After Twenty Years By O. Henry

Critical Analysis

This short story “After twenty years” is written by O Henry in
which he has woven three different themes of friendship, loyalty,
and Trust. O Henry is a prolific American short-story writer; he is
famous for writing ironic short stories about ordinary people with
surprise endings and twisted plots. This short story’s setting is
around the mid-eighties, in New York city at 10 o’clock in the
night. This short story is narrated by an unnamed narrator (who
is the third person in this story) with a preeminent perspective. The
tone of this short story is mysterious and somber. This story
revolves around two friends named Silky Bob & Jimmy Wells; they
both had promised to meet each other after twenty years at the same
time in the same street in New York City. This short stories’ major
conflict is not so evident to the reader until the final lines will
unravel him/her. In this short story, mostly, the characters are not
exposed directly; their attributes are hidden in the dialogues of other
characters or their own.

This story starts with a cop patrolling on New York’s street at 10
O’clock in the night with little rain and cold. This was the way he
always moved, and he was trying the door to ensure that they were
closed at night. Another man is standing on the same street in the
doorway of a hardware shop with an unlit cigar in his hand. This
man is Silky Bob, and he is waiting there to meet his old friend
Jimmy Wells after twenty years as they had promised to meet each
other. When the patrolman came to him, “It’s all right,” officer Bob
said. He told him about the meeting with his old friend Jimmy
wells. After hearing out from Bob for 20 mins, the cop went from
there. “I’ll go on my way,” the cop said.

There is cold rain falling with the potent wind, and Bob is still waiting
there. After waiting for the next 20 mins, he saw a tall man walking
towards him whose face was well-nigh covered. “Is that you, Bob?” the
tall man asked. “You’ve changed, Jimmy; I never thought you were so
tall,” Bob said. After twenty years, both the friends hanging together
on the same New York streets and sharing their childhood memories.
Suddenly they both come across a light from a medical store, and Bob
pulled his arm away because he realized that this tall man is not his
friend Jimmy Wells. Silky Bob has been arrested for the last ten
minutes, and he received a note from the tall man who arrested him.
“Bob: I was at the place on time. I saw the face of the man wanted by
Chicago cops. I didn’t want to arrest you myself. So, I went and got
another cop and sent him to do the job ~ JIMMY” Now Bob realized that
the patrolman he met was his old friend Jimmy Wells.

In this story, Bob is described as a man with a pale and square-jawed
face. He has keen eyes and a little white scar near his right eyebrow.
Bob is a greedy, pioneering, and luxurious person that can also be seen
from his dress-up, he had a large diamond in his scarf, and the watch
he wore also had a small diamond on the lid.
Bob is a rich man and living a luxurious life as he always wanted. To
make his own fortune, Bob left New York for twenty years and went
to the West, where he succeeded in making a lot of money by illegal
ways and lived a successful life. Although he finally turned into the
criminal whose face is wanted by a Chicago cop, Bob is still proud of
his achievements when he said, “It gave me everything I asked for” to
the cop (Jimmy Wells). During the whole conversation with the cop
(Jimmy Bob focuses only on his accomplishments, success, and
money. Bob thinks that between him and Jimmy, he is more successful
because his opinion about Jimmy is the same as before twenty years.
But he can’t seem to imagine that Jimmy might have made some
progress in his life over the last twenty years. Bob has a different perspective about New York City. He thinks that here people are incapable of changing their lives, which is why he left New York.

The irony of this story is hidden in two characters who are opposite in their
lives. Our second main character is Jimmy Wells, who works for New York
city as a cop or patrolling police officer. Jimmy is a responsible and
committed person towards his work which is also unleashed at the end of
the story. Throughout the story, Jimmy’s characters’ traits are only exposed
through Bob’s Dialogues; there is no such direct characterization for Jimmy
Wells. “He is the truest man in the world, and he’ll never forget” These words
by Silky Bob support the fact that Jimmy is so veracious towards his work
and he also never forgotten his friendship.

At the end of this short story, O Henry tried to explore three different
thematic elements: friendship, loyalty, and trust. Twenty years is a long
time, and it proved to be favorable for Bob’s life; he got everything he asked
for. Still, he traveled hundreds of miles to rekindle his friendship with
Jimmy Wells. Despite knowing the fact that Bob is now a criminal, Jimmy
didn’t arrest him. He sent another policeman (tall man) for this work,
which shows that to what extent Jimmy is inclined towards their friendship.
In the real world, a person always has two different instinctive
attachments, towards his work and close ones. In Jimmy’s case, his loyalty
towards the friend and work are put to the test when he found that his old
friend has now turned into a fugitive. Finally, Jimmy holds up the fact
that “no man is above the law” by arresting Bob from another policeman. It
was a long time for both the friends when they hadn’t contacted each other.
Still, Bob has extreme trust in Jimmy Wells. He was waiting for more than
20 mins. On the other hand, Jimmy has a chance to directly send the tall
man to arrest Bob, but it wasn’t the case that he himself went there to meet
him because he doesn’t want to break Bob’s trust. From the end of the story,
it is clear that now Bob will have no more faith in jimmy if he’ll get out of
jail somehow.

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