Meet the Cast
Soapy
Soapy is the main character of "The Cop and the Anthem" and the only character whose name we learn. We follow him through New York City one chilly fall night as he tries very hard to get arrested a...
Policemen
We count six cops in total throughout this story. All but the sixth one has no interest in arresting Soapy at all. We don't learn much about these six men, but we do know they are included in the f...
Waiters
Like the cops, the waiters are nameless. Unlike the cops, two of the four we see actually use a little physical violence on Soapy. We get the impression that people trying to get free meals is a fa...
The Umbrella Man
The last thing Soapy does to try to get arrested before giving up for the night is to steal an umbrella. The irony here is the umbrella man "picked it up this morning in a restaurant" (35) and thin...
The Lady
The lady is the only female in the story, and she provides a little comic relief. There is something really funny about Soapy asking her to come back to his (nonexistent) place and her agreeing to...
The Organist
We never see the organist but he (or maybe she) is vital to the story. If the organist hadn't been in the church late in the evening practicing for the Sunday service, Soapy might never have heard...
The Judge
The Judge sentences Soapy to jail at the very, very end of the story. We know nothing about him except that he is a judge and he sentences Soapy to three months in jail. Like the other characters,...