Soapy's name suggests he is not a bad character, but he is looking for an easy way to spend the winter. Rather than getting a job to earn money, his goal at the beginning of the story is to commit a minor crime that will guarantee him "three months on the Island," in jail. He'll have food and a warm place to stay. Soapy is too proud to accept public charity; he doesn't want to accept anything that will have some kind of strings attached. He's clever to try six different ways to get arrested, but it seems he is incredibly unlucky because every attempt fails, usually in some ironic sense.
When he finally hears the organ music, decides to turn over a new leaf, and get a job, he is ironically arrested, of course, when he doesn't want to be, and his original wish is granted. We'd have to label him proud, persistent, lazy, clever, and unlucky. O'Henry's characters often experience the kind of surprise ending Soapy does.
Soapy's name suggests he is not a bad character, but he is looking for an easy way to spend the winter. Rather than getting a job to earn money, his goal at the beginning of the story is to commit a minor crime that will guarantee him "three months on the Island," in jail. He'll have food and a warm place to stay. Soapy is too proud to accept public charity; he doesn't want to accept anything that will have some kind of strings attached. He's clever to try six different ways to get arrested, but it seems he is incredibly unlucky because every attempt fails, usually in some ironic sense.
When he finally hears the organ music, decides to turn over a new leaf, and get a job, he is ironically arrested, of course, when he doesn't want to be, and his original wish is granted. We'd have to label him proud, persistent, lazy, clever, and unlucky. O'Henry's characters often experience the kind of surprise ending Soapy does.
Soapy's name suggests he is not a bad character, but he is looking for an easy way to spend the winter. Rather than getting a job...