the last Leaf summary
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SHORTEST SUMMARY
The Last Leaf, short story by O. Henry, published in 1907 in his collection The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories. “The Last Leaf” concerns Johnsy, a poor young woman who is seriously ill with pneumonia. She believes that when the ivy vine on the wall outside her window loses all its leaves, she will also die. Her neighbour Behrman, an artist, tricks her by painting a leaf on the wall. Johnsy recovers, but (in a twist typical of O. Henry) Behrman, who caught pneumonia while painting the leaf, dies.
SUMMARY IN DETAIL
The last leaf summary starts with two girls namely Sue and Johnsy lived together in a small flat. Both were artists. They resided on the third floor of an old house.Johnsy fell critically ill in November. She suffered from pneumonia and used to lie in her bed without moving. She continuously gazed out of the window. Sue, her friend, became very worried. She called the doctor. Although he came every day, yet Johnsy’s condition showed no improvement.The doctor confirmed that Johnsy was not willing to live. As a result, the medicines were ineffective to cure her ill-health.Sue tried her greatest to make Johnsy take an interest in things around her. She talked about clothes and fashion. However, Johnsy was irresponsive. She continued to lie still on her bed. Sue brought her drawing-board into the room and began to paint.Suddenly Sue heard Johnsy whispering something. She speedily rushed to the bed and heard Johnsy counting backward. She speedily rushed to the bed and heard Johnsy counting backward. Looking out of the window, she was saying, “Twelve!”However, after some time she whispered “eleven”, then “ten” and so on. She saw an old ivy creeper climbing half-way up the brick wall opposite to the window. Also, the creeper was shedding its leaves in the strong wind.Johnsy was very depressed. She created a thought that she would die when the last leaf fell. Moreover, she did not accept the soup offered to her.Later, in the last leaf summary, Sue tried to show affection towards Johnsy. Sue told her that she would not die. She kept the curtain open as she needed the light to complete her painting. She desired to fetch money for them by selling it. Sue pleaded Johnsy not to look out of the window.Also, she told Johnsy that she would not die. She has to live for her friends. Moreover, Sue would become lonely without Johnsy. But Johnsy was sure that she would die as soon as the last leaf falls.She added that she would sleep after the last leaf falls and would sleep forever. Sue was very worried about her friend’s condition. She was helpless.Sue rushed to the ground floor to seek help from a 60-year-old painter. His name was Behrman. His lifelong dream was to paint a masterpiece. Unfortunately, it remained a dream only.Sue told the condition of his friend to Behrman. She refused to eat and continuously looked outside the window. She declares that she would not survive after the falling of the last leaf. He condemned Johnsy for being silly. However, he agrees to paint the last leaf for Johnsy so that she could recover.Johnsy woke up the next morning. To her surprise, the last leaf survived the storm and it was clinging to the creeper. It survived another storm in the evening too.This incident opened Johnsy’s eyes. She apologized to her friend for being so irresponsive and depressed. She realized that it was a sin to think of death. Then, she combed, had soup, and a desire to live.The doctor arrived. He told about the improvement in her health. He added that she would recover soon as her desire to live was back.Sue went to see Behrman. He was only two days ill. However, he dies of pneumonia contracted while being out in the wet and cold. Sue tells this news to Johnsy. She tells her to look at the last leaf clinging to the creeper. She reveals the truth that it was the masterpiece of the old artist, Behrman.He always wanted to produce a masterpiece painting but had never succeeded in his attempt to produce the same. However, to help her recover from her depression, he spent considerable time painting with great realism a leaf on the wall. Thus, he himself dies of pneumonia contracted while being out in the wet and cold.
Answer:
the last leaf summary
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The Last Leaf was a short story written by O. Henry. The story begins with Johnsy and Sue who were young artists and friends living together in a small flat. Once, Johnsy fell seriously ill in the month of November. The doctor diagnosed that she was suffering from pneumonia. Her friend, Sue was really worried and tried to cheer her up so that she would recover soon. But Johnsy had given up the hope of survival. She had somehow made up her mind that she would never recover and would die soon. Seeing her condition deteriorate, the doctor asked Sue to relieve Johnsy from all worries, otherwise her medicines wouldn’t respond to her illness.
Sue tried her best to cheer up Johnsy, but she took no interest in the surroundings. She was non-responsive to any of Sue’s efforts. One day, while Johnsy was lying on her bed, she noticed an ivy plant through the window that was gradually losing all its leaves. Seeing the bare condition of the tree, Johnsy said that she would die the day the last leaf would fall off the plant. Although the ivy plant had nothing to do with her illness, Johnsy was too depressed to think positively about her own recovery.
Meanwhile, Sue continued convincing Johnsy that she would recover from her illness soon and she should not pin her journey of survival on the last leaf of the ivy plant. As days passed, Johnsy kept counting the remaining leaves of the plant every day. Unable to bear the pain of her dear friend, Sue approached Behrman, an aged artist who lived downstairs and explained about Johnsy’s mental state. She told him how her friend had pinned her survival on the last leaf of the ivy plant.
Soon, Behrman came to visit Johnsy but found her asleep. Sue pulled the curtains of the window of her room and they went to sit in the other room. That day, it was raining heavily along with a storm and she felt the leaves of the ivy plant would shed off soon. She hesitantly peeped out of the window and saw only one leaf on the creeper which might fall off the plant anytime. However, Behrman said no word and returned to his room. That night, the old artist decided to do something for Johnsy. He painted a similar leaf of an ivy plant and tied it on the creeper while Johnsy was asleep. But while doing so, he fell ill due to the exposure to freezing cold weather and heavy rainfall outside. After two days, he died of pneumonia.
The following morning, Johnsy looked out of the window after a vicious storm the previous night and saw there was a last leaf that was still clinging to the ivy plant. This gave her the hope to live. She realised that she was foolish to pin her survival on the last leaf of a plant. She understood that there must be a definite reason why the last leaf remained in the creeper and it was sinful of her to want to die at such a young age. Soon, Johnsy recovered from her illness.
Later, when Johnsy recovered from illness completely, Sue informed her that Behrman had died of pneumonia. He had contracted the disease while being out in the cold and wet weather and he had painted the last leaf to give Johnsy the hope of survival. Finally, Behrman had successfully painted his masterpiece—the leaf that saved Johnsy’s life and gave her hope to live longer, while he sacrificed his own life in the process.