The Last Leaf

Johnsy, the second of the story’s three main characters, is a struggling artist from California. Johnsy is a dynamic character in that she undergoes a transformation during the story. Sue recalls her roommates as having a dream: to paint the Bay of Naples. However, at the start of the story, Johnsy is “very thin and very quiet” (14) after her severe bout with pneumonia. Though she has, according to the doctor, “a very small chance […] if she wants to live” (13), Johnsy has destined herself to die. Her willpower gone, she spends her time gazing out her bedroom window at the fragile remaining leaves falling from the old tree outside. Johnsy’s negativity and resignation cause her to believe that “When the last one [leaf] falls, I must go, too” (14). At this point, Johnsy refuses to eat.

The morning after Sue paints Behrman, though, Johnsy awakens and asks to see the tree. Though it takes some time, as Johnsy watches the last leaf withstand the brutal weather, her hope rekindles. In the end, Johnsy admits that she has been “a bad girl” and now believes that fate has “made that last leaf stay there to show me how bad I was. It is wrong to want to die” (17). Johnsy asks for food and a looking-glass, and she resurrects her dream of painting the Bay of Naples. She is renewed. It is Johnsy’s recovery in combination with the last leaf that constitutes Behrman’s long elusive “masterpiece.”

Johnsy, the second of the story’s three main characters, is a struggling artist from California. Johnsy is a dynamic character in that she undergoes a transformation during the story. Sue recalls her roommates as having a dream: to paint the Bay of Naples. However, at the start of the story, Johnsy is “very thin and very quiet” (14) after her severe bout with pneumonia. Though she has, according to the doctor, “a very small chance […] if she wants to live” (13), Johnsy has destined herself to die. Her willpower gone, she spends her time gazing out her bedroom window at the fragile remaining leaves falling from the old tree outside. Johnsy’s negativity and resignation cause her to believe that “When the last one [leaf] falls, I must go, too” (14). At this point, Johnsy refuses to eat.

The morning after Sue paints Behrman, though, Johnsy awakens and asks to see the tree. Though it takes some time, as Johnsy watches the last leaf withstand the brutal weather, her hope rekindles. In the end, Johnsy admits that she has been “a bad girl” and now believes that fate has “made that last leaf stay there to show me how bad I was. It is wrong to want to die” (17). Johnsy asks for food and a looking-glass, and she resurrects her dream of painting the Bay of Naples. She is renewed. It is Johnsy’s recovery in combination with the last leaf that constitutes Behrman’s long elusive “masterpiece.”

Behrman is the epitome of the starving artist who, in his 60s, has never reached his potential. For 40 years, despite his best efforts, he has never painted a good painting; nonetheless, he remains committed to creating his masterpiece. The old man lives on the first floor of Johnsy and Sue’s building. Behrman is a heavy drinker, and though he initially blusters in response to Sue’s request to come sit for her while Johnsy is sick, it takes little persuasion for him to change his mind. Once he does, he insists that he has been wanting to come upstairs all along.

Behrman feels a “special duty” to protect Johnsy and Sue. When he learns from Sue that Johnsy has a superstitious notion that when the last leaf from the old tree falls, she will die with it, Behrman is somewhat outraged, decrying the belief as foolish. Yet overnight, Behrman creates a painting, a last leaf, on the wall outside Johnsy’s bedroom. He does so while subjecting himself to a violent storm. Behrman’s painting revives Johnsy’s spirits and sparks her will to live. Ironically, Behrman succumbs to pneumonia after completing the painting, which represents a great sacrifice and unwavering commitment to friendship.

The doctor is a flat character built to move the plot along and attest to the severity of Johnsy’s pneumonia and loss of will to live. Henry uses the doctor’s dialogue to note facetiously the prevailing attitude that a woman should not be concerned with her career or art so much as with a man—presumably, a romantic interest. The doctor also suggests the motivation of “new winter clothes” to motivate Johnsy rather than living in order to paint the Bay of Naples one day.