“Three months in the prison on Blackwell’s Island was what he wanted”
Another winter has almost settled in New York, so homeless people like Soapy realized the fact that a place should be found to spend upcoming months of cold wind and frost. Soapy’s perfect place was the Blackwell prison, as it meant for him “three months of food every day and a bed every night, three months safe from the cold north wind and safe from cops”. Thus a prison seemed to Soapy “the most desirable thing in the world”. Such down-to-earth approach to life shows that Soapy’s character has been broken, and his hopes are really low. Soapy’s life is just an example of what may happen if a person stops fighting.
“The time had come”
The given phrase is repeated throughout the entire story, and each time it is said, the meaning of the words become more and more significant. Being applied just to the situations in the story, the phrase “the time had come” acquires wider meaning. There are different periods in life of every person in the world, and these periods may bring both positive and negative effect on life, and it is up to a person to decide which path to follow next. On the Soapy’s example we see that he had chosen the path of obedience to circumstances, and if in the morning “the time had come” to look for a place to spend winter, than in the evening “the time had come” to change life completely.
“He would fight to change his life. He would pull himself up, out of the mud. He would make a man of himself again”.
The anthem, which Soapy heard coming from the church, had a magical effect on him. It incited him to change his life, to find “his old purpose in life, and follow it”. Soapy was full of clearness of purpose and inspiration, but life has its own way. If in the morning Soapy pursued only one goal – to get arrested – in the evening he made up his mind to change his life. But destiny played a trick on him, and what he wanted in the morning reached him in the evening.
