The Last Leaf Written By O. Henry Bridget Coleman, Kelsey Corso, Marissa Coon, Sarah Daus, Melanie Duckworth, and Aubrey Goldsborough

General Information Title: The Last Leaf Author: O. Henry Setting: This story is set in the Greenwich Village in New York City. It is set in November, in the late 1800s/early 1900s Point of View: It is a third person point of view, but it is mainly centered on the two main characters. Protagonist: The main protagonists are Sue and Johnsy. Sue is caring, artistic, and determined. Johnsy is generally artistic and optimistic, but she is struck with pneumonia and becomes numb to emotions. Other Characters: The doctor: realistic and sexist. Behrman: grumpy, difficult, old, drunken, and a bad artist. He was over sixty years old, and had a gnarled beard.  

Plot Summary Two friends, Johnsy and Sue, live together in a shared apartment in early 1990s Greenwich Village. During the winter, a plague of pneumonia spreads through the artists’ colony, and Johnsy is infected with the deadly virus. It is deadly because, as a doctor puts it, she has lost the will to live. Sue spends time trying to convince her friend that life is worth living. However, Johnsy says that the moment the last life falls from the vine outside her window, she will die. Sue speaks with her neighbor, Old Behrman, and tells him of Johnsy’s issue. He tells her that all will be okay. Sue goes home and sees that there is only one leaf left, and she pleads with Johnsy, who continues to watch the leaf before falling asleep. In the morning, the leaf is still there, and Johnsy decides to recover.

But Wait! There’s More As with many O. Henry stories, the plot doesn’t end there… The doctor from before returns and tells Sue that Old Behrman died of pneumonia. He had been outside all night in the cold. Sue later finds that the last leaf on the vine was in fact painted by Behrman. Clip: http://wn.com/the_last_leaf (play from 9:38)

Overall Theme: Hope Can Be Found in the Most Unlikely of Places This theme is developed throughout the story by emphasizing that Johnsy is placing her dependency on the wrong things in her life. She claims that as the last leaf on the vine dies, she will too. But the rub is that that leaf does die, but Johnsy is too delirious to notice that it has been replaced by a photo realistic painting, and gets better anyway. Her hope, and her desire to live do not come from the leaf; it comes from her neighbor, Behrman. While Johnsy is not aware of this, she still draws strength from that leaf, and in return, lives for it. It is a trick, but it keeps her alive.

Conflict Internal: Johnsy loses, and must find, the will to live. -Caused by Johnsy’s illness and her lack of control - Resolved when Johnsy sees that the “last leaf” refuses to fall, meaning that she should not fall either External: Sue’s struggle to show Johnsy that life is worth living. - Caused by her love for her friend and by Johnsy’s own struggle to live. - Resolved when Johnsy sees the resilience of the last leaf left standing. She then decides to live too - In a way, the resolution also comes with the death of Old Behrman and his final creation- his masterpiece, the leaf

O. Henry’s Writing Style… Syntax Varied sentence length Gives the story a very nice and readable flow Diction/Word Choice O’Henry uses flowery language “Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman.” Elaborate diction Used to make what’s happening kind of unclear Contributes to the fact that we don’t know that the leaf is a painting Sensory detail “Forty years he had wielded the brush without getting near enough to touch the hem of his Mistress's robe. He had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it.” Dialogue Uses heavy dialogue to tell the story Between Sue and Johnsy Formal conversation Point of View Limited omniscient This point of view lets us follow Sue and the people she is meeting, but this limits our perspective as it does not let us see into Johnsy as much. Story Elements Ordered chronology Irony Johnsy wanted to die, but she ended up living and Old Behrman died instead

Quotes People describe his writing style as “a smile with tears”. This implies his twisted way of giving emotion to thoughts and endings in each of his stories. He uses a lot of irony and plot twists in his stories. “He had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. For several years he had painted nothing except now and then a daub in the line of commerce or advertising” “And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and - look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece - he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.“ "I've been a bad girl, Sudie,” said Johnsy. “Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. It is a sin to want to die.”

Pictures Sources http://www.amazon.com/Evening-With-Henry-Last-Leaf/dp/B00005RERC http://literature.wikia.com/wiki/The_Last_Leaf https://romithevanquisher.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/leaf.jpg http://alyona007.blogspot.com/ http://rvv58.deviantart.com/art/O-Henry-Last-leaf-415273322 https://www.colourbox.com/vector/vector-illustration-of-tree-with-falling- leaves-and-butterflies-vector-2757228