4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“There goes another. No, I don’t want any broth. That leaves just four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I’ll go, too.”
i) Where is the scene set? Who is the speaker here? Identify the listener also.
ii) What had happened to the speaker?
iii) Did the ‘last leaf’ fall?
iv) What does the speaker mean by saying ‘Then I’ll go, too’?
v) What did the speaker want to see before the dark?
Answers
Answer:
(i) The scene is set in joint apartment of Johnsy and Sue. These lines were spoken by Johnsy and Sue was the listener, when Sue asked her about having a drink.
(ii) In the month of November, there was a pneumonia outbreak and Johnsy was taken ill. The doctor had said that there was one chance in ten of her survival but no medicine could help her as she had lost the will to live.
(iii) No, the ‘last leaf” did not fall. Actually, the last leaf was a masterpiece of Mr Behrman. He had painted it so beautifully that it looked like the real lead of the ivy. It gave Johnsy a new lease of life.
(iv) Johnsy had formed a thought that she would be dead when the last leaf from the ivy would fall. By the statement she meant that when the laef falls then she would also depart from this world.
(v) Johnsy had been taken ill by pneumonia. Though there were chances of her survival, she had given up all her hope. She had formed an absurd opinion that she would die when the last leaf of the ivy outside her window would fall. She wanted to see it fall before dark.