The Last Leaf talks about three artists: Sue, Johnsy ang Mr. Behrman.

In their town struck the

sickness of Pneumonia, where a lot of people died and suffered. In the apartment of this three
painters, Johnsy was the one who became the victim of the sickness. According to the Doctor,
he can help the patient as long as the patient first helps herself and held on a positive attitude of
soon getting well.

If we will read the story we will only see that Johny is suffering with pneumonia but she seems
ready to die with it. But as we read on the story, it focuses on the change of Johnsy’s attitude
towards getting well and surpassing the sickness of pneumonia. She depends her getting well to
the falling leaves outside her window and suddenly draws the inspiration from living from the
leaves itself. Often times like Johnsy, we tend to give meaning to the things around us. Thinking
it was a sign or it is fate. Thinking that our lives are the same as the symbolism around us. We
fail to realize that it is us or it is our attitude in facing obstacles that matters. If we were
intimidated easily by the powerful forces of these hardships then we will immediately loose the
battle. Jhonsy fails to realize this, she just wanted die maybe because she doesn’t want to be a
burden to Sue anymore. Or maybe she feels that she suffers so much that there is no more
hope to survive.

Sue on the other hand, keeps on having faith that Johnsy will still survive. While Mr. Behrman
who was introduced in the text as a sort of eccentric and failure painter became the reason of
Johnsy’s survival of pneumonia. He made Johnsy realize that the leaf will not determine
whether she will survive or not. Maybe Mr. Behrman realized that she is too young to die and
there is still hope. The sad part of the story is that someone has to sacrifice himself in order for
Johnsy to learn.

Often times we tend to do that. We make decisions without realizing or thinking hard that we
hurt the feelings of others. Most of the time we just think of ourselves and how we suffered, we
became selfish of the situation and the word “I” becomes present all the time. And at the end of
the day after we realized our mistakes, were too late of saving our friends, family or love ones
from getting hurt. Sometimes even worst because we inflicted irreparable damage to their
feelings. Maybe another lesson that we can learn from the text is that we should always think of
the consequences of our actions. Everything that we do or every decision that we make we
should ask ourselves whether it will be good for other people or the other way around.

And Lastly, Facing every obstacle in life with the right attitude gives us the opportunity of
winning the battle. We should not be close minded about things. Attitude can make or break us.
When our attitude is right there is no barrier too high or walls too strong that we cannot
overcome.
2)
Do you know the story about the sun and the moon? The sun loved the moon so much, he died
every night just so the moon could breathe. It is probably true that “The greatest sacrifice is
when you sacrifice everything for the sake of someone else”. This is what Mr.Behrman did in the
story “The Last Leaf” by O Henry, he sacrificed himself for the sake of Johnsy.

It all started when the sickness pneumonia spread throughout the country. The sickness caught
up to Johnsy. The doctor then talked her to her friend Sue and told her that Johnsy has a one
out of ten chance of living if she wanted to live. Sue then entered the workroom where Johnsy
was laying and began to work until she heard Johnsy muttering. She went up to Johnsy to ask
what she is saying, Johnsy replied that she is counting the leaves from the old ivy vine for when
all the leaves have fallen, that is the time she would die. After talking to Johnsy a bit more, Sue
went to meet up with Mr.Behrman. Sue was able to talk to Mr.Behrman about Johnsy,
Mr.Behrman thinks that Johnsy is being foolish and so Sue brought Mr.Behrman to observe the
dying ivy vine. When Sue woke up, after an hour, Johnsy wanted to see the ivy vine, and there
they saw one last leaf. The next day, the leaf was still there, on that same day Sue went to talk
to the doctor. The doctor then said that Johnsy is now safe. The next day Sue went to talk to
Johnsy about Mr.Behrman, she told Johnsy what happened to Mr.Behrman and told her about
Mr.Behrman’s masterpiece, the last ivy leaf outside the window.

In the whole story, I was able to find 2 meaningful lessons about life. First, never lose faith or
never give up. Giving up is always a choice, but giving up on life doesn’t sound like a very nice
choice. There’s a lot of reasons to be happy and live, no matter what reason that may be. In the
story, Johnsy was already giving up on her life and Mr.Behrman thought that it is foolish, which
it actually is. Why give up on your life when you still have the chance to go on?

Second, learn how to sacrifice. Sacrifice is a big thing, you don’t just sacrifice things to any
person. You usually sacrifice to people you care about or love. Sacrifice is an act of giving up
something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.
Mr.Behrman sacrificed his health and life to create a masterpiece to save someone’s life, to
make someone have the will to live again. He sacrificed everything he had for someone he
cared about. We too should learn when we have to sacrifice for people we love and care about.

To sum it all up, the story “The Last Leaf” by O Henry is a well written story and has a fantastic
plot, its plot twist is also well thought of and even if the story is just short, it was able to move
hearts. This story was also able to teach two significant lessons. First, never give up on life and
second, learn how to sacrifice for people you love. The Last Leaf is a great story to recommend,
it is worth reading and it is really greatly made.