Independent Critique of

"The Last Leaf"

The short story "The Last Leaf" is written by an American short-story writer named O. Henry and
was first published in 1907. The short story shows that in the early twentieth century, urbanization and
overcrowded living conditions in New York, led to different diseases. The story has three main
characters, two girls named Johnsy and Sue and an old man named Behrman. It is set in a colony in
Greenwich Village, which is a colony for artists. Sue and Johnsy are emerging artists. Johnsy wants to
paint the Bay of Naples but she falls ill and expects to die soon. Behrman, an old man in the story who
wants to paint a masterpiece for years but is not able to do so. The short story 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 neighbor Behrman, an artist, tricks her by
painting a leaf on the wall. Johnsy recovers, but Behrman, who caught pneumonia while painting the
leaf, dies.

The short story has a serious and hopeless tone. It has unexpected events and a tragic end. It is
narrated in third-person narrative. The author has chosen Greenwich Village as the setting of his story
because his plot needed a setting where there would be a large number of artists and Greenwich Village
used to be and it still is a colony of artists. Since it is a little village and the expenses of living there are
low so a great number of struggling artists live there. The conflict in the story is internal as well as
external. Internal conflict in the story is Johnsy’s lost hope. She keeps thinking about her death. The
external conflict in the story is pneumonia.

The story is about two friends Johnsy and Sue. They have similar interests and struggles but
when Johnsy falls ill, she loses hope and expects to die soon. The hopeless girl leaves behind all her
dreams and counts down the falling leaves while looking out of the window to the autumn-stricken ivy
vine in the yard of the neighboring brick-house. The doctor who visits to examine Johnsy says that it is
her hopelessness that is keeping her away from getting well. Sue gives her hope and she sees the last
leaf on the ivy vine still there. It gives her the hope to come back to life.

This shows that a person should think positively even in a hard situation and severe illness.
Positive thinking can help fight the bad situation and disease. It gives the person a moral strength to stay
firm. In contrary, if a person keeps thinking negatively, he will lose all his hopes. He will stop chasing his
dreams which will lead him to have a meaningless life. The story gives the moral lesson of never losing
hope. Behrman, who is a failure in art for years but he does not lose hope and at last he is able to paint
his masterpiece. A person should not stop dreaming if he fails in achieving it for the first time. He should
keep struggling and a day will come that will bring him success. True friendship is also defined in the
story. Sue, a very good and sincere friend. She keeps supporting Johnsy when she loses every single
hope of becoming well. Sue is indeed a true friend who proves that with good care and support, a
patient can be cured. Giving different moral lessons, the story is a twisted and surprising one. The
ending is a tragic one, what is expected to happen does not really happen.