Narrative Criticism

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   "The Last Leaf" by O.Henry is my Narrative Artifact.

• Setting:  The story takes place in a quaint old Greenwich Village which was a district west of Washington Square, in a squatty 3 story brick building on the 3rd floor.  The location does not change throughout the story.
• Characters:  Sue and Johnsy (short for Joanna) who are artists and roommates, the town doctor, old Behrman who lived downstairs, and Mr. Pneumonia
• Narrator: Story is mediated by a narrator who tells the audience about events and characters.  The narrator uses metaphors, phrases of speech, and is quite descriptive but straightforward.
• Events:  The major event in this story is that Mr. Pneumonia visits the village and many people are sick.  The main character, Johnsy, gets pneumonia and is on her death bed.  The doctor informs her roomate Sue that Johnsy only has a 1 in 10 chance of living if she thinks she will die, however, her chances of recovering increase by 50% if Johsny has 'something' to live for.  As Johnsy watches the leaves fall off the tree outside her window, she is certain she will die when the last leaf falls.   She begins to count down and thus is counting the last days of her life. Old Behrman downstairs is called upon by Sue to go outside in the night and paint an ivy leaf on the wall outside Johnsy's window the night the true last leaf actually falls.  In the morning Johnsy is surprised to see the leaf still hanging on the vine, though she doesn't realize it is just a painting.  She goes on to make a full recovery from pneumonia.  Ironically, the painter old Behrman downstairs contracts pneumonia from being out on that cold night painting the ivy leaf and dies within a few days.  He painted a masterpiece that saved Johnsy, losing his own life instead.  Using the power of her mind, Johnsy found a reason to live and her body healed itself.
• Temporal Relations:  The events in the story occur in a brief period of time, within a few weeks, although the relationship between Sue and Johnsy is mentioned as having gone on from May to November.  A few historical flashbacks are recounted at the beginning to set up the scene of the story and to describe the characters and how they came together at that particular time.  The narrative goes in chronological order and is simplistic sequence.  The narrative is in present tense.  The narrator does not use flash forwards, and the outcome is not predictive, but more surprising and thought-provoking.
• Causal Relations:  Every incident seems to have a cause and effect happening in this story.   For instance the doctor mentions that his medicine and science will not be as beneficial as Johnsy's will to live.  Sue tried to provoke a will to live in Johnsy, therefore she sought help from downstairs.  Old Behrman had was a lonely drunk who constantly talked about painting a masterpiece, and he finally got his chance to do that when he painted the ivy leaf on the brick wall.  This in turn created hope and ultimately healed Johnsy, though Behrman lost his life as a result, although he had fulfilled his life dream of creating a famous masterpiece.  
• Audience:  The audience is anyone who reads the story, and is willing to find meaning in the symbolic nature of the character's actions. 
• Theme:  One main theme of this story is that the "mind is more powerful than medicine"  another is "in giving, we receive"
• Genre:  This story is a romance (even though it doesn't involve falling in love) because the protagonist Johnsy emerges victorious over the enemy of pneumonia, it is also a tragedy because old Behrman gave his life while aiding in Johnsy's recovery, and ironically he was too old and did not overcome the same enemy of pneumonia that he helped Johnsy overcome.