Time and Identity Theme Analysis

The short story “After Twenty Years” explores the relationship between time and identity. In fact, the central tension of the story is whether the two main characters, Jimmy and Bob, once close friends who grew up together in New York, will keep their 20-year-old promise to meet and will pick up their friendship where it left off. However, in the 20 years since they last saw each other, they have taken vastly different paths in life. Having remained in New York his whole life, Jimmy Wells has become a responsible and respected police officer, a fact reflected physically in his “watchful eye” and “stalwart form.”  By contrast, in his search for riches out West, Bob has become a criminal. Though he has found success—evident from his diamond-covered scarf pin and handsome watch—he has paid the price for it, as he is now wanted by the law in Chicago. As such, time has transformed two old friends into enemies, though it is not obvious at first. In fact, when they first meet in the promised location it is as though they are strangers. Though Jimmy recognizes Bob, he also recognizes him as the wanted man in Chicago, and so he does treats Bob as a stranger and hides his own identity. Bob, meanwhile, is too focused on telling his own story to register that the police officer is his old friend. However, by the end of the story both friends ultimately realize how much their respective identities have changed, a fact demonstrated by the new names they are given. Jimmy becomes “Patrolman Wells,” while Bob becomes “Silky Bob” (apparently his criminal nickname). In a twist, the friends successfully meet after 20 years, only to discover that they are now different people and can no longer be friends. As such, the story suggests that time can not only change one’s identity, but turn the best of friends into strangers, or even enemies, in the process.