After Twenty Years Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which conflict is most directly embodied by Jimmy’s decision?
Personal loyalty versus professional duty
Tradition versus urban change
Ambition versus contentment
Wealth versus social status
2. How does the title “After Twenty Years” connect most strongly to the story’s meaning?
It emphasizes that memory becomes completely unreliable over long periods
It suggests that success can only be judged after two decades
It frames how time changes identities and circumstances while bringing an old promise due
It marks the period required for New York’s buildings to be replaced
3. Approximately how long after the uniformed policeman leaves does the tall man arrive?
Five minutes
Ten minutes
Twenty minutes
One hour
4. How does Jimmy’s relationship with New York contrast with Bob’s choices after their last dinner?
Jimmy stays rooted in New York, while Bob travels west to make his fortune
Jimmy leaves to seek wealth, while Bob remains near the restaurant
Jimmy avoids city life, while Bob builds a career in New York
Jimmy repeatedly travels west, while Bob refuses to leave the neighborhood
5. Which statement best describes the story’s central situational irony?
Bob’s faith in an old promise brings him to the friend whose duty leads to his arrest
Jimmy arrives late despite being known as dependable
The restaurant disappears while the surrounding avenue remains unchanged
Bob becomes wealthy even though he once disliked the West
6. What does the disappearance of Big Joe Brady’s restaurant contribute to the story?
It proves that Bob has returned to the wrong neighborhood
It shows how the city has changed even though the old appointment still matters
It explains why Jimmy no longer remembers the meeting place
It suggests that the friends originally arranged to meet indoors
7. Why is Bob standing in the darkened doorway at the appointed time?
He is sheltering from the weather while waiting for a train
He is watching the patrol officer’s route
He expects a Chicago contact to deliver money
He intends to honor a promise made twenty years earlier
8. What is the uniformed policeman doing when the story opens?
Questioning pedestrians about a wanted man
Patrolling the avenue and checking that doors are secure
Waiting outside a restaurant for an old friend
Following a man who has just left a drugstore
9. What is the main narrative function of Jimmy’s note at the end?
It reveals that Bob arranged the meeting as a trap
It explains why the restaurant was demolished
It establishes that Jimmy had forgotten the appointment until that night
It reveals the patrolman’s identity and explains how the arrest was arranged
10. The arresting officer says that Chicago believes Bob may have come to New York. What does this imply?
Bob has been asked to return west as a witness
Bob owes Jimmy money from their final dinner
Chicago police want Bob to identify another suspect
Bob is wanted by authorities in Chicago
11. According to Jimmy’s note, why does another officer make the arrest?
Jimmy has no legal authority outside his usual patrol area
Jimmy needs another officer to confirm that Bob is the wanted man
Jimmy recognizes Bob but cannot bring himself to arrest his old friend personally
Jimmy leaves before learning why Chicago is searching for Bob
12. Which set of details belongs to Bob’s appearance?
A pug nose, a long overcoat, and a watch on a plain chain
A Roman nose, a police badge, and a weathered uniform
A scar near his right eyebrow, a diamond scarfpin, and a handsome watch
A smooth face, a soft hat, and an unlit cigar
13. Where had Bob and Jimmy Wells agreed to meet twenty years later?
Inside the hardware store where Bob waits
Outside the neighborhood drugstore
At the police station near the avenue
At the former site of Big Joe Brady’s restaurant
14. Which observation makes Bob directly challenge the tall man’s identity?
Jimmy had always been shorter than Bob, even as a young man
Twenty years could not change Jimmy’s Roman nose into a pug nose
Jimmy would never wear an overcoat with its collar raised
Twenty years could not have changed Jimmy’s voice so completely
15. Why does the uniformed policeman closely examine Bob when Bob lights his cigar?
The light lets him recognize Bob as the man described in a police notice
He is checking whether Bob has stolen the diamond scarfpin
He wants to verify that Bob is old enough to remember the restaurant
The match reveals that Bob is carrying a concealed note
16. When Bob and the tall man reach the drugstore’s bright lights, what does Bob realize?
The original restaurant has reopened under a different name
The man beside him is not Jimmy Wells
Jimmy has forgotten the details of their agreement
The policeman has been following them along the avenue