New York's Underclass
The main theme of the story is the underclass of New York. Soapy is homeless and wants to be arrested so that he can have somewhere warm to stay during the cold winter weather. It is made clear in the story that Soapy's situation is not unique and that there are many men and women who are homeless after coming to New York in search of better things to come. Soapy has no money, and no job, but it transpires that he has actually been living as a bum quite willingly because he was once offered a job that he did not take. Although he decides by the end of the story that he will seek out the man and ask if the job is still open, he has left it too late, and this is also shown to be a reason for his current situation.
The Irony of Life
O. Henry was known for the ironic endings to his stories and life's little ironies are one of the story's themes. For most of his time in New Yrok Soapy plans to commit petty crimes so that he can get picked up and taken to jail where he will be out of the cold. He dedicates himself to this but never manages to get arrested because the posh restaurant he plans to eat at and leave without paying the bill will not let him inside in the first place; the store manager at the store where he breaks the window thinks that someone else threw the brick and runs after the innocent bystander; the staff at diner he eats at without paying feel sorry for him and don't call the police; the prostitute he propositions is more than happy to oblige his requests. He literally can't get arrested - until he decides to turn his life around, and the moment he does so, gets arrested for loitering outside a church.
