The Last Leaf Summary & Analysis

Greenwich Village is a haven for poor artists and bohemian young people, and O. Henry depicts a vibrant creative community. However, the “starving artist” existence has its costs, such as poor living conditions, shortage of food, and exposure to cold and sickness. It’s also worth noting that Greenwich Village has historically been home to a large portion of New York’s lesbian and gay population—a fact which becomes significant in light of Henry’s implication that the two female protagonists may be romantically involved.

The basis of Sue and Johnsy’s friendship is a shared interest in art: from the beginning, their relationship is inseparable from their creative interests. This backstory provides context for Sue and Johnsy’s intense emotional attachment to one another, not simply because both women share an interest in art, but also because being unmarried female artists makes them both outsiders. That Henry characterizes pneumonia as a strange male visitor to the neighborhood perhaps helps to further establish men as an antagonistic presence in the lives of these two unusual women.

The doctor’s contemptuous response to Sue’s suggestion that Johnsy might be depressed over frustrated artistic ambitions demonstrates prevailing attitudes about gender at the time: the doctor thinks that romantic troubles are worth a woman’s concern, but art is not. The doctor’s diagnosis also reveals a close linkage between hope and health; Johnsy won’t live, he says, unless she decides she has something to look forward to. Sue’s firm assurance that there is no man in Johnsy’s life might suggest that she knows this because they are romantically involved, or simply that she knows Johnsy is focused on traveling and developing her talents as an artist, and not on marriage and children.

Sue’s work on the magazine establishes her economically precarious condition: she can only buy more food for Johnsy after she has sold the illustration, suggesting that money is short. Still, Sue plans to do everything possible to help Johnsy, which shows the strength of her attachment: she cooks, cleans and cares for her friend in her illness, while also acting as the primary breadwinner in their household. She knows how important it is that Johnsy not lose hope, so she conceals the news of the doctor’s pessimistic prognosis. Despite all these efforts, however, Johnsy is increasingly cold to Sue, turning away from friendship as she psychologically prepares herself for death. Johnsy’s desire to “go sailing down” like one of the leaves demonstrates her fading hope and her loss of the will to live.

After decades of failure, Behrman is still trying to paint his “masterpiece.” He is initially harsh to Sue, deriding Johnsy’s “foolishness” for thinking that leaves could affect her health: like Sue, he points out that the falling of the leaves has nothing to do with whether or not Johnsy will recover. But his willingness to come upstairs and pose, as well as his obvious concern for Johnsy’s welfare, prove that he in fact cares deeply about his upstairs neighbors. In this way, O. Henry suggests that underneath Behrman’s gruff exterior—the product of a long, hard life of social alienation, economic struggle, and creative disappointment—he still has the capacity to connect with others. The significance of his long, solemn look at the ivy vine is only revealed later: perhaps Behrman had decided then to paint the illusion of a leaf on the wall outside her window.

When the last leaf (which has actually been painted onto the wall by Behrman) survives the night’s storm, Johnsy is surprised, but states that it will surely fall during the day, a glum prediction that demonstrates her continuing depression. Even in the face of Sue’s pleas, Johnsy is still convinced that the pneumonia will kill her, and seems determined to sever herself from human connection as a way of preparing for death. Paradoxically, this shows the strength of Johnsy’s attachment to Sue: her attempts to dissolve the bonds of friendship before dying suggests that it is human intimacy which “binds” people to life.

Johnsy finally sees the error of her ways: if the leaf that she had imagined as a symbol of her coming death can survive, then she can, too. Her statement that “it is a sin to want to die” has religious implications, suggesting that she may have found faith again along with hope. Her request for food and a mirror as well as her statement that she hopes to paint the Bay of Naples demonstrate that her hope has returned along with her health. The doctor’s assessment of her vastly-improved odds of survival—“even chances,” when before it was “one in ten”—links her improved medical prognosis to the redemptive hope given to her by the last leaf. This underscores one of the story’s central messages: that hope and life are inextricably intertwined.

“The Last Leaf” ends with one of O. Henry’s famous surprise endings: the “last leaf” is in fact a painting by Behrman. This seems to confirm what Sue and Behrman believed all along: that it wasn’t the survival of the leaf that mattered, but the rekindling of Johnsy’s hope. In a further twist, it is not Johnsy who dies, but Behrman. Despite the loneliness of Behrman’s death, his sacrifice was not in vain. For, by referring to this selfless act of sacrifice as Behrman’s “masterpiece,” Sue is referring both to the quality of the painting—which is extraordinarily realistic—and to the love and generosity of the act itself, which had given Johnsy the will to live.