被判入狱三个月。

四、分析开端部分

1、朗读课文的第一二，思考这两段是属于什么描写？作用是什么？

明确：这两段是环境描写。

“每当雁群在夜空引亢高鸣，每当没有海豹皮大衣的女人跟丈夫亲热起来，每当苏比躺在街心公园长凳上辗转反侧，这时候，你就知道冬天迫在眉睫了。”

这句话用了排比的修辞手法，描写了当时的自然环境，为小说的发展奠定了基础。

2、这里的环境描写点明了小说发生的季节是哪一个季节？

明确：

句中写到了“雁群”“高鸣”南飞，暗示了季节——冬天将近。

3、那为什么要写“海豹皮大衣”的女人？还写了苏比在长凳上“辗转反侧”，这两者有什么关系？

明确：“海豹皮大衣”反衬苏比生活的窘迫，“长凳上辗转反侧”点明了主人公生活的贫困与无奈，这些描写不仅为主人公的出场渲染了凄清寒冷的自然环境，还为小说的情节发展提供了坚实的基础，揭示下文苏比6次为非作歹的原因，展示了美国社会下层人民的痛苦生活，显示了社会巨大的贫富差距。所以这句话不仅是点明季节和环境也点明了小说的社会环境。

4、那么苏比在冬季来临之际有什么打算呢？

明确：希望能被警察抓住，能到监狱里过冬。

5、这个想法正常吗？他为什么会产生这个想法？

明确：这个想法是相当荒谬的，是反常的。分析：小说的主人公苏比在冬季来临之际，生活无着，为了度过寒冷的冬季，他竟然“衷心企求的仅仅是去岛上度过三个月”，并认为“人生的乐趣莫过于此”。人们避之唯恐不及的监狱在苏比看来竟是“小安乐窝”、“安乐岛”，“他想象中已经感到了巡捕房的舒适和温暖”。主人公的这种心理是十分反常的。

6、为什么苏比不愿去慈善机构接受救济，而宁可去监狱过冬呢？

明确：“真是凡事有利必有弊，要睡慈善单位的床铺，先得让人押去洗一个澡；要吃他一块面包，还得先一五一十交代个人的历史。”这句话撕开了慈善机构虚伪的面纱，表面上的施舍，附带的是对人性的践踏，也正是对所谓的自由和平等的有力驳斥，无情的批判。苏比虽然贫穷，但他严守着精神上的尊严，一直维护着他灵魂上的高傲，为了“床铺”“面包”而出卖个人的历史，和私事，他是不会去做的。

五、分析发展部分

1、为了实现自己的想法，苏比做了哪些努力？结果怎么样？

明确：

苏比的行为 愿望或打算 结果

1．走进豪华饭店 想白吃之后被关监狱 因裤子破被推到人行道上

2．用石头砸橱窗 想借此被捕 警察认为他不是肇事者

3．饱餐一顿不给钱 想借此被捕 侍者没喊警察把他推到人行道上。

4．扮演一个小流氓 想借调戏年轻女子被捕 反被女子纠缠，他撒腿走开

5．在剧院门口大吵大闹 想以“扰乱罪”被捕 警察没有理睬

6．苏比跨进烟店拿伞 要被偷者喊警察 捡者把伞让给了他

2、这些情节，我们可以发现有许多的巧合致使苏比的入狱计划不能实现，怎样理解这些巧合？

明确：

小说情节上安排了许多巧合既推动了情节的发展，又充分地表现了小说的主题。具体可从以下几方面来理解：

首先，苏比一次次地努力都因一次次的巧合而没有能实现“理想”，为了最终实现到布克来威尔岛过冬的愿望，他只能一次又一次地“犯罪”，作者正是通过巧合为苏比多次“犯罪”提供了可能，从而推动了情节的发展，但他一次又一次地被“宽恕”了，而这一次次的反常的结局，则更充分地表现了资本主义社会是非混淆、黑白颠倒的本质。 其次，作者通过一次次的“偶然”，巧妙地、全方位地展示了美国社会的现状：他作恶的对象，“正巧”也是些心术不正的人：在街上见机缠住男人的女子，捡了别人的雨伞就据为己有的买烟者。两家饭店都是直接用拳头教训吃白食的苏比，这反映了美国社会世风日下、弱肉强食、势力至上，没有严格的法治可言。苏比用石头砸商店的橱窗，反而没被逮捕，原因仅仅是他“留下来了”；他在街上醉鬼似的大吵大闹，“刚好”被认为是“耶鲁的小伙子在庆祝胜利”，这种是非不分，黑白颠倒，也反映了美国的社会现状。

六、分析高潮和结局部分

1、在苏比听到赞美诗，心灵发生转变时，作者也用了景物描写，请找出来，并说说它的作用。

明确：“明月悬在中天，光辉、静穆；车辆与行人都很稀少；檐下的冻雀睡梦中啁啾了几声——这境界一时之间使人想起乡村教堂边上的墓地。”

看着皎洁的月光，宁静的街道，听着教堂悠扬的乐声，苏比感到一切显得古朴、亲切、可爱，在这宁静而空灵的气氛中，他回想起儿时得到母爱和纯真，唤醒了他的雄心和自尊，唤起了他对纯洁生活的回忆，他顿然醒悟，决心重新做人，通过景物描写，展示人物内心，紧扣小说的主题。也就是景物描写是为人物和小说的进一步发展而服务的。这与课文开头景物描写的作用是一致的。

2、苏比在听了教堂的赞美诗后，准备重新做人，却被莫名其妙地送进监狱，为什么？ 明确：这个结局可以说是出人意料之外，这个结局也是与上面6种行为一样充满了巧合，那么，这些巧合是否是偶然的呢？

“巧合”是小说的常用手法。巧合是事情的偶然，偶然有的反映事情的必然，有的则并不反映必然，上面几例巧合应属于后者。苏比在教堂旁忏悔反遭拘捕也是一种巧合，巧就巧在他若有所思的忏悔神态正好出现在教堂旁。如果是在“街心公园长凳上”，就不可能被捕了。但这一偶然却反映了事情的必然，因为看见教堂，听见赞美诗乐声才会引发忏悔之意，而教堂周围又是不允许衣冠不整的流浪汉凝神注目的。所以警察得出现又是必然的。

3、那么你认为苏比是一个什么样的人？你对课文这样的结尾安排做何评价？ 让学生充分阅读、讨论之后再做答：

（1）苏比是性格复杂的流浪汉形象

不能简单说他是坏人：他故意作恶，犯些轻罪，都不是出自本意，他多年浪迹街头，并没有真正沦为乞丐 、小偷、骗子或其他社会渣滓。在赞美诗的感化下，能幡然悔悟，要跳出泥坑，表明他良知未

泯，有向善的一面。

也不能说他是好人：为了逃避生活的考验，他多年在监狱过冬，平时游手好闲，欲望低俗，他的一连串的恶行也不能说是对现实反抗的正确行动。

（2） 可让学生各抒己见

七、布置作业：

小说既反映社会现实又超出社会现实，你认为本篇小说的结局合理吗？你有什么看法？请联系实际、运用想象，写一篇短文评价结尾。

参考：巧妙结局 令人回味

——评《警察和赞美诗》的结尾

《警察和赞美诗》花大量笔墨描写苏比想尽种种办法进监狱，结果六次恶作剧都不能如愿以偿。而当他在教堂的赞美诗中受到感化，灵魂开始复苏时，作者笔锋一转，只简简单单一句“那你跟我来”，让苏比轻松地进了监狱。从构思方面看，作者匠心独运，使情节曲折多变，扑朔迷离，引人爱读；从主题上看，反映苏比的愿望与现实的矛盾，表面上苏比终于如愿，其实已非他所愿了，从而更能意味深长地揭露资本主义社会是非混淆、善恶颠倒的本质。

有悖现实的写法

——评《警察和赞美诗》的结尾

赞美诗在小说中被着意描写，反映了作者美化宗教、寄希望于宗教的思想，有其社会局

限性。苏比在走投无路时，受了宗教的感化，决心重新做人。这突出地美化了宗教，而且写得很不现实。苏比当时正处于痛苦之中，赞美诗怎能轻易唤醒他?实在显得突然。作者憎恨不公平的社会，却在一定程度上把改造社会、改造人生的希望寄托在宗教上，认识不到只有进行无产阶级革命才能改变现状。当然，作者希望宗教给世间带来公正、幸福的愿望是善良的。

赞美诗的利与弊

——评《警察和赞美诗》的结尾

欧?亨利的《警察和赞美诗》的最后一个部分，有关教堂的环境和赞美诗的音乐的描写，一改上文的风趣、幽默的笔调，用严肃、抒情的语言来写，显示出赞美诗对苏比的影响，有其利亦有其弊。主人公苏比三番五次恶作剧都无法达到目的，但在受到赞美诗的感化时，却出乎意料地被捕入狱。小说从侧面把国家机器——警察对人民是非不分揭露得淋漓尽致，使结局既庄严而又富于戏剧性。这是其利。于此同时也把教化提到一定的高度，渲染了宗教的教化作用，带有一定的局限。这是其弊。