Jimmy Essay
“English Essay”
What would you do if you had to arrest one of your childhood friends? In the book, “After Twenty Years” by O.Henry, the main character Jimmy is faced with that exact situation. Jimmy is a police officer and is reliable, proper and skillful. He is supposed to meet his old friend Bob at a restaurant they went to twenty years ago. But times have changed, the restaurant closed, Jimmy became a police officer and Bob became a criminal. Jimmy knew Bob was a criminal, referred to as “Silky Bob”. At the end of the story Jimmy has Bob arrested but did not have the heart to do it himself. Jimmy’s unwillingness to put his longtime friendship over his principles proved he is reliable, proper, and skillful.
Jimmy is reliable this is shown when Bob talks to the police officer about him. Bob says to the officer “ Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world.”(Henry, 1) This shows that Jimmy is reliable because Bob hasn’t seen Jimmy in many years. But, Bob still considers him as his best chum. It would be hard to think of someone as your best friend if you haven’t seen them in years. Usually, your best friend is someone you are close to and spend a lot of time with. If you were to consider someone that you haven’t seen in years as your best friend then they would have to be trustworthy and reliable.
Jimmy is also proper this is shown by how the author described how he patrolled the streets. The author stated that he was “Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.” This shows that Jimmy is proper because the author O.Henry states that he had a stalwart form. Stalwart means hardworking, loyal, reliable, devoted, constant, and dedicated. That was only one night of him patrolling the streets, he most likely is like that all the time with his stalwart form. So as you can see from his stalwart form Jimmy is proper.
Lastly, Jimmy is also skillful, This is shown in the story when he is patrolling the streets. The author described his working habits as impressive. “The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few.”(Henry, 1). As you can see Jimmy is skillful because he was described as impressive by the author. He wasn’t impressive or skillful to please others or for praise, he did it because it was a habit. Jimmy form the book “After Twenty Years” by O. Henry is an impressive and skillful character.
In conclusion,Jimmy’s willingness to put his principles over his longtime friendship proved he is reliable, proper, and skillful. Jimmy is a respectable cop who did his job, even when it meant putting his own friend in jail. Would you have made the same decision as Jimmy?