The Cop and the Anthem

Blackwell Island, the site of Soapy’s prior imprisonment, is a motif that lingers in the background as an idealized place of safety. For Soapy, it is “heaven” and a “winter home” similar to elite residences on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The romanticization of imprisonment is comical but also tragic, reflecting both Soapy’s pride—he sees Blackwell Island as a place where he could be a “gentleman”—and his destitution:

Three months in the prison on Blackwell’s Island was what he wanted. Three months of food every day and a bed every night, three months safe from the cold north wind and safe from cops. This seemed to Soapy the most desirable thing in the world (36).

Blackwell Island also develops Social Class and the Cycle of Poverty and Crime, as Soapy has been there repeatedly and is once again headed to the prison as the story ends, despite his resolutions to change his life.

The story opens by twice describing Soapy “moving restlessly” on his seat in Madison Square. As Soapy is unhoused, this seat is the closest thing he has to a home, and his “restlessness” reflects his obvious dissatisfaction with it.