Short story by the American writer O. Henry " Last page” was first published in 1907, entering the collection of short stories “The Burning Lamp”. The first and most famous adaptation of the novel took place in 1952. The film was called The Leader of the Redskins and Others.
Young artists Jonesy and Sue shoot for two small apartment in Greenwich Village, a New York neighborhood where artists have always preferred to settle. Jonesy got pneumonia. The doctor who treated the girl said that the artist had no chance of being saved. She will only survive if she wants to. But Jonesy had already lost interest in life. Lying in bed, the girl looks out the window at the ivy, observing how many leaves are left on it. The cold November wind breaks off more and more leaves every day. Jonesy is sure she will die when the last one is broken. The assumptions of the young artist are not substantiated by anything, because she may die sooner or later, or not die at all. However, Jonesy unconsciously connects the end of his life with the disappearance of the last leaf.
Sue is troubled by her friend's dark thoughts. Persuading Jonesy to get rid of a ridiculous idea is useless. Sue shares her experiences with Berman, an old artist who lives in the same house. Berman dreams of creating a real masterpiece. However, the dream has remained only a dream for many years. Sue invites a colleague to pose for her. The girl wants to write from him a gold digger-hermit. Upon learning of what is happening with Jonesy, Berman becomes so upset that he refuses to pose.
The next morning, after Sue's conversation with the old artist, Jonesy notices that the last leaf has remained on the ivy, symbolizing for the girl the last thread connecting her to life. Jonesy watches how the leaf resists desperate gusts of wind. Went to the evening heavy rain. The artist is sure that when she wakes up tomorrow morning, the leaf will no longer be on the ivy.
But in the morning Jonesy discovers that the leaf is still in its place. The girl sees this as a sign. She was wrong, wishing herself dead, she was driven by cowardice. The doctor who visited Jonesy notes that the patient has improved significantly, and that the chances of recovery have increased markedly. Girlfriends learn that Berman also fell ill, but he will not be able to recover. A day later, the doctor informs Jonesy that her life is no longer in danger. In the evening of the same day, the girl learned that Berman had died in the hospital. In addition, the artist learns that the old man, in a sense, died through her fault. He caught a cold and pneumonia the night the ivy lost its last leaf. Berman knew what this leaflet meant to Jonesy and drew a new one. The artist fell ill while attaching a leaf to a branch in the biting wind and pouring rain.
Artist Jonesy
Creative personalities have a soul more vulnerable than ordinary people. They are easily disappointed, quickly fall into depression for no apparent reason. That's exactly what Jonesy was. The first difficulties of life associated with the disease made her lose heart. Being a creative person, the girl draws a parallel between the ivy leaves, which disappear every day, and the days of her life, the number of which also decreases every day. Perhaps a representative of another profession would not have thought of drawing such parallels.
Old Man Berman
The old artist was not very lucky in life. He could not become famous or get rich. Berman's dream is to create real masterpiece that would immortalize his name. However, time passes, and the artist can not get to work. He simply does not know what exactly needs to be painted, while realizing that a real masterpiece must come out from under his brush.
Finally, fate sends the artist the opportunity to fulfill his dream not quite in the usual way. His dying neighbor puts her hopes on the last ivy leaf. She will surely die if this leaf falls off the branch. Berman is saddened by the sad thoughts of the girl, but deep down he understands her perfectly, since his soul is just as vulnerable and full of artistic images that are incomprehensible to others. The real masterpiece was a small inconspicuous sheet that did more than the most stunning picture of any of Berman's famous colleagues.
Artist Sue
Jonesy's girlfriend gets the role of an intermediary between those who have lost hope and those who are able to return it. Sue treasures Jonesy. Girls are united not only by profession. Living in the same apartment, they became a kind of small family, support for each other.
Sue sincerely wants to help her friend. But the lack of life experience does not allow her to do this. Jonesy needs more than just medication. The girl lost her will to live, and this is much worse than the inability to buy the necessary medicines. Sue doesn't know how to get Jonesy back. The artist goes to Berman so that he, as a senior comrade, can give her advice.
Analysis of the work
The skill of the author is manifested in the description of everyday situations. Excluding science fiction, not every writer can create the unusual out of the ordinary. The plot of the novel at first seems too prosaic. But for those who decide to read the work to the end, an unexpected and exciting denouement awaits.
Magic in the work
The Last Leaf is another example of a man-made miracle. Reading the short story, the reader involuntarily recalls the story "Scarlet Sails". The plots of the works are completely different. They are united by a miracle created by human hands. A girl named Assol waited all her life for her lover on a ship with scarlet sails simply because I received a “prediction” as a child. The old man, who wanted to give hope to the unfortunate child, made the girl believe in a miracle. Arthur Gray performed another miracle by making her dream come true.
Jonesy is not waiting for a lover. She has lost her bearings and does not know how to live on. She needs some kind of sign, which she, in the end, creates for herself. At the same time, the reader observes the hopelessness imposed by the girl. The ivy leaf will sooner or later come off the branch, which means that death is considered by Jonesy as something inevitable. In the depths of her soul, the young artist has already given up on life. Perhaps she does not see her future, expecting the same inglorious fate that befell her neighbor Berman. He did not reach any heights and remained a failure until old age, flattering himself with the hope of creating a picture that would enrich and glorify him.
Last page
In a small block west of Washington Square, the streets tangled up and broke into short strips called driveways. These passages form strange angles and curved lines. One street there even crosses itself twice. A certain artist managed to discover a very valuable property of this street. Suppose a assembler from a store with a bill for paints, paper and canvas meets himself there, walking home without receiving a single cent on the bill!
And so the artists stumbled upon the peculiar Greenwich Village quarter in search of north-facing windows, eighteenth-century roofs, Dutch lofts, and cheap rent. Then they moved a few pewter mugs and a brazier or two there from Sixth Avenue and established a "colony."
Sue and Jonesy's studio was at the top of a three-story brick house. Jonesy is a diminutive of Joanna. One came from Maine, the other from California. They met at the table d'hôte of a restaurant on Volma Street and found that their views on art, chicory salad and fashionable sleeves were quite the same. As a result, a common studio arose.
It was in May. In November, the surly stranger, whom the doctors call Pneumonia, walked invisibly through the colony, touching first one, then the other with his icy fingers. By East side this murderer marched boldly, hitting dozens of victims, but here, in the labyrinth of narrow, moss-covered lanes, he trailed behind the naga.
Mr. Pneumonia was by no means a gallant old gentleman. A petite girl, anemic from California marshmallows, could hardly be considered a worthy opponent for a burly old dumbass with red fists and shortness of breath. However, he knocked her down, and Jonesy lay motionless on the painted iron bed, looking through the shallow Dutch window frame at the blank wall of the neighboring brick house.
One morning, the preoccupied doctor called Sue into the hallway with a single movement of his shaggy gray eyebrows.
"She's got one chance—well, let's say, to ten," he said, shaking off the mercury in the thermometer. And then, if she herself wants to live. Our whole pharmacopoeia loses its meaning when people start acting in the interests of the undertaker. Your little young lady decided that she would not get better. What is she thinking?
“She… she wanted to paint the Gulf of Naples.
– Paints? Nonsense! Doesn't she have something in her soul that is really worth thinking about, for example, men?
"Well, then she's just weakened," the doctor decided. “I will do my best as a representative of science. But when my patient starts counting carriages in his funeral procession, I discount fifty percent off healing power medicines. If you can get her to ask just once what style of sleeves they will wear this winter, I guarantee you that she will have a one in five chance instead of a one in ten.
After the doctor left, Sue ran into the workshop and cried into a Japanese paper napkin until it was completely soaked. Then she bravely entered Jonesy's room with a drawing board, whistling ragtime.
Jonesy lay with her face turned to the window, barely visible under the covers. Sue stopped whistling, thinking Jonesy had fallen asleep.
She set up the blackboard and began an ink drawing of a magazine story. For young artists, the path to Art is paved with illustrations for magazine stories, with which young authors pave their way to Literature.
While sketching the figure of an Idaho cowboy in elegant breeches and a monocle in his eye for a story, Sue heard a low whisper, repeated several times. She hurried over to the bed. Jonesy's eyes were wide open. She looked out the window and counted—counted backwards.
“Twelve,” she said, and after a while, “eleven,” and then: “ten” and “nine,” and then: “eight” and “seven,” almost simultaneously.
Sue looked out the window. What was there to count? All that was visible was the empty, dreary yard and the blank wall of a brick house twenty paces away. An old, old ivy with a knotty trunk rotted at the roots, braided up to half brick wall. The cold breath of autumn tore the leaves from the vines, and the bare skeletons of the branches clung to the crumbling bricks.
"What's in there, honey?" Sue asked.
"Six," Jonesy said in a barely audible voice. “Now they fly much faster. Three days ago there were almost a hundred of them. My head was spinning counting. And now it's easy. Here's another one flying. Now only five remain.
"What's five, honey?" Tell your Sudy.
- Leaves. On plush. When the last leaf falls, I will die. I've known this for three days now. Didn't the doctor tell you?
This is the first time I've heard such nonsense! Sue retorted with magnificent contempt. “What can the leaves on the old ivy have to do with the fact that you will get better?” And you loved that ivy so much, you nasty little girl! Don't be stupid. Why, even today the doctor told me that you would soon recover ... let me, how did he say that? .. that you have ten chances against one. But that's no less than what any of us here in New York have when we ride the tram or walk past our new house. Try to eat some broth and let your Sudy finish the drawing so she can sell it to the editor and buy wine for her sick girl and pork cutlets for herself.
“You don’t have to buy any more wine,” Jonesy answered, staring out the window. - Here comes another one. No, I don't want broth. So there are only four left. I want to see the last leaf fall. Then I will die too.
“Johnsy, honey,” said Sue, leaning over her, “will you promise me not to open your eyes or look out the window until I finish my work?” I have to turn in the illustration tomorrow. I need light, otherwise I would lower the curtain.
– Can't you paint in the other room? Jonesy asked coldly.
“I would like to sit with you,” Sue said. “Besides, I don’t want you to look at those stupid leaves.
“Tell me when you're done,” Jonesy said, closing her eyes, pale and motionless, like a fallen statue, “because I want to see the last leaf fall. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to be free from everything that holds me - to fly, fly lower and lower, like one of these poor, tired leaves.
“Try to sleep,” Sue said. - I need to call Berman, I want to write from him a hermit gold digger. I'm at the most for a minute. Look, don't move until I come.
The story of O "Henry" The Last Leaf "is devoted to how main character, an artist, saves the life of a terminally ill girl at the cost of his own life. He does this thanks to his creativity, and his latest work turns out to be a kind of farewell gift to her.
Several people live in a small apartment, among them two young friends, Sue and Jonesy, and an already old artist, Berman. One of the girls, Jonesy, becomes seriously ill, and the saddest thing is that she herself almost does not want to live, she refuses to fight for life.
The girl determines for herself that she will die when the last leaf falls from the tree growing near her window, convinces herself of this thought. But the artist cannot accept the fact that she will simply wait for her death, preparing for it.
And he decides to outwit both death and nature - at night he winds a drawn picture to a branch with a thread. paper sheet, a copy of the real one, so that the last leaf never falls and, therefore, the girl does not give herself a "command" to die.
His idea works: the girl, who is still waiting for the last leaf to fall and her death, begins to believe in the possibility of recovery. Watching how the last leaf does not fall and does not fall, she begins to slowly come to her senses. And, in the end, the disease wins.
However, shortly after her own recovery, she learns that old Berman had just passed away in the hospital. It turns out that he caught a serious cold when he hung a fake leaf on a tree on a cold windy night. The artist dies, but in memory of him, the girls are left with this sheet, created on the night when the last one actually fell.
Reflections on the appointment of the artist and art
About "Henry in this story reflects on what the real purpose of the artist and art is. Describing the story of this unfortunate sick and hopeless girl, he comes to the conclusion that talented people come into this world in order to help simpler people and save their.
Since no one, except for a person endowed with creative imagination, could have such an absurd and at the same time such a wonderful idea - to replace real sheets with paper ones, drawing them so skillfully that no one could distinguish them. But the artist had to pay for this salvation with his own life, this creative decision turned out to be a kind of his swan song.
He also talks about the will to live. After all, as the doctor said, Jonesy had a chance to survive only if she herself believed in such a possibility. But the girl was ready to faint-heartedly lower her hands until she saw the last leaf that had not fallen. O "Henry makes it clear to readers that everything in their life depends only on themselves, that with willpower and a thirst for life, death can even be overcome.
It is impossible not to admire the work of O. Henry. This American writer, like no other, knew how to reveal human vices and exalt virtues with one stroke of the pen. There is no allegory in his works, life appears as it really is. But even the tragic events are described by the master of words with his inherent subtle irony and good humor. We bring to your attention one of the most touching author's short stories, or rather her summary. "The Last Leaf" by O. Henry is a life-affirming story written in 1907, just three years before the writer's death.
A young nymph stricken with a serious illness
Two aspiring artists, whose names are Sue and Jonesy, are filming inexpensive apartment in a poor area of Manhattan. The sun rarely shines on their third floor, as the windows face north. Behind the glass, you can only see a blank brick wall entwined with old ivy. This is approximately how the first lines of O. Henry's story "The Last Leaf" sound, the summary of which we are trying to produce as close as possible to the text.
The girls settled in this apartment in May, organizing a small painting studio here. By the time of the events described, November is standing outside and one of the artists is seriously ill - she was diagnosed with pneumonia. The visiting doctor fears for Jonesy's life, as she has lost heart and prepared to die. The thought firmly settled in her pretty head: as soon as the last leaf falls from the ivy outside the window, the last minute of her life will come for herself.
Sue tries to distract her friend, to instill at least a small spark of hope, but she does not succeed well. The situation is complicated by the fact that the autumn wind mercilessly plucks the leaves from the old ivy, which means that the girl does not have long to live.
Despite the brevity of this work, the author describes in detail the manifestations of Sue's touching care for her sick friend, the appearance and characters of the characters. But we have to omit many important nuances, as they set out to convey only a brief summary. "The Last Leaf" ... O. Henry gave his story, at first glance, an inexpressive title. It is revealed as the story progresses.
Evil Old Man Berman
The artist Berman lives in the same building one floor below. Twenty five recent years an aging man dreams of creating his pictorial masterpiece, but there is still not enough time to get to work. He draws cheap posters and drinks heavily.
Sue, a friend of the sick girl, thinks Berman is an old man with a bad temper. But still tells him about Jonesy's fantasy, her obsession with own death and falling ivy leaves outside the window. But how can a failed artist help?
Probably, in this place the writer could put a long ellipsis and complete the story. And we would have to sigh sympathetically, reflecting on the fate of a young girl, whose life was fleeting, in book language, “had a summary”. "The Last Leaf" by O. Henry is a story with an unexpected ending, as, indeed, most of the author's other works. Therefore, it is too early to put an end to it.
A small feat in the name of life
A strong wind with rain and snow raged all night outside. But when Jonesy asked her friend to open the curtains in the morning, the girls saw that a yellow-green leaf was still hanging on the stiff ivy stalk. And on the second and on the third day the picture did not change - the stubborn leaf did not want to fly away.
Jonesy also cheered up, believing that it was too early for her to die. The doctor, who visited his patient, said that the disease had receded and the girl's health was on the mend. Fanfares should sound here - a miracle has happened! Nature sided with man, not wanting to take away the hope of salvation from a weak girl.
A little later, the reader will have to understand that miracles happen at the will of those who are able to perform them. It is not difficult to verify this by reading the story in full or at least its summary. "The Last Leaf" by O. Henry is a story with a happy ending, but with a slight touch of sadness and light sadness.
A few days later, the girls learn that their neighbor Berman has died in the hospital from pneumonia. He caught a bad cold that very night when the last leaf was to fall from the ivy. A yellow-green speck with a stalk and like living veins, the artist painted with paints on a brick wall.
Instilling hope in the heart of the dying Jonesy, Berman sacrificed his own life. Thus ends the story of O. Henry "The Last Leaf". An analysis of the work could take more than one page, but we will try to express its main idea in just one line: "And in everyday life there is always a place for a feat."
The famous humorist wrote a painfully touching story, full of deep meaning, making you think about life, about the desire to live and, above all, to remain a person capable of understanding and compassion. This is exactly what the story of the famous O. Henry “The Last Leaf” is about, a summary of which will be described in this material.
Brief biography of the author
Master of the genre short story"Born September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Tried myself in different professions. He worked as an accountant in a real estate company, and as a draftsman in the land office, and as a cashier in a bank. He gained his first writing experience working for a humorous weekly in Austin. Subtle humor and unexpected endings are characteristic of his stories. During his creative life, about 300 stories were written, the complete collection of his works is 18 volumes.
Storyline of the story
The summary of the work of O. Henry "The Last Leaf" can be described as follows: two young girls live in the room, one of whom has pneumonia. The disease began to progress, the patient's doctor repeatedly pointed out the depressed mood of the latter, the young girl got it into her head that she would die when the last leaf fell from the tree. Ivy grew outside the window of the room, which fought against the autumn weather, each leaf of the plant came off and flew away under the onslaught of a merciless wind. The old unfortunate artist, who also has a nasty and grouchy character, who dreams of becoming famous by writing his artistic masterpiece, knew the story of the girl living on the floor above.
In our brief summary of O. Henry's The Last Leaf, I would like to note that the author, describing the complex and quarrelsome character of the artist neighbor, does not single out him, does not sympathize, but does not criticize either, the whole fullness of the picture is revealed in the last few words of a young girl, which describes recent events in the life of a recovering neighbor. The young organism prevailed over the disease, and the last leaf that remained on the ivy became the cause of recovery. From day to day he fought for life, he did not want to give up. Neither the wind nor the approach of winter could frighten him, and this tiny piece of life inspired the girl, and she wanted to get well, wanted to live again.
Above, in the summary of "The Last Leaf" by O. Henry, it was about an old artist who dies at the end of the story. He dies quickly, also falling ill with pneumonia, he is found unconscious on the floor in his room in wet clothes, and no one will know the reason for his act. And only a few days later, based on the words of the girls themselves, the reader will understand that this seemingly unbearable old man, whose heart was really pure, put his life on the line, it is he who will save dying girl creating your masterpiece. The old man drew the last leaf of the tree and attached it to the branch. And he caught a cold that night.
An old man who has lived and wised by life will give a magnificent lesson, which is more precious than all words, which this girl will never forget, and thanks to him she will look at life in a new way. The old man saved the man and fulfilled his golden dream. Such is the truly inspiring and at the same time touching story by O. Henry “The Last Leaf”, a summary of which is presented in this material. The story itself does not leave indifferent and touches to the depths of the soul.
desire to live
The desire to live, to fight for life, to love it, no matter how difficult it may seem. Yes, sometimes it seems that she is unfair, cruel, but she is beautiful and unique. Sometimes, in order to realize this, it is necessary to go through difficulties, to be on the verge of life and death. And it is precisely being on this chilly border that you realize how beautiful life is, how good are the simple things that surround us every day: the singing of birds, the warmth of the sun, the blue of the sky. How important it is to remember this, how it is necessary to talk about it to children, and let it seem to you that they will not understand you now, at this very moment, but it is worth talking about it, they will definitely remember your words when the time comes. The summary of O. Henry's book "The Last Leaf", described above, can serve as such an example.
Conclusion. Outcome
In conclusion, summing up the above, I would like to recommend reading "The Last Leaf" by O. Henry, a summary of which was presented to your attention in this material. This work is one of the best masterpieces of the author.