How do you think bob has become razor sharp ?in the story after twenty years
Answers
This is an interesting question by a keen reader.
Bob's hand obviously trembled because he was experiencing a strong emotion, or a combination of emotions. O. Henry seems to be leaving it up to the reader to guess what emotions these were. No doubt, Bob was surprised, disappointed, angry, resentful, shocked, and frightened. We don't know exactly why he was wanted by the police in Chicago. It could have been for something so serious that he would be facing the death penalty or at least a long term in prison. O. Henry hints that Silky Bob is a confidence trickster, but he could have gotten into a situation that led to a more serious crime.
Bob tells Jimmy, whom he doesn't recognize:
"I've had to compete with some of the sharpest wits going to get my pile. A man gets in a groove in New York. It takes the West to put a razor-edge on him."
Such remarks suggest that Bob was living by his wits at some sort or racket and was not involved in anything that could lead to capital punishment. At the same time, they would suggest that Silky Bob's strongest emotion was caused by his realization that he, the slick, worlldly wise trickster, had been tricked himself, and tricked by a man he considered inferior to himself as far as cleverness and imagination were concerned.
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The two friends, Jimmy Wells and Bob, have disparate lifestyles, reflecting their contrasting values. These contrasting values are represented by their chosen locales. Jimmy chose to stay in New York, a place where, according to Bob, one "gets in a groove." Bob thinks New York suits Jimmy, who has always been "kind of a plodder." The West, on the other hand, is a place that can "put a razor-edge" on a man, as Bob says, by which he means that he had to be very competitive (and by implication, even cut-throat) to get his "pile," or to become wealthy. When Bob meets the man he thinks is Jimmy, Bob tells him that the West has given him everything he "asked it for." Bob also told the first officer he met, before knowing he was Jimmy, that "the West is a pretty big proposition." He admits he spent a lot of time "hustling around over it pretty lively." Although Bob doesn't realize it, he gives several clues about his life in the West being a life of crime: that he has been cut-throat to gain his "pile," that he has been a hustler, and that the West gave him whatever he asked of it, more than likely because he "asked" people at gunpoint. Although Bob went out West to seek his fortune, his fortune changes when he returns to New York to visit Jimmy, "the truest, staunchest old chap int he world."