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Unit 1: The Last Leaf by O. Henry

1.3 Plot and Themes Notes

Plot
Johnsy has fallen ill and is dying of pneumonia. She watches the leaves fall from a vine
outside the window of her room, and decides that when the last leaf drops, she too will die.
While Sue tries to tell her to stop thinking like that, Johnsy is determined to die when the last
leaf falls.
An old, frustrated artist named Behrman lives below Johnsy and Sue. He has been claiming
that he will paint a masterpiece, even though he has never even attempted to start. Sue goes
to him, and tells him that her sister is dying of pneumonia, and that Johnsy claims that when
the last leaf falls off a vine outside her window, she will die. Behrman scoffs at this as
foolishness, but—as he is protective of the two young artists—he decides to see Johnsy and the
vine.
In the night, a very bad storm comes and wind is howling and rain is splattering against the
window. Sue closes the curtains and tells Johnsy to go to sleep, even though there were still
four leaves left on the vine. Johnsy protests but Sue insists on doing so because she doesn’t
want Johnsy to see the last leaf fall. In the morning, Johnsy wants to see the vine, to be sure
that all the leaves are gone, but to their surprise, there is still one leaf left.

While Johnsy is surprised that it is still there, she insists it will fall that day. But it doesn’t,
nor does it fall through the night nor the next day. Johnsy believes that the leaf stayed there
to show how wicked she was, and that she sinned in wanting to die. She regains her will to
live, and makes a full recovery throughout the day.
In the afternoon, a doctor talks to Sue. The doctor says that Mr. Behrman has come down with
pneumonia and, as there is nothing to be done for him, he is being taken to the hospital to
be made comfortable in his final hours. A janitor had found him helpless with pain, and his
shoes and clothing were wet and icy cold. The janitor couldn’t figure out where he had been
on that stormy night, though she had found a lantern that was still lit, a ladder that had been
moved, some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colours mixed on it.
“Look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn’t you wonder why it never
fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it’s Behrman’s masterpiece—he painted
it there the night that the last leaf fell.””

Themes

Death and Dying
The Last Leaf is a short story that entails the treasury of life and the existence of faith and hope.
It tells about the importance of living and how we deal with the hindrances we battle through
our life story. It is a moving story across the traps that come across us in the most significant
parts of our lives, the value of life is the centrepiece of story, where all the things go back and
revolve… The story gives us a hint that God is the only one who knows whether we ride on
with life and chances or trail on and be drawn against the judgement. The melodramatic and
picturesque setting of the story connects to the negative status of main character facing life
and death subject matter.
Pessimism
Johnsy the main character seems to be a very pessimistic person. She has lost the entire
positive attitude in life due to her disease and she is waiting for her death.

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