Khrissarah
Charlize M. Yap
11-Onesta
(HUMSS)
The
Last Leaf
By:
O. Henry
“The Last Leaf” is a short story written by O. Henry, a story that depicts
the morbidity of death and of the fancies that come with the idea of it. The
story focuses on Johnsy, a starving artist who focuses on the idea of leaving
this world by the means of blowing away like a leaf because of a strong gust of
wind, which is further exemplified by the main character; willing herself to
death, waiting for the final leaf to fall, so that she can finally go to eternal
rest.
The characters have shown individuality and showcased their own ideologies
when it came to death, like how Old Behrman believes that wishing death upon
oneself is simply foolish. Johnsy also shows how much she contrasts this idea
by her fancies of finally leaving the material earth, mostly affected by the
sickness it made her delusional and started imagining herself what the world
would be like if she were dead. It is interesting how the characters are in
somewhat the same situation, yet they feel differently in regards to their
situation. The story has also given the characters the proper introduction and
an ample enough time to develop, since short stories like these often suffer
from poor character introduction, and the reader often doesn’t care about the
characters. But in the story, Henry was able to garner the readers’ sympathy
with Johnsy’s situation, which is a notable strength in this piece. As for the
general flow of the story, the pacing is quite slow since each origin and
character needed to be explained in detail. Nevertheless, the story itself is
very interesting and is able to grab the reader’s attention long enough to want
to know whether or not Johnsy dies in the end. The use of vocabulary in this
piece is also quite off-setting, especially how Old Behrman’s dialogue is
delivered. Although I do think it’s relevant for the character’s individuality,
it unnecessary to make readers find it difficult to read his lines; Henry could’ve
found a different way of doing this.
In conclusion, “The Last Leaf” is definietely a piece worth reading and
should be acknowledged for its creative symbolism and ways of describing death and
of the struggles knowing that death will come to us eventually. It is a piece
that has aged beautifully and should be given the credit it deserves.
✅
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