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Critical Analysis - After Twenty Years by O. Henry

6 Pages 1440 Words January 2016

After twenty years is an ironic short story written by O. Henry. O. Henry is famous for ironic stories, twisted plots and surprise endings. Written in third person, omniscient point of view, the story is about two friends who had made an appointment twenty years ago to meet at the appointed spot at the same time. The tone of the story is suspicious which leads to a surprise end.
In the dark, on the street of New York at 10 o'clock, Bob is waiting for his friend when a cop arrives. Bob assure him that he came to meet his friend after twenty years. Another man approaches and greets Bob. The two friends walk along the dark streets, sharing the stories of their past, until they come across the lights of a shop and Bob realizes that the man in front of him is not his friend Jimmy Wells. The man tells Bob that he's under arrest and gives him a note from patrolman Wells. Soon Bob realises that the cop he met earlier was in fact his friend Jimmy Wells. The story revolves around the main characters, 'Silky' Bob and Jimmy Wells. The characterization in this short story is mostly indirect as the traits of one character's personality are expressed in the dialogues of the other character or their own.
In the story, Bob is described as "a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow" and "with an unlighted cigar in his mouth." Bob is a rich man "his scarf pin was a large diamond, oddly set", he is wearing a handsome watch with small diamonds on its lid. He is a luxurious, ambitious and materialistic person. He's a greedy man who wants to get more and more luxuries. He traveled West and spent the twenty years of his life as a successful, luxurious and rich man. He earns much wealth through illegal ways. He is proud of his accomplishments in West as he tells The Cop "it has given me everything I asked it for". He is sharp and a confident man. In the story he is referred as 'Silky' Bob, this implies that he is...

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