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Foreshadowing
Genre
Explanation and Analysis:
“After Twenty Years” is a short story originally published in O. Henry’s 1906 collection The Four Million. The story belongs to the genres of both realism and mystery. Realism as a literary genre emerged in reaction to, and as a rejection of, romantic literature. Rather than telling tales of heroic adventures or idyllic relationships, realist writers sought to capture the everyday realities of ordinary people. “After Twenty Years” realistically depicts the ways that New York City police officers patrolled neighborhoods in the early 20th century, as well as the ways that some young East Coasters sought their fortunes out west.
This story is also a mystery in that, whether readers are initially aware of it or not, it centers on the capture of a criminal for his crimes. This element doesn’t become clear until the following passage near the end of the story, when a plainclothes police officer reveals that he has been pretending to be Bob’s old friend Jimmy in order to arrest him:
You’ve been under arrest for ten minutes, ‘Silky’ Bob. Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and wires us she wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That’s sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here’s a note I was asked to hand you. You may read it here at the window. It’s from Patrolman Wells.
In this moment, readers learn that, not only is “Jimmy” not who he pretends to be, but Bob also isn’t who he pretends to be, in the sense that he is not a simple man who made an honest living out west, but a criminal based in Chicago who goes by “Silky Bob.” In a classic O. Henry twist, readers only learn about both the mystery itself and the resolution to the mystery in the final paragraphs of the story.
Related Themes:
