Separation Affecting A Friendship In After Twenty Years

In this short story "After Twenty Years", the author gives the message of how separation can affect a friendship, no matter if the separation be short or long. By the end of the story, the main character "Bob" ends up being recognized as a criminal wanted in Chicago and the officer from the beginning of the story turned out to be Jimmy Wells, who ends up having a plain clothes officer turn Bob in to the police station. A twenty-year separation like that would certainly cause an ending of that sort, or any ending heading into a bad direction. A long separation period would obviously cause some sort of shift in the friendship. The direction in which the shift can occur usually has a positive or negative effect. In one hand, the positive direction
is where friends are still friends and have no more than small arguments, while still forgiving each other for said arguments. The negative direction leads to betrayal. heartbreak, and possibly even death. The author chose the negative direction of betrayal. In the end, "Bob" was turned into the station and it was all because of Patrolman Wells. Tragic. With such a negative turn, the author gives us the message of how a long period of separation can affect long-time friends.