English test

6. dec. 2006
Maiken, FO1A

Task 2c
Presentation of the short story «The Last Leaf» by O Henry

The story is set in the studio apartment of two young, female painters who live together, in
Greenwhich village, America, a place which was made famous by a painter who used motifs from
this place. It is a popular place for young artists, because of the low rent on the apartments, and nice
atmosphere.

Outside, there is a storm, and one of the girls, Johnsy, is very ill, and bedridden. She thinks she is
going to die when the last leaf on the ivy vine outside her window falls. The doctor gives her small
chances of survival. Her roomate, Sue, prevents her from continuing to count leaves that night. She
goes to get an old man called Behrman. The next day, there is still an ivy leaf outside the window.
Johnsy realises she is being stupid, waiting to die like that, when the leaf does not fall, and starts to
get better. The same day Johnsy gets better, Behrman dies. We discover that the last leaf on the ivy
plant was painted onto the window by Behrman.

Sue is the main character of this story, she is a young painter in Greenwhich Village, and shares an
apartment with Johnsy, whom she met earlier that year, in May. She is very fond of Johnsy, and is
quite distressed when she hears of her fancy: That she will die as the last leaf falls off the ivy plant
outside. Sue is quite a quick thinker, and finds a solution to the problem very quickly, although
perhaps she does not think too far ahead – at least if she was the one who talked Behrman into
going out into the terrible weather – she should have known he could get sick.

Johnsy, or Johanna, is, although not the main character, perhaps the most important character. The
conflict revolves around her, and none of the story would have happened if she was not there, had
not caught pneumonia, and not been delerious with fever. She believes that when the last leaf on the
ivy vine outside her window falls off, she will die, and she wants to die. Sue tells the doctor that
Johnsy has always wanted to one day paint the Bay of Naples, and later, at the end of the story,
Johnsy says it, as well, showing that she has at last regained her will to live.

The third character, the old German painter, Behrman, has always dreamed about one day painting a
masterpiece, and indeed he has an easel and a canvas, but they have stood untouched for twenty five
years. He sometimes paints for commercials, and makes a living doing that, and as a model for
young artists in Greenwhich Village – which is how Sue and Johnsy probably know him. He lives
in an apartment in the same block as Sue, downstairs from their apartment. When Sue tells him
about Johnsy's fancy, he thinks that it is ridiculus, and says so. He seems to care a lot about the two
girls, though, because he tells her that he will take them away when he paints his masterpiece; he
says something to the effect of «this is no place for a girl like Johnsy.» He some fifty years old, and
smells strongly of juniper berries. At last, he paints his masterpiece; the leaf outside Johnsy's
window, which must be very lifelike. The same day that the doctor says that Johnsy will definately
get better, Behrman dies of pneumonia.

The doctor is the character with the least lines. In the beginning, he gives Johnsy a one to ten
chance of survival, because he does not think that she has anything worth living for. Painting is not
enough to live for, is the feeling I get from him – if she had a man in her life, then she would have
better chances, in his mind.

The morale of the story is this: Don't give up before you start. Johnsy has given up on her life, in the
beginning, when she is counting those leaves, and Behrman has never painted a masterpiece,
because he has never tried. Sue, however, does everything she can to help her friend, even when
both the doctor and Johnsy says that it is pretty much hopeless. The doctor's comment about a man
being more important than painting could be taken to mean that people are more important than
painting, but painting seems to be a major motivation for all of these characters, except the doctor.

«Sometimes a lie can be a good thing,» is also something the story seems to say; Sue lies to Johnsy
about what the doctor says her chances of survival are, claiming it was ten to one, instead of the
other way around. The leaf painted onto the window is also a kind of lie, but it helps Johnsy get
well, so it is a good lie.

To some people, a masterpiece might be something so great, that, once made, the person who made
it will not be able to make something as great as that again. I think this is the way Behrman thinks,
and it might be why he does not paint; he looks so much forward to this one great painting that he
will one day make, that when he has done it, he has no more purpose in his life. I think that a
masterpiece is something great that someone made – whether it is a painting, a chair, a or a story –
which is very well done, but that is not to say that you cannot do something as great, or greater
again.