After Twenty Years Questions and Answers
After Twenty Years
Why did Jimmy get Bob arrested in "After Twenty Years"?
Jimmy has to have his old friend arrested because it is Jimmy's sworn duty to enforce the law. It should be noted, however, that O. Henry deliberately softens Jimmy's betrayal by making Bob's...
After Twenty Years
Why couldn't Jimmy arrest Bob himself in "After Twenty Years"?
At the end of the story, Jimmy sends Silky Bob a note that says, Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job. We can surmise, from everything that...
After Twenty Years
What is a plot diagram for the short story "After Twenty Years"?
Here is a plot outline that you can alter to the diagram that you need: 1. Exposition - The beat policeman moves impressively and has a "watchful eye" as he moves up and down his street. He slows...
After Twenty Years
Why did the two friends part in "After Twenty Years"? What did they promise each other twenty years ago?
Bob and Jimmy both grew up in New York City, but when Bob was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty, Bob decided to leave the city and head out West to try to get rich. Jimmy was dedicated to New York and...
After Twenty Years
Compare and contrast Bob and Jimmy's characters in "After Twenty Years."
It is clear that both Jimmy and Bob in “After Twenty Years” have long memories and a deep attachment to one another. They both recall and honor the pact they made twenty years earlier, and Bob, as...
After Twenty Years
What is a character sketch of Jimmy Wells in the story "After Twenty Years" by O'Henry?
Jimmy had to make a difficult choice between two painful alternatives. On the one hand, he could have gone on his way and let Silky Bob escape from the law. In that case, Jimmy would have felt...
After Twenty Years
What is the moral lesson of the story, "After Twenty Years"?
Another possible moral lesson intended by O. Henry in "After Twenty Years" is that once a man becomes an habitual criminal he can never trust anybody, not even his own best friend. This is the...
After Twenty Years
In "After Twenty Years," what should you do if you were Jimmy?
It seems to me that by using the word "should" in your question you are asking, not what would you do, but what should you do if you were in Jimmy's position. It seems to me that, as much as I feel...
After Twenty Years
What are character sketches of Bob and Jimmy in the story "After Twenty Years"?
Set at the turn of the twentieth century in New York City, O. Henry's narrative begins with a policeman walking his regular beat. Twirling his police stick, he checks the locked doors and doorways....
After Twenty Years
Silky Bob was a criminal wanted in Chicago; yet he came to the appointed place to meet his friend after twenty...
The fact that "Silky" Bob traveled a thousand miles to meet his old friend Jimmy Wells suggests many things about him. For one thing, it suggests that he doesn't have many friends, if any. Bob has...
After Twenty Years
What's the point of view in "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry?
The story is told by an anonymous narrator and features two points of view, those of Jimmy and Bob. Although Jimmy is not identified, the fact that it is this cop's point of view is shown from the...
After Twenty Years
What is the characterization of Bob and Jimmy Wells in the story "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry?
O. Henry's description of Bob's face by the light of his match has a double purpose. First, it is necessary to enable Jimmy to recognize Bob as the man who is wanted by the Chicago police. Second,...
After Twenty Years
In "After Twenty Years," what does this passage mean? "It takes the West to put a razor edge on him"
O. Henry's ironic story of the twenty year reunion of two old friends, one of whom went West to make his fortune, depicts Bob's having come a thousand miles to meet Jimmy Wells back in New York. As...
After Twenty Years
In "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry, what is the surprise at the end of the story?
A serial criminal called "Silky Bob" has come to New York to meet up with his old friend Jimmy Wells. Twenty years earlier, the two men had agreed to meet outside a hardware store. Amazingly, Bob...
After Twenty Years
In "After Twenty Years," who is Jimmy Wells?
Jimmy Wells was once the best friend ("chum") of Bob, now a noted criminal. They grew up as if they were brothers, but went their separate ways twenty years before. Bob headed out west when he was...
After Twenty Years
What is the main conflict in "After Twenty Years"?
The predominant conflict in "After Twenty Years" is an internal one that is not apparent to the reader until the surprise ending of the story. This internal conflict arises between friendship and...
After Twenty Years
What would you do if you were at the place of Jimmy Wells? Would you arrest Bob?
As the student deliberates on how he or she would act in the dilemma in which Officer Wells finds himself, consideration should also be given to the personality traits of 'Silky Bob.' As Jimmy's...
After Twenty Years
What are some examples of situational irony in "After Twenty Years?"
The main situational irony in "After Twenty Years" involves the fact that Bob is waiting for Jimmy and doesn't realize he is actually talking to him. Then when Jimmy leaves, Bob thinks Jimmy didn't...
After Twenty Years
How is O. Henry's "After Twenty Years" a tale of friendship and betrayal?
O. Henry's "After Twenty Years" may be interpreted as a tale of friendship since the two old friends both return to their favorite restaurant after twenty years as they have promised each other...
After Twenty Years
What is the moral of the story After Twenty Years?
One valuable takeaway from O'Henry's "After Twenty Years" is that the past always catches up to you. Bob lives a life of crime, and he thinks all his "hustling around" will never catch up to him....
After Twenty Years
What is the symbol in the story "After 20 Years" by O. Henry?
One symbol in the story is the restaurant, Big Joe Brady's Restaurant, where the old friends in the story are supposed to reunite after twenty years. Before Bob left for the west twenty years...
After Twenty Years
When does Jimmy recognize his friend Bob in "After Twenty Years"?
Jimmy recognizes his old friend Bob while he talks to him in the doorway of what once was Brady's restaurant. As Bob lights his cigar, Jimmy recognizes the "pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes...
After Twenty Years
Can you help me find foreshadowing in "After Tweny Years," by O. Henry?
Other examples of foreshadowing in "After Twenty Years" include one very significant one: When the man in the doorway lights a match and the policeman sees him, there is a scar on his face and...
After Twenty Years
Why do you think Jimmy sent the note to Bob in "After Twenty Years"?
Although Jimmy is a cop and Bob is a thief, when all is said and done they're still old friends. Jimmy has done his professional duty as a police officer, but he can't bring himself to confront his...
After Twenty Years
What does guardian of the peace mean in "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry? How did the officer suit the role of...
I understood the term "guardian of the peace" to be synonymous with the term "police officer." "Guardian of the peace" or "guardians of the peace" may have been used frequently in newspapers and...
After Twenty Years
What does the title "After Twenty Years" mean?
The significance of the title of O’Henry’s “After Twenty Years” is great. Taken literally, the title reflects that the action of the story takes place after twenty years of time have elapsed....
After Twenty Years
What are examples of irony in "After Twenty Years"?
O. Henry's tale of the fated reunion of two old friends after twenty years involves some surprising contradictions. The most prevalent type of irony is that of situational irony, in which there is...
After Twenty Years
Identify the climax in "After Twenty Years" by O Henry.
The climax in a story is the peak of emotional intensity. In "After Twenty Years" this peak is reached when Bob and the arresting officver arrive at the corner drug store which is brilliantly...
After Twenty Years
Why is the ending of "After Twenty Years" tragic? How does the story take a turn and the happy ending of two...
The short story "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry does have a tragic ending as two close friends who have vowed to reunite after twenty years, find themselves too changed to remain friends. Both...
After Twenty Years
What does Bob say about his life in the West compared to Jimmy's in New York in O. Henry's "After Twenty Years"?
The two friends, Jimmy Wells and Bob, have disparate lifestyles, reflecting their contrasting values. These contrasting values are represented by their chosen locales. Jimmy chose to stay in New...
After Twenty Years
"After Twenty Years" takes place on a very dark night. Explain why this is important to the story?
Darkness is important to this story because it hinges on the fact that "Silky Bob," who is waiting in the darkened doorway of a hardware store for his old friend Jimmy Wells, does not realize that...
After Twenty Years
How does Bob describe his friend Jimmy?
In “After Twenty Years,” by O. Henry, Bob is waiting for Jimmy to arrive at the reunion spot they agreed upon twenty years prior. As he waits on a cold, deserted, New York City street outside where...
After Twenty Years
Describe the policeman on the beat in "After Twenty Years."
O. Henry does a remarkable job of introducing a major character without actually revealing who he is. The reader is deliberately misled into taking the cop for just one of many uniformed cops...
After Twenty Years
What is the tone and mood of "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry?
The overall tone and feeling of O. Henry’s “After Twenty Years” is somewhat somber and reminiscent. It follows the two men, Jim and Bob, whose lives have vastly diverged over time, and it...
After Twenty Years
When does Bob realize that the man to whom he is talking is not Jimmy Wells, and how does he react in "After Twenty...
Bob realizes that the man with whom he talks is not Jimmy Wells after they walk under the brilliant electric lights of a drug store. He is startled that this man is a stranger, and he exclaims,...
After Twenty Years
What is the main conflict in "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry?
This is a good question, but a difficult one. Obviously the main conflict has to involve either one or both of the main characters, Jimmy and Bob. Bob does not seem to be experiencing any conflict....
After Twenty Years
In O. Henry's "After Twenty Years," the policeman says,''Did pretty well out West, didn't you?" What does he mean by...
Literally speaking, the policeman is commenting that Bob apparently has done well, at least financially, out West. Twenty years previously, Bob had left New York to make his fortune, heading to the...
After Twenty Years
What is the possible problem in the story "After Twenty Years"?
Policeman Jimmy Wells has to make a decision in this 1906 story by O. Henry. The choice is between loyalty to an old friend he hasn't seen in twenty years or to the law, the profession to which he...
After Twenty Years
What's a simile from the story "After Twenty Years"?
The only obvious simile in the story occurs when Bob is telling the policeman, whom he doesn't recognize as his old friend Jimmy Wells, about the strong friendship that had existed between the two...
After Twenty Years
Can you consider the title of the story "After Twenty Years" by O'Henry an irony?
The title of “After Twenty Years” is ironic because two old friends are reuniting after a long time, but they are now on opposite sides of the law. When Bob sees Jimmy, he does not recognize him....
After Twenty Years
In O. Henry's "After Twenty Years," can you say that Bob was well off? Give reasons.
O. Henry wanted to show a contrast between the two principal characters, "Silky Bob" and Jimmy Wells, most of which had evolved over the twenty years since they had last seen each other at "Big...
After Twenty Years
How are "Silky" Bob and Jimmy Wells described in "After Twenty Years"?
"Silky" Bob is described as a pale man who has "square-jawed face with keen eyes." His most notable features are a white scar by his eyebrow and the diamond scarf pin he wears, which is large and...
After Twenty Years
1. Who has been more successful Bob or Jimmy? 2. How does Bob describe Jimmy--strengths and weakness? 3. Based...
Bob has only been superficially more successful than Jimmy. Bob has some flashy clothes and accessories, but he has no home, no family, no friends (except Jimmy), no roots, and he is continually on...
After Twenty Years
Is Jimmy justified in what he does with his friend? Discuss Jimmy's character as a person, friend, and policeman.
The fact that Jimmy and Bob were friends twenty years ago does not necessarily mean that they are still friends. The main theme of O. Henry's story is that people change. These two men have grown...
After Twenty Years
"The man from the West, his egotism enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career." What...
The quote you mentioned—especially the words "his egotism enlarged by success"—tells us much about Bob's personality and character. Those words highlight Bob's materialistic predilections....
After Twenty Years
What is the atmosphere in "After Twenty Years?"
In the short story "After Twenty Years," the author O. Henry creates an atmosphere of mystery and uncertainty to set up the surprise ending. He does this by describing the weather, the time, and...
After Twenty Years
Why did the man in the doorway start speaking to the policeman in "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry?
Bob speaks to the policeman because he doesn’t want his behavior to raise suspicion. Jimmy and Bob have been friends for a long time. They made a date twenty years before to meet on a certain spot...
After Twenty Years
How did Jimmy and Bob first get to know each other in "After Twenty Years" by O. Henri?
Jimmy and Bob have known each other all their lives. They grew up in the same neighborhood in Manhattan. That means they probably played together in the streets like all the other kids. They went...
After Twenty Years
In the story "After Twenty Years," what does the police officer do after saying good night to the man in the doorway?
The policeman, whom we later learn is Jimmy Wells, asks Bob, the man in the doorway, a pointed question. “I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him...
After Twenty Years
What are character sketches of both Jimmy Wells and 'Silky' Bob in "After Twenty Years"?
'Silky' Bob and Jimmy Wells, longtime friends who have parted ways, agreed to meet again in their favorite restaurant in New York City twenty years later. O. Henry's story begins on the appointed...
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