How we cite our quotes: (paragraph)
Quote #1
When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand. (1)
People who are homeless are sometimes called "transients" or "vagrants," because they don't have a fixed residence. Soapy does have two fixed residences, in a way—his park bench for summers and his jail cell for winters. We would still say this is transient or impermanent because Soapy could easily be denied entrance to jail or to his park bench and would have to find something else.
Quote #2
The hibernatorial ambitions of Soapy were not of the highest. In them there were no considerations of Mediterranean cruises, of soporific Southern skies drifting in the Vesuvian Bay. Three months on the Island was what his soul craved. (4)
Once again we see Soapy setting up this extreme contrast between himself and the wealthy New Yorkers, the ones who get to go on real vacations. Soapy is so poor that jail is a vacation for him. Notice though that Soapy has no desire to leave his basic area; he is transient but within a relatively small stomping ground.
Quote #3
On the previous night three Sabbath newspapers, distributed beneath his coat, about his ankles and over his lap, had failed to repulse the cold as he slept on his bench near the spurting fountain in the ancient square. (5)
This passage helps us see the reality of Soapy's situation, and is beautiful in a sad way. The image of a man sleeping on a park bench near a fountain using newspapers as a blanket sounds like it could be a painting.
Quote #4
To-morrow he would go into the roaring downtown district and find work. A fur importer had once offered him a place as driver. He would find him to-morrow and ask for the position. He would be somebody in the world. He would— (43)
Hmmm. Maybe Soapy was simply in a transient, impermanent state of mind during the past years. His mind couldn't settle on anything worthy of focus other than basic necessities. His change of heart is a desire for a more stable, permanent kind of life. Maybe Soapy will begin to treat the world like it's his home, rather than a motel room.
Quote #5
What are you doin' here?" asked the officer.
"Nothin'," said Soapy.
"Then come along," said the policeman. (45-47)
Soapy has changed inside, but the sixth policeman still sees him as the same vagrant or transient man he was a few moments ago. Oh the irony! Maybe we can look at this as a test of whether Soapy's change of heart is permanent or not.