Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Soapy

Soapy is the main character, and the only character that appears more than once in the story. He doesn't do anything heroic, and he's not really nice to anybody either. At the same time, he doesn't seem like a mean guy. Nobody seems to be afraid of him, and other than breaking the shop window he doesn't really do anything that could get somebody else hurt. The story is told so playfully at first that we don't even realize that Soapy is in agony until he gets to the little church and hears the organist's song. The contrast between the way he's shown before he's inspired by the music and the way he's shown while he's hearing it shows us that beneath the I-don't-give-a-crud attitude beats the heart of a sensitive, sincere human being who has simply taken a wrong turn.

O. Henry makes his protagonist sympathetic by showing us his inner heart, rather than by showing him do a good dead. Do you think he did a good job? Do you agree with us that Soapy is likeable, or do you have a different opinion? The reader is always the biggest expert on a fictional character. And that means you.