The opening line of the text describes the population of the Lower West Side as “restless, shifting, [and] fugacious” (Paragraph 1), a depiction that immediately conveys the idea of isolated people without any relationships to keep them settled. “The Furnished Room” focuses on the pain that comes from such loneliness and anonymity, a theme evident through the descriptions of the past and current tenants of the furnished room.

O. Henry opens the story by depicting the transitory nature of the population on the Lower West Side, describing them as moving from “furnished room to furnished room, transients forever—transients in abode, transients in heart and mind” (Paragraph 1). The phrase “transients in heart and mind” evokes the idea of individuals who are unable to remain faithful to anything or anyone; they roam from one idea to the next. This theme is further shown in the description of New York, which is compared to a “monstrous quicksand, shifting its particles constantly, with no foundation” (Paragraph 14). The repetitive focus on the transitory nature of the city and its residents suggests that the population is largely isolated from one another, lacking solid connections as they struggle to survive in the great city.