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The Last Leaf (A Critical Analysis)

The Last leaf is a short story that entails the treasury of life and the existence of love and hope. It shows the importance of living and how we deal with the hindrances we encounter in our daily lives. These two elements became more apparent in the lives of the two sisters, Joanna and Susan, when Mr. Pneumonia, which is described in the story as a "cold unseen stranger", stalked through Greenwich Village, touching one here and there with his icy fingers, and one of them is Susan. Joanna, her older sister, does everything for her. Joanna created more illustrated paintings to earn money which she spent to buy necessities. She called and invited the doctor to come and check Susan's condition. Joanna buys and prepares food and made several efforts to lift up Susans strength. Her love and concern for Susan is not strong enough to drown Susan's contemplation and desperation that her life ends when the last leaf falls from the vine as seen through the window facing Susan. As days passed by, Susan became more desperate: "I want to see the last one to fall. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves." Susan seems to be approaching her end. At that time, Mr. Burlane appears. Mr. Burlane is the most outlandish in the story. His life is unsuccessful and miserable. For many years, he failed to lay the first line of drawing for his greatest masterpiece which he has been dreaming for so long to finish. But then, when he met Joanna and learned about Susan's condition, he knew what his greatest masterpiece would be. He drew a leaf that looks real and that never fell near the vine on the wall which he did silently in a dark and stormy night. The following day, he was found dead. It was found out that he, too, has pneumonia just like Susan. The leaf he drew gave Susan a newfound hope. Mr. Burlanes act shows his love and concern for Susan and that he understands her feeling as well. The leaf Mr. Burlane painted on the wall truly is his greatest masterpiece because he painted it with his lofty heart and sincere art in an extremely difficult circumstance. Through Mr. Burlane, the theme of the story is revealed: love everybody, for humans life, and that is why art survives.

Guide Questions: 1. Who are the characters? Describe each vividly. Susan Brady is Joannas younger sister. She seems to be a very pessimistic person. She has lost the entire positive attitude in life due to her disease and she is waiting for her death. Joanna Brady is Susans older sister. Shes an optimistic person who talks to Susan like a mother trying to lift the spirits of a sick child. Mr. Burlane, the artist who dreams of painting a masterpiece one day, is the neighbor of Joanna and Susan. When he knows about Susan and the vine, he tries to do something in order to help her. Dr. Winchester is an optimistic person who tries to make Susan realize that her contemplation that she will die when the last leaf fall will just worsen her condition. Mrs. McClearly is a poor widow who owns the three-story brick building where Joanna and Susan lives. She is somehow sardonic and impatient to someone who does not pay on time. 2. Each one of us is an artist. Explain. Each one of us is an artist and thats what an artist is, a person who has never lost the gift of looking at life with curiosity and wonder. Art is not the exclusive possession of those who can draw, write poems, make music, or design buildings. It belongs to all those who can see their way through all things with imagination.
3. What was Mr. Burlanes greatest masterpiece? Mr. Burlanes greatest masterpiece was the last leaf on the wall because he painted it there with his lofty heart and sincere art in an extremely difficult situation.

4. What did Joanna mean about Life before art? Life before art is somehow the same with the old adage Life follows art which means that "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life". In his essay The Decay of Lying, written as a Platonic dialogue, Oscar Wilde holds that such philosophy "results not merely from Life's imitative instinct, but from the fact that the self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and that Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realise that energy." 5. What is the message of the story? The Last Leaf is a short story that entails the treasury of life and the existence of love and hope. It shows the importance of living and how we deal with the hindrances we encounter in our daily lives.

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