What is the resolution in "After Twenty Years"?

In O. Henry's short story "After Twenty Years," the resolution of the problem or conflict is that Silky Bob is arrested and taken to jail, and Jimmy is disconsolate over losing his old friend to crime.

Essentially, the resolution is what happens to the characters after the conflictreaches its climax and is ended by some solution; that is, the resolution occurs after the main conflict comes to an end, or reaches its outcome....

In O. Henry's short story "After Twenty Years," the resolution of the problem or conflict is that Silky Bob is arrested and taken to jail, and Jimmy is disconsolate over losing his old friend to crime.

Essentially, the resolution is what happens to the characters after the conflict reaches its climax and is ended by some solution; that is, the resolution occurs after the main conflict comes to an end, or reaches its outcome. In "After Twenty Years," the main conflict is that two old friends have agreed to meet after twenty years, but one of them discovers that they are on different sides of the law.

As he walks his beat on the night that he is to meet his old friend after twenty years, policeman Jimmy stops in the doorway of what was once his and Bob's favorite restaurant. It is there that they agreed long ago to meet each other in two decades and learn what has happened to one another. At first, Jimmy is not sure who the man in the doorway is, so he stops before him and, like a smart policeman, he allows this man to speak first. It is then that he learns that the man is probably Bob; however, when this man strikes a match, Officer Jimmy observes that the old friend has a scar on his face and sports a diamond scarf pin. It is then that he identifies Bob, not only as his old friend, but also as a wanted man in Chicago, who is called "Silky Bob." (This is the conflict: Jimmy does not have the heart to arrest his old friend in this situation.)

So, instead of identifying himself to Bob, who does not recognize him, Jimmy talks briefly to the man and ascertains how long Bob will wait for his old friend. This information provides Jimmy enough time to return to the police station and ask a plain clothes policeman to make the arrest of "Silky Bob" for him. Jimmy also writes a note that explains to Bob why he came to their pre-arranged spot, but did not identify himself to his old friend.

Thus, the resolution is O. Henry's classic ironic reversal; namely, Bob's discovery that the man who crosses the street to meet him is not his old friend Jimmy, and that he is under arrest because Jimmy is now a policeman.