Important Questions and Answers
Q. What were some of the signs of approaching winter referred to in the text?
Ans. Some of the signs of approaching winter referred to in the text were the movement of the birds towards the warm south, the woolens which were needed by people and the fact that the ground was covered with dead leaves.
Q. Why did Soapy’s first plan not work?
Ans. Soapy’s first plan was to go and eat in a restaurant and then tell them that he had no money to pay so he would be given to a cop. This plan did not work because when he tried to enter the restaurant the waiters blocked his entry.
Q. “But the cop’s mind would not consider Soapy.” What did the cop not consider and why?
Ans. Soapy had thrown a stone at the glass window of a shop. A cop had arrived but he did not consider Soapy to have committed the act because he had not tried to run away from there as all criminals do after committing a crime.
Q. If a cop had not arrived in the end what would have Soapy’s life been like?
Ans. Just before the cop had arrived, Soapy had decided to give up the wrong life that he led and get a job. Had the cop not arrived he might have turned over a life and become a good man who earned his livelihood through the right means.
Q. Why did Soapy not like to go to people who were known to him?
Ans. Soapy did not like to go to people who were known to him because they would ask a lot of personal questions which he did not want to answer. They might even make him work like–to make him wash their clothes. So he did not want to go to them.
Q. What had Soapy decided to do, just before the cop came in the end?
Ans. Soapy had reached a quiet street and came to his childhood home. There he suddenly had a change of heart and he decided to give up all his wrong means of living and take up a job.
Q. What happened when Soapy went to the second restaurant?
Ans. When Soapy went to the second restaurant he ate a huge meal. After he finished the meal he told him that he had no money in expectation and that he would be handed over to the police. Instead of the cop being called, he was thrown out of the restaurant.
Q. What did Soapy do when he was thrown out of the restaurant?
Ans. After he was thrown out of the restaurant, he started making a lot of noise as if he was drunk. He danced and cried out a lot. But this time also the cop left him thinking that he was a noisy college boy.
Q. Where did Soapy live in the summer months?
Ans. During summer, Soapy lived in Madison Square. He made his bed on a bench in a park. He made the bed cozy with three newspapers.
Q. Why did Soapy want to go to the prison?
Ans. Winter had set in and it was cold in the park. Soapy thought that he could comfortably spend the three winter months in a jail where he could be sure of getting food and a bed every night.
Q. Why did the cop not arrest Soapy when he admitted that he had broken the glow of the window?
Ans. The people who break glasses of windows do not stop there to talk to cops. So the policemen refused to consider Soapy as a probable offender.
Q. Why was Soapy put into the prison for 3 months? What was his actual crime?
Ans. Soapy was found wandering around and peeping into the childhood home late night. Apart from this he started arguing with the Cop which is not good. So he was taken to the judge by the cop.
Q. Why was Soapy keen on going to Blackwell’s Island?
Ans. Soapy was anxious to go to Blackwell’s Island prison because there he would get food to eat, a bed to sleep on and most importantly he would be able to protect himself from the cold for 3 months.
Q. Describe the scene when Soapy stood outside his childhood home.
Ans. When Soapy was standing outside the childhood home, it was late night as the moon was bright and shining, birds sounds could be heard, few people were passing by that quite street and a soft music was coming from that home.
Q. What was Soapy thinking when he was heading towards the finest restaurant?
Ans. Soapy, while heading towards the best restaurant on Broadway was imagining the whole dinner. He thought he would eat well without making restaurant owner angry for paying no bills. He thought that when his stomach would be filled, he could move to his winter home on Blackwell’s Island.
Q. What was Soapy’s plan of throwing stones at a wide glass window shop?
Ans. When Soapy saw a shop with a wide glass window at the corner of the Sixth Avenue, he decided to throw stones at it. It was his expectation that when he would throw stones at the glass window, the cop would come running and arrest him. But Soapy did not run after having stoned the shop so the cop did not consider him to be culprit and allowed him to go.
Q. The head waiter did not allow Soapy to enter the big restaurant. Why?
Ans. The head waiter did not allow Soapy to enter the big restaurant because as soon as Soapy entered the big restaurant, the head waiter saw Soapy’s torn shoes and clothes, only rich people came to that restaurant so the head waiter felt uncomfortable allowing Soapy to enter the big restaurant.
Q. What reason did Soapy gave to convince himself to get himself entertained in the big restaurant. What were the reasons?
Ans. It was the opinion of Soapy about himself that his face was clean and he looked alright above his legs. Also he thought that his coat was good enough. No doubt his trousers and shoes were shabby. Yet he thought that once he got a table, the waiter could see only the upper portions of his body. Thus, they would perceive only above the table and therefore he would be entertained. Thus, he was hopeful to get himself entertained in the restaurant.
Q. Why did Soapy feel to grow miserable when he was thrown out of the second restaurant?
Ans. Soapy felt miserable when he was thrown out of the second restaurant. He waled a little and came near to a place where several theatres were located. Here he saw rich persons in warm clothes moving happily around the city. They were enjoying the cool winter air. Soapy’s heart grew miserable thinking that the cops won’t arrest him while he would have neither food nor bed to sustain himself during the winters which were icy cold. He could not think of any way to survive.
Q. What is the umbrella episode?
Ans. Soapy was trying to be arrested in different ways but failed. After several failures, Soppy stole a man’s umbrella thinking that finally he would succeed in his attempts to get arrested. He incited the man to call the cop, since he was running away with that man’s umbrella. But it was an irony that the umbrella did not belong to that man. He had picked up the umbrella from a restaurant and therefore was afraid to call the cops. Soapy failed yet again. He again failed to get arrested.
Q. Discuss the difference in Soapy’s past and present life.
Ans. There is a great difference between the past and present life of Soapy as he looks at his past life with fond and happy memories. His past life was full of important relations. In his past life, he enjoyed flowers, pleasant music, high hopes, clean thoughts and clean clothes. He was a happy boy then. But his present life is marked by an acute absence of all these happy things. He neither had family members nor friends, food nor shelter. He wears only dirty clothes as he does not have clean clothes. His mind is full of wrong desires and his hopes have died out. He used to imagine to have a big house but now he has a seat in a park instead of a house.