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My Evaluation of the Story “The Last Leaf” by O’Henry

The story is written by an American writer William Sydney Porter, 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.
The text presents a piece of narration with the elements of description and
dialogue. The text is written in the 3rd person. The author is an objective looker.
The title of the story corresponds to its plot.
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.
The great amount of stylistic devises used in the text compels us to be impressed
by both the author and the story. Reading such story the reader can accept the main
idea easier, he is able to understand what the author meant.
To sum up, this story made a big impression on me and became one of my
favorites. «The last leaf» is a short story which entails the treasure of life and the
existence of faith and hope and also how we deal with hindrance as we battled
through our life. It is a story which also gives us a hint that not only God is the one
and only deciding authority who draws the judgement, but the power of art is able
to affect as strong as human believe in himself, that it is true.