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The Summary of The Last Leaf
The Last Leaf is a touching story of sacrifice. Rebuttal sacrifices his life to save the life of an aspiring young artist. Greenwich Village is situated in the west of Washington Square, part of a colony of artists. Two young artists, Sue and Johnsy also live there on the top floor of a three-story old building. These girls came from different places. But once they had met and become friends. Now they lived like sisters.
In November, it became apparent that pneumonia had taken hold of the artists’ colony. A number of people died and Johnsy caught pneumonia as well. Sue tried to take good care of Johnsy, but her condition quickly worsened and she lost interest in life. The physician advised Sue to make Johnsy more interested in life so he could survive.
There was a ivy creeper on the back wall of the next house. In the cold stormy, wind, its leaves were falling. Johnsy had a fancy that she would also die when the last leaf of this ivy fell down. Sue found out about this fancy from Johnsy and told her there was no link between her life and the last leaf of the ivy.
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But instead of listening to her, Johnsy decided to yell at her for wasting his time. So she convinced herself that there were still eleven more leaves left on the creeper and then fell asleep. She said that she expected the last leaf to fall in the night, since this had been happening all week long. Then she fell asleep.
After Johnsy went to sleep, Sue caught Behrman, an old painter who was in his sixties but had failed at painting. He always talked about the masterpiece that he was going to paint, but never actually finished it. And he drank a lot, too. He wasn’t making any money on his paintings anyway; Sue told him about Johnsy’s idea for a portrait of herself and then Behrman decided to help her out.
That night, it was raining and snowing heavily. Old Behrman took a ladder, a few colors, and went outside to paint. He found that all the leaves of the creeper were fallen. But he painted a leaf on the wall.
When Johnsy woke up, she was shocked to find the last leaf still there. She knew that fierce winds had blown throughout the night. Still, the leaf was there. She recognised how fortunate she and other peoples were to be alive. Having given up on her wish of dying, Johnsy began recovering. A day later, the doctor said she was well enough to go home.
That afternoon, they came to know that old Behrman had died. Sue told Johnsy that he had painted the leaf on the wall when the last leaf fell. He had gone out in snow and rain in order to paint the leaf. He had caught pneumonia and died. This leaf was, in fact, his masterpiece.
The Summary of The Last Leaf (2) :
Sue and Johnsy were two friends who were trying to make an original art piece. Sue was given the third floor of a house to live in and Johnsy was given the ground floor of the same house.
It was during November when Johnsy fell gravely ill with pneumonia. She had been bedridden for weeks and couldn’t seem to get herself up to go outside with her friend Sue. With Johnsy so unresponsive on the outside, Sue started to worry and called the doctor. The doctor visited every day but both of them knew that without Johnsy decided to live, there was no recourse for her. One day the doctor told Sue that perhaps Johnsy was depressed and in the absence of her will to live, no medicine could cure her.
Johnsy was Sue’s dear friend. So, she made sincere efforts to revive Johnsy’s interest in life by talking about clothes and fashion. Sadly, nothing worked. Then Sue brought her drawing board to Johnsy’s room and started painting. She whistled while working so that Johnsy’s mind could be taken off her illness.
When Sue heard Johnsy whispering, she rushed to bed and overheard that Johnsy was counting backwards when looking out the window. Sue looked out the window too and saw a creeper growing against the wall outside the window. The wind blew outside and the creeper shed its leaves.
Sue asked Johnsy what she was counting. Johnsy replied that she was counting the leaves on the creeper which were almost a hundred till three days ago but now only five were left. Sue said falling of leaves was normal since it was autumn. However, Johnsy revealed her shocking fear that when the last leaf fell, she too would die. Sue rubbished this idea and said that old ivy leaves had nothing to do with Johnsy’s illness. But, Johnsy insisted that she wanted to see the last leaf fall before it got dark and then sleep forever.
Sue did everything she could to comfort Johnsy while using the light outside to finish a painting that would collect the loan. Johnsy agreed on condition that Sue finish her painting soon and not make her wait longer to see the fall of the last leaf. Sue then told Johnsy she had to paint an old miner and descended downstairs to call Behrman, their neighbour, as her model.
Behrman lived on the ground floor in the same building. He was a sixty-year-old painter who had a lifelong dream to paint a masterpiece. Sue shared her worry with Behrman and told how Johnsy was convinced about her death with the fall of the last leaf.
Behrman accompanied Sue to her apartment, and the two of them walked silently into Johnsy’s room. Sue was sleeping at that time, so they went to the next room and peeked out through the window. The creeper had only one leaf on it; it was raining heavily and a cold wind was blowing. Behrman returned without saying anything
Next morning, Johnsy woke up and asked Sue in a feeble voice to draw the curtains. A nervous Sue reluctantly drew back the curtains but exclaimed when she looked at the creeper. She pointed out to Johnsy that there was still one leaf left and it looked quite green and healthy. Johnsy said that she had heard the wind last night and was sure that the leaf must have fallen. If it hadn’t so far, then it would surely fall soon and she too would die. Sue tried to cheer her up and asserted that she won’t die and she must live for the sake of her friends.
After every hour, Johnsy smiled- weakly and closed her eyes. She looked out of the window at everything around her and every time she saw a leaf still there. A second storm came in during the evening but the leaf did not fall. Johnsy looked for a long time, watching it until she called Sue and then revealed that she had not been good to her.
Sue had looked after her so lovingly and she, in turn, had not cooperated. The last leaf had shown her that she had been wicked. She had realised that it was a sin to wish to die. Sue hugged Johnsy and then gave her lots of hot soup and a mirror. Johnsy combed her hair and smiled brightly.
The doctor came in the afternoon and after examining Johnsy told Sue that since Johnsy now had the will to live, he was confident of her early recovery. Then, he decided it was best to visit a patient down on the first floor, Behrman who too was suffering from acute pneumonia.
The next morning Sue came and sat on Johnsy’s bed and informed her that Mr Behrman was no more. He had died of pneumonia that morning after a brief illness of only two days. He was found in his bed with wet clothes and shoes by the janitor. A ladder and a still lighted lantern were found near his bed. There were also some brushes and green and yellow paints near the ladder. Sue told Johnsy to look out of the window at the ivy leaf. She asked if she wondered why it didn’t flutter when the wind blew.
Behrman’s masterpiece was the green leaf he painted last night in the icy winds and rain.
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