After Soapy fails to get himself arrested for disorderly conduct—despite behaving threateningly in front of a police officer—he feels hopeless once again. In this moment, the narrator uses a hyperbole to capture Soapy’s deep desire to be arrested and sentenced to time at Blackwell’s Island:
Disconsolate, Soapy ceased his unavailing racket. Would never a policeman lay hands on him? In his fancy the Island seemed an unattainable Arcadia. He buttoned his thin coat against the chilling wind.
Soapy’s description of Blackwell’s Island prison as “an unattainable Arcadia” is clearly an exaggeration. For context, O. Henry is alluding here to Arcadia of Peloponnesus, a region in Greece that, according to Greek mythology, was a utopic paradise for the gods. This region became further romanticized during the Renaissance as a place of unparalleled natural beauty. Soapy’s implication that a state-run prison in New York City is equal to the “unattainable” utopia of natural beauty that is Arcadia is clearly hyperbolic.
This hyperbole helps readers understand just how desperate Soapy is to have access to a warm place to sleep and regular meals. It also communicates how little social support or economic opportunity there is for houseless people—rather than viewing a warm house of his own as a utopia, Soapy views prison as one, since that is the only option he views as at all possible for him.
