SUBMITTED TO: Maam Maimoona

SUBMITTED BY: Ghulam Mustafa

DEPARTMENT: U.G.S. (B.S. ENGLISH) 6th B

SUBJECT: Prose

TOPIC: Short story (characters, themes and symbols

CLASS: BS. Eng. 6th B

DATE: 20TH Sep, 2017.

 THE LAST LEAF

(O HENRY)

.Characters

.Themes

.Symbols

Characters:

Sue:

She was a young artist, lived in a shared studio with Johnsy. She was a loving,
caring and compassionate friend of Johnsy. She used to nurse and take care Johnsy
like a little innocent child and endured Johnsys childish behavior throughout her
sickness, motherly care of sue towards Johnsy is proving how Sue was a mature
and a good companion. Sue never faded up because of her worst condition and she
always tried to pretend as if everything was just fine and normal. Sue was a symbol
of love, care and compassion and her profound love and care is very much clear in
the story. Sue was an optimistic lady and when doctor told Sue that Johnsy had
only one out of ten chance of surviving, she never talked of Johnsys worsening
condition around her and she always tried to pretend that things were going
perfect. Johnsy had pessimistic view towards life but Sue was the one who tried
very hard to pull Johnsy out of her superstitious belief by telling her that how silly
is that to count the days of her life while awaiting for the last leaf to fall. The belief
of Johnsy was idiotic that how is it possible that with the fall of the last leaf her life
will end, too?

Johnsy:

As for as Johnsys character is concerned, she was highly pessimistic in her

attitude. She was an idiotic and she was of the view that if the last leaf fell her life
would end too. Such type of mentality shows an approach of character and it is
obvious that she was a childlike character. She was caught by a disease,
Pneumonia. Pneumonia gave birth to death phobia in her and she was very much
afraid of death. Sue solaced her and turned her attitude, pessimism towards
optimism. Her character is round because initially she gave up hope and became
the victim of pessimism approach towards life and later Sue tried her to pull her
out and made her to think positively. Johnsy was overwhelmed by vague
superstition that she was going to die whenever leaf falls. She was the symbol of
weakness, feeble, sensitivity and weak willed.

Behrman:

He was a short tempered and drunkard old man. He was shown as a frustrated artist
in this story. He was addicted to drugs this could be the reason of his confused
state of mind. He was a kind and compassionate man but on the other hand his
character is found as selfish man because he wanted to paint a masterpiece. The
way he sacrificed his life over Johnsys that is the example of sacrifice but as the
same time he fulfilled his wish of painting a master piece so, it can be said that
there might be contradiction among the critics. And he is considered to be to
protagonist of this story because this story revolves around the last leaf and
eventually that was made by him which became the source of survival and hope for
Johnsy. And this masterpiece was painted on a wall by an old man Behrman who
could not bear the intensity of cold and caught by pneumonia and eventually, died.
Themes

Hope:

The theme of hope is most important in this short story. The basic foundations of
Johnsys survival are based on hope and Sue is one who made her to be hopeful.
Sues hope and positivity is evident when sue is desperate to get Johnsy out of her
miserable state. The theme of hope can also be dealt in contrast to hopelessness.
The entire short story centers upon Johnsys pessimistic view but later she turned
herself towards optimism with Sues help and her hope sustained by last leaf,
painted by Behrman.

Pessimism:

Johnsys nature is highly pessimistic because of her disease, Pneumonia. Positivity

in her nature is lost. It is idiotic belief and very much negative to think that a leaf
was a source of a human life and death and human nature was dependent on a leaf
which implied height of pessimistic approach. It was very much illogical to believe
in such type of superstitious thinking. Johnsy was counting her days looking at that
leaf and awaiting for death, from below lines it is clear that how highly she
possessed the pessimistic view towards life.

It is the last one, said Johnsy I thought it would surely fall during the night. I
heard the wind. It will fall today, and I shall die at the same time.

Death:

The theme of death keeps the entire story going. This story is all about death and
dying. Johnsy is caught by lethal disease pneumonia and she is going to die. She
believes that with the fall of the last leaf her life will end too. And the season is
winter throughout the story and winter is associated with death and decay and at
the end of the story death of Mr. Behrman happens and it also happens in winter.
And in this season trees also shed the leaves of which implied that the winter is
season of death, suffering, gloominess and misery.
Sacrifice:

The theme of sacrifice is depicted from two characters, mainly Sue and Behrman.
Even though Mr. Behrman was a drunkard yet he sacrificed his life over Johnsys.
He painted that leaf in cold weather to save Johnsys life. And we know that
Behrmans sacrifice and effort pay off, Johnsy was saved to life and he fulfilled his
wish of painting a masterpiece. And Sue sacrificed her desired and her time over
the Johnsys good health.

Love and Sacrifice:

An effective bond between two friends is depicted beautifully by O Henry. It is

obvious from below lines that how strong their friendship was.

Dear Dear! Said she, learning her own face down to the pillow think of me If
you wont think of yourself what would I do.

Sue tried her best to care her and she made her think positive and sue is found very
much anxious about Johnsy. The element of love and care is prevailing throughout
the story. Sue is the symbol of love and friendship. Sue proved herself a good
friend. And the friendship philosophy, A friend in need is a friend indeed, truly
fits on Sue.

Art:

The characters in this story; Sue, Johnsy and Behrman are artists. And Behrmans
masterpiece is of prior importance because this all story revolves around it. And
this masterpiece is of great importance because it became the source of Johnsys
hope for survival and art became the source and power which gave Johnsys
strength to sustain her life. Johnsy and Sue they also wanted to shine their names in
the world of art that is why they faced the hardships and even they shared a studio.
Sharing a studio shows their financial potential that they both were not well off
even though they kept on struggling in the world of art.

Symbols:

The symbolism in Last Leaf is of great importance. O Henry has used symbolism
in order to elaborate his ideas to the readers and makes it further clear and
understandable.

Winter:
The story is written in winter and winter itself associated with hardships, hurdles
and this story all revolves around death and decay because winter is the season of
gloominess, misery and death. In winter even trees lose their greenery and they
shed their leaves off. There is a famous English proverb often found in the best
piece of literature; the game of thrones, The Winter Is coming, means that
hardships and miseries are going to come.

Leaf:

Leaf is a symbol of hope for Johnsy, as long as the leaf is there Johnsy keeps on
having hope for life.

Shoes and Icy cold:

Icy cold also symbolizes winter and shoes are also symbol of death and oppression
again.