"The Last Leaf" is a short story by
O. Henry published in 1907 in his collection
The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories. Set in
Greenwich Village, it depicts characters and themes typical of O. Henry's works.
Plot
A woman nicknamed Johnsy has come down with pneumonia, and is now
close to death. Outside the window of her room, the leaves fall from a
vine. Johnsy decides that when the last leaf drops, she too will die,
while her best friend Sue who stays with her, tries to tell her to stop
thinking so pessimistically.
In the same apartment building, an elderly, frustrated artist named
Behrman lives below Johnsy and Sue. Behrman has been claiming that he
will paint a masterpiece, even though he has never even attempted to
start. Sue visits Behrman, telling him that Johnsy, who is dying of
pneumonia, is losing her will to live. Sue tells Behrman that Johnsy
claims she will die when the last leaf falls off of the vine outside her
window. Behrman scoffs at this as foolishness, but—as he is protective
of the two young artists—he decides to visit Johnsy and see the vine
from her window.
In the night, a very bad storm comes and wind is howling and rain is
splattering against the window. Sue closes the curtains and tells Johnsy
to go to sleep, even though there is still one leaf left on the vine.
Johnsy protests against having the curtains closed, but Sue insists on
doing so because she doesn't want Johnsy to see the last leaf fall. In
the morning, Johnsy wants to see the vine to be sure that all the leaves
are gone, but to their surprise, there is still one leaf left.
While Johnsy is surprised that it is still there, she insists it will
fall that day. But it doesn't, nor does it fall through the night nor
the next day. Johnsy believes that the leaf stayed there to show how
wicked she was, and that she sinned in wanting to die. She regains her
will to live, and makes a full recovery throughout the day.
In the afternoon, a doctor talks to Sue. The doctor says that Mr.
Behrman has come down with pneumonia and, as there is nothing to be done
for him, he is being taken to the hospital to be made comfortable in
his final hours. A janitor had found him helpless with pain, and his
shoes and clothing were wet and icy cold. The janitor couldn't figure
out where he had been on that stormy night, though she had found a
lantern that was still lit, a ladder that had been moved, some scattered
brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it. "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."
Adaptations
- The story was first adapted for the screen as part of O. Henry's Full House in 1952.[1]
- In 1983 a second screen adaptation was done as a 24-minute film produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[2]
In this adaptation the protagonist's nickname of Johnsy is not use, and
instead uses Joanna (or Jo for short). Additionally Susan (Sue) is
portrayed as a sister, not a friend.
- The 2013 Hindi film Lootera lists it as inspiration and not adaptation in its final credits.[3]
References
Further reading
External links
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