The Analysis of the story
The story
under analysis is written by an American writer William Sydney Porter
(September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), known by his pen name O. Henry. His short
stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever
twist endings. None of his stories can leave the reader cold blooded. All the stories have deep sense, make you
debate a matter in your mind and have a lot of humorous affects at the same
time.
But “The
Last Leaf ” can`t make you burst of laughing. This
story is about two young ladies, Johnsy and Sue, who were fond of art and lived
together in a studio. Johnsy had fallen ill and was dying of pneumonia. She
watched the leaves fall from a vine outside the window of her room, and decided
that when the last leaf would drop, she would die too. But an old, frustrated
artist named Behrman, who lived below Johnsy and Sue, risked his own health in order to give her hope in order to survive.
To my mind, there are two major themes of the story the power of hope
and self-sacrifice which show that a diseased mind is even more harmful than
the disease itself. This is clearly evident in Behrman, an artist who lives on Johnsy
and Sue´s house first floor. He always said: "Some day I shall paint my
masterpiece." Knowing that the girl was badly ill, he decided to sacrifice
himself painting an ivy leaf in the window when the real one fell to lift his
friend's spirit. And the last
leaf on the wall is hope and life which he left to not only Johnsy but also
readers.
The main
idea of this story lie in the doctor`s words: I will do all that science, so
far as it may filter through my efforts, can accomplish. But whenever my patient
begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent
from the curative power of medicines. And it touches not only this the very
situation but it touches upon any other problems in the world. We all make our
own destiny. Why one person dies after just getting a horrible prescription,
other lives with feral diseases for a long-long period of time? Very often we
become the cause of our misfortune ourselves. And it`s a question to think
over.
The events
in the analysed story happen in “a little district west of Washington Square
the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called
"places"”. It is depicted as an
unwelcoming place: “There was only a bear, dreary yard to be seen, and the
blank side of the brick house twenty feet away…its skeleton branches clung,
almost bare, to the crumbling bricks.” However, the cohabitation between Sue
and Johnsy seems truly merry until the one of the girl became infected with
Pneumonia. It is presented in a detailed way and reflects the mood of the
story.
From the
point of view of presentation the story is a 3d person narrative.
The
characters we meet in the story under analysis are Johnsy, Sue and Mr.Behrman.
To describe its characters the author uses a lot of colorful and vivid
stylistic devices. About Johnsy we can read that she is “a little woman with
blood thinned”. She faced such a terrible disease as Pneumonia and wasn`t able
to struggle the cold, she was ready to die because of the last vine leaf would
soon fall off the tree. She imagined that she like that ivy leaf wasn`t ready
to come over her destiny. But her friend Sue was strong enough to help her
friend. The author doesn`t give us any descriptive expressions to understand
her personality but we can realize it though her actions. She didn`t give up
her friend for a minute, she was eager to help her mentally not even
physically. She tried to make her believe in herself and forget the silly idea
about the least leaf. Mr. Behrman, the third character, was able to help Johnsy
to recover. At the expense of his life he painted the leaf and put it on the
ivy vine to make Johnsy think that she can pull her round as the last leaf
could be stable to horrible weather conditions. Mr. Bhrman died but his
long-desired masterpiece was painted. Her the author uses antonomasia, the word
“masterpiece” meaning not a picture but his brave action in order to save
person`s life. Describing Mr.Behrman the author uses such vivid epithets as “a
fierce little old man”, “a horrid old - old flibbertigibbet”. In old man`s speech me can find a lot of
interjections “Vass!”, “Ach”, “Gott!”, it tells us about his strong and
emotional personality. After analyzing all these information we can come to the
conclusion that instead of author`s words to Mr. Behrman we see that he is very
noble person having strong character.
At the
beginning of the story the author present us to another character that takes
part in the action. Mr. Pneumonia is a terrible disease. In this case the
author uses a very strong stylistic device as personification. He describes it
with the help of epithets “old gentleman”, “unseen stranger”. It “stalked about
the colony”, “touching one here and there with its icy fingers” (epithet). It was also “the red-fisted, short-breathed
old duffer”.
In order to
portray the characters, describe the
setting and also create the general mood of the story the author uses such
stylistic devices as oxymoron “magnificent scorn”, antonomasia “way to Art, way
to Literature”, zeugma “and found their taste to art, chicory salad and bishop
sleeves”, comparisons “ Johnsy as a fallen statue”, “just like one of those
poor, tired leaves”, “she was light and fragile as a leaf herself”. There a number of epithets towards the ivy
wine tree: “an old, old ivy wine”, “a confounded vine”, “the lone ivy”, “silly
ivy leaves”.
As for the
plot, In the exposition O. Henry describes the section of town called
Greenwich village, and describes the various artists and free-thinkers that inhabit
it. Among those are Sue and Johnsy.
There are
several points of rising action.
The first is that O. Henry mentions that pneumonia has struck the
village. The second is that Johnsy gets it, and the third is that
the doctor has not much hope for her. Lastly, Johnsy declares that as
soon as the last leaf falls off the ivy outside her window, she will too
"go away."
This leads
to the climax, where that night Sue and their unique and surly neighbor
Behrman, wait the night, to see if Johnsy passes. Sue opens
the window the next morning to find the leaf there.
The falling
action is that the leaf stays there, and Johnsy gets better.
The
resolution is when Sue tells Johnsy that the leaf wasn't real, that Behrman
painted it, and subsequently died from pneumonia himself.
The types
of speech employed by the author of the analysed story are narration and
dialogues.
Summing up
the analysis of the story “The Last Leaf” it should be mentioned that O. Henry
brilliantly uses epithets, comparisons and other stylistic devices which help
to reveal the main characters’ nature, to create the atmosphere and mood of the
story. Due to the author`s colorful and vivid language of writing it was really
interesting to read.
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