After Twenty Years Character Descriptions
- O. Henry. ...
- "Silky" Bob. This person is the main character of the story; he waits in a doorway for an old friend he has not seen for 20 years.
- Jimmy Wells. This person is a police officer who meets a friend after 20 years.
- The Plainclothes Policeman. This person pretends to be the old friend that the main character is waiting for. ...
What is the plot of after twenty years by Shirley Jackson?
' After Twenty Years ' is a story of fewer than 1,300 words that opens with a policeman on night patrol. It's nearly 10:00, and all's quiet as he walks his beat, checking locks for safety. Suddenly, though, a figure standing in a doorway catches his attention, and he approaches.
Who wrote the short story after twenty years?
Examine the short story 'After Twenty Years,' which was written by William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry. Review a brief synopsis of the story, including its twist ending, before further examining the story's main characters. Updated: 10/21/2021
What is the twist ending of the short story after twenty years?
Examine the short story 'After Twenty Years,' which was written by William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry. Review a brief synopsis of the story, including its twist ending, before further examining the story's main characters. Updated: 10/21/2021 A twist ending is a sudden and unexpected turn of events in a story's conclusion.
What is the situation in after twenty years by John Steinbeck?
The situation in "After Twenty Years" is simple and clearly defined: a man stands on a New York street, waiting for a friend that he agreed to meet twenty years earlier, and he explains his story to a passing policeman. It is a situation that can be understood by cultures all over the world, by one generation after the next.
What kind of characters does the story After Twenty Years?
The two main characters in "After Twenty Years" are Jimmy Wells and Bob. The author probably gives the reader Jimmy's last name to make his character more of an identifiable aspect to his character. Bob's last name is not given, which lends a bit more mystery to this mysterious character.
Who are the two friends in After Twenty Years?
Expert Answers 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 had no intention of leaving.
Is Jimmy Wells a static character?
Jimmy Wells was a Dynamic character because he made a decision to be faithful to his job, changing himself ever so slightly. He was affected by the event of realizing who Bob was, and after talking to him he couldn't bring himself to be cruel and arrest his old best friend.
Why do you think Jimmy betrayed his friend?
In one sense, therefore, Jimmy betrays an old friendship because of his duty as a policeman. In another sense, he has demonstrated his friendship by sparing 'Silky' Bob the humiliation of being arrested by the childhood best friend.Mar 13, 2018
Who is silky Bob?
Bob or 'Silky' Bob is the protoganist in the novel 'After Twenty Years'. The story is centred around him. He is mostly described through his appearences, "The man near the door had a colorless square face with bright eyes, and a little white mark near his right eye. He had a large jewel in his necktie".Sep 22, 2017
What difference does Bob find in Jimmy after twenty years?
Jimmy and Bob were longtime friends who agreed to meet in their favorite restaurant after 20 years. Bob is a criminal with head square-jawed face, keen eyes and a little white scar near his right eyebrows whereas Jimmy is a cop with stalwart form and slight swagger.Jul 15, 2020
What did Bob tell the man in the overcoat?
What did the tall man in the coat and Bob talk about? Ans: The tall man in the coat greeted Bob and introduced himself as Jimmy Wells. He told Bob that he was certain that he would find him there. He went on saying about the restaurant and then he asked Bob how the west had treated him.
Who is the tall man in the story After Twenty Years?
The tall man was the cop. He went directly to the waiting man.Jul 28, 2019
Who is telling the story in after 20 years?
The story is told by an anonymous narrator writing in the third-person. The narrator confines himself to two points of view, that of Jimmy Wells and that of "Silky" Bob. We do not know that the uniformed policeman described in the opening is Jimmy Wells.
What was the crime of Bob?
Answer. Answer: If Bob had been wanted for a really serious crime, such as bank robbery or even murder, the reader might feel that Jimmy's behavior was treacherous and reprehensible, because he could be sending his old friend off to life imprisonment or execution.May 2, 2020
Who arrests Bob What in your opinion was Bob's Offence?
In the story “After twenty years”,by O. Henry, Bob was a great criminal of Chicago. He got arrested by his friend Jimmy, who was a police officer. It was the part of his duty to get Bob arrested.Oct 31, 2018
What did Bob and Jimmy Wells talk about when they meet after 20 years?
That man is Bob who tells Jimmy Wells about the promise of meeting here made between himself and his friend twenty years ago. Now Jimmy Wells is the friend. When Bob lights up his cigar, Jimmy realizes that Bob is notorious criminal and he is wanted by the police.Jun 19, 2018
How many words are in "After Twenty Years"?
Henry - whose legendary mastery of the twist ending in short stories is perhaps nowhere better exemplified than in his 'After Twenty Years.'. ' After Twenty Years ' is a story of fewer than 1,300 words that opens with a policeman on night patrol.
Who is Silky Bob in After Twenty Years?
Henry's short story. Silky Bob, as he's known to authorities, is a fugitive from Chicago coming back to New York City to meet an old friend.
What does Bob recognize in his friend?
As the two men greet each other heartily, Bob begins to recognize some unfamiliar characteristics in his friend; namely, he seems taller than he remembered. He accepts his friend's reply that he'd grown some in 20 years, until they come across the bright lights of a drug store.
Who is Silky Bob's friend?
In this story, the outlaw Silky Bob has come home to reunite with his friend Jimmy Wells after 20 years. Their reunion is bittersweet, though, since Jimmy - now a patrolman whom Bob unwittingly meets - sends a plainclothesman to arrest his old friend whom he recognized as a fugitive.
Who is William Sydney Porter?
As it was, they had last left each other's company as old friends, and Jimmy couldn't stand to face Bob again as new enemies. William Sydney Porter, a.k.a. O. Henry, was a master of the twist ending - a sudden and unexpected turn of events in a story's conclusion - such as the one found in his short story, 'After Twenty Years.'.
What does Jimmy say in his note to Bob?
In his note to Bob, Jimmy reassures him that they had in fact kept their appointment, immediately displaying that there is still some sentimental feeling between the two.
What is the short story after twenty years?
Then the short story ''After Twenty Years'' by O. Henry is for you. In this story, two friends have not seen each other for twenty years. The story unfolds on the agreed-upon night when the two promised to meet each other. One man, Bob, meets an officer on the street and tells the lawman about his plan to meet his friend Jimmy.
Who is Bob's friend in "After Twenty Years"?
Some time passes and another man arrives who Bob believes to be his friend Jimmy . Unfortunately for Bob, Jimmy was the first officer who recognized him as a wanted criminal. The story ends with Bob being arrested. Let's take a look at the three characters in ''After Twenty Years'': Bob, Jimmy, and the other policeman.
How old is Bob in After Twenty Years?
Instead of a happy meeting, Jimmy reports Bob, causing him to be arrested. The characters are: Bob - a 38-year-old criminal known as ''Silky Bob.''.
Who is the instructor in After Twenty Years?
Show bio. Jake has taught English in middle and high school, has a degree in Literature, and has a master's degree in teaching. ''After Twenty Years'' by O. Henry is a story with a twist about how people can change over time, yet still keep their bonds of friendship intact. This lesson will explore the three characters of ...
How old is Bob in the movie?
We'll begin with the protagonist, Bob, or ''Silky Bob'' as his alias goes. The narrator describes the 38-year-old Bob physically in a flash of matchlight as having ''a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.'' His physical description includes hard lines that make sense later in the story when a patrolman reveals Bob to be a criminal. Even the diamond serves to identify him as a criminal, being a valuable gem with an imperfect setting.
What is the twist in "After Twenty Years"?
O. Henry is one writer whose style is familiar to generations of readers the world over, and "After Twenty Years" presents a prime example of this style. A typical O. Henry story will involve two people with an emotional connection to each other that is put under stress by the circumstances they face. At the end of the story, a strange twist generally occurs. Sometimes it is a twist of fate, but sometimes the twist is a piece of information that was not previously available to the reader and that sheds a new light on all that has come before it. Though some readers feel that the twist shows an overly sentimental view of the human condition, many readers enjoy the way O. Henry's stories affirm the best things about the human condition.
Who is the policeman in the book The Nightstick?
By referring to him only as "the policeman," O. Henry keeps Jimmy's identity a secret from the reader as well as from Bob.
What happened to Athol Porter?
Two years later, news reached him that Athol's tuberculosis had worsened significantly, so he returned to Austin. She died in 1898, and Porter's trial went on. He was found guilty of embezzling and on March 25, 1898, began a three-year sentence in an Ohio prison.
Why does Bob not recognize his old friend on the darkened street?
Bob does not recognize his old friend on the darkened street because he is distracted by the uniform that Jimmy wears. Though he does not say so, the story implies that the Jimmy that Bob knew, twenty years earlier, was not the type one would expect to join the police force.
Who brought interest in the lawless frontier into the literary salons of the East?
More serious writers, including William Sydney Porter (who would go on to write as O. Henry), Mark Twain, and William S. Hart brought interest in the lawless frontier into the literary salons of the East. The census of 1890 made it clear that by that time the "wild" days were through, the West was settled.
Where did John Porter live?
When he was nineteen years old, health concerns forced Porter to move to Texas, where he lived on a sheep ranch belonging to Richard Hall, a family friend.
What is the lesson of "After Twenty Years"?
Lesson Summary. O. Henry's short story, 'After Twenty Years,' focuses on the reunion of two old friends: Jimmy and Bob. Through their brief encounter, the two explore the themes of friendship, loyalty, and trust. Bob's punctuality in keeping his meeting with Jimmy perhaps best demonstrates his loyalty to their friendship.
What does "after 20 years" mean?
In 'After Twenty Years,' though, this is meant that any trust Bob had in Jimmy was displaced as soon as 'Silky' Bob became a criminal. Jimmy Wells proves his 'impressiveness' as a policeman not only in the way he walks his beat, but also in his unwavering obligation to the law.
Does Jimmy's loyalty to Bob's oldest friend change?
However, the loyalties to his oldest friend certainly have .
Is Bob loyal to Jimmy?
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.
