O Henry's short story ''After Twenty Years" ,Short summary and analysis

 * O  Henry's short story ''After Twenty Years'' was published in 1906 in the story anthology  "The Four Million".

* The author, whose real name was William Sydney Porter, was a prolific and very popular writer during his lifetime.

* In this short story by O. Henry,  - policeman Jimmy Wells and outlaw 'Silky' Bob - are the two main characters.

* At one time, the two had been as close as brothers. However, once Bob left to pursue his fortunes in the West, the two eventually lost touch. 

* Nevertheless, they had promised to meet each other in 20 years, to the hour, after their last dinner together at the same spot in New York City.

* Twenty years later, Bob's waiting outside where the restaurant once stood when he and Jimmy parted ways; the latter, who's now a policeman, comes upon him while he's walking his beat.

* After hearing Bob's story about the friends' pledge to meet up again and watching him light up a cigar, Jimmy recognizes it's Bob. 

* He also realizes his old friend is a fugitive from Chicago, whom he'd seen earlier on a police bulletin. At that point, Bob isn't aware that the policeman is Jimmy, who goes about on his patrol, leaving the outlaw to wait for his friend.

* After a few moments, another man appears. At first, Bob thinks he is Jimmy. Although Bob can't see the man too well in the dark, he begins to notice that some things are off about him. 

* Eventually, the man reveals that he's a plainclothes officer taking Bob under arrest. Before he does so, he hands Bob a note from the patrolman, who turns out to be his former best friend and betrayer, Jimmy.

''After Twenty Years'' is a story about loyalty and friendship, arrogance and self-absorption, and trust.

* "Silky" Bob says that Jimmy Wells was a loyal and true friend when they were growing up. By this, Bob means that Jimmy was loyal to him. 

* However: the story shows that Jimmy's loyalty has changed. He is now loyal to his job as a police officer. Jimmy's friendship with Bob takes second place to his loyalty to his job. 

* O'Henry presents this situation but he does not moralize about it. In other words, he neither says it was a bad thing that Jimmy turned in his old friend nor a good thing. It is just what happened. Readers are left to decide for themselves.

* Bob's arrogance and self-absorption lead to his arrest. It is clear that he is a known criminal (Chicago authorities are looking for him), and yet he talks freely about his life. He doesn't ask the man he thinks is Jimmy any questions about his life. He is only interested in himself. If he were more guarded about his previous movements, he might not end up under arrest.

Themes in 'After Twenty Years'

Despite its surprisingly short length, O. Henry's 'After Twenty Years' has three different thematic elements woven into the plot. Let's take a look at them.

Friendship

Many of us probably know what it's like to feel compelled to do something out of friendship. Maybe it's working for no money, listening to long stories, or traveling hundreds of miles after 20 years. Bob clearly values the bonds of friendship that were forged between him and Jimmy all those years ago. However, it seems some of the knots may have come loose over the years that tied Jimmy to Bob.

Loyalty

Loyalties to people and ideas can sometimes be difficult to maintain, especially when they're split between a person and an idea that might be close to our hearts. Keeping their 20-year appointment to the minute, Bob's loyalty to Jimmy is obviously unwavering. However, now that's he's a policeman, Jimmy's loyalties to Bob and to the law are put to the test when he discovers his old friend is a wanted fugitive.

Trust

Whom would you trust more: a police officer who arrested his best friend, or someone who would allow his once closest companion to escape? Despite what we might think, it's clear that Bob isn't able to trust Jimmy when it comes to keeping him out of jail. Actually, by the end of the story, it doesn't seem that Bob's able to trust Jimmy about very much at all.

Characters 

Jimmy Wells

Jimmy Wells is a New York City police officer. He is forty years old at the time when the story takes place and joined the police force at some point during the previous twenty years. In worldly terms, he has not been particularly successful, as he is still a patrolman and has not risen through the ranks of the police force. However, he is presented in the story as a dignified and respectable figure and a commanding presence in the city where he keeps order.

The reader hears most about Jimmy’s character from Bob, at a point in the story when neither Bob himself nor the reader knows that Jimmy is listening. Bob describes Jimmy as “the finest chap in the world.” He later says that Jimmy is true and "stanch" and would never forget his appointment or his friend, even after twenty years. Bob’s only criticism of Jimmy is that he is “kind of a plodder,” without the initiative and ambition to make something of his life.

The reader’s view of Jimmy is likely to be similar to Bob’s but not exactly the same. Jimmy does not appear to be a particularly imaginative or dynamic character, but he is good at his job, in the sense of being adept as well as being trustworthy. He quickly recognizes Bob, both as his old friend and as a wanted man, and prevents himself from doing or saying anything that would allow Bob to recognize him, despite the fact that Bob is expecting to meet him there. In this sense, he surpasses his old friend in shrewdness. He carefully checks that Bob intends to remain in the same place for at least half an hour before leaving him. This demonstrates that, although Jimmy is sentimental enough to avoid arresting his old friend personally, his first concern is with performing his duty as a police officer and ensuring that the criminal has no opportunity to escape. He therefore stands as an archetype of the public official who is able to entertain personal feelings but finally puts his duty before every other consideration.

“Silky” Bob

Bob is presented first as a man who has returned to New York at the age of thirty-eight, having spent the last forty years making a fortune somewhere in the West. It is only at the end of the story that the reader discovers he is not a gold miner or a rancher, but a career criminal. There are, however, some hints of his dishonesty earlier in the story. One is his sudden, nervous speech upon being approached by a police officer. As Jimmy walks toward him, he speaks quickly, explaining his presence before the other man has a chance to ask any questions. Although his explanation happens to be true, the fact that he offers it so quickly without being asked is a sign of nerves, perhaps of habitual guilt. It may also be due to his nervousness in the presence of a police officer that he fails to recognize Jimmy, as he is concentrating on the uniform and not the face.

Bob is clearly proud of his success, despite the criminal context in which it has been achieved. He has great affection for Jimmy, and respect for his loyalty and strength of character, but is inclined to patronize him as too slow and unambitious to achieve as much in life as Bob has done. 

He talks to both Jimmy and the detective who arrests him about his career, and his egotism is “enlarged by success” as he does so. He wears a large diamond in his scarfpin and carries a handsome pocket watch, set with more diamonds. These symbols of his wealth and success accord with his tendency to boast about his career. He also has the sobriquet “Silky” Bob, which may refer either to the smoothness with which he operates or the luxury of his lifestyle.

The Plainclothes Police Officer

The second officer, who impersonates Jimmy Wells and then arrests Bob, is the most minor character in the story and is given little individuality. Both Bob and the reader initially assume that he is in fact Jimmy Wells, the man Bob has been describing. Although he differs physically from Jimmy, in ways that Bob eventually notices, the officer seems to have the same dutiful outlook on life. His moralizing remark that time “sometimes changes a good man into a bad one” suggests that he shares Jimmy’s views and values, as one might expect a fellow police officer to do.