Final Essay

Narrative Criticism of "The Last Leaf"  by O.Henry

 

Hope.

Have you ever wondered the power you hold within the walls of your own mind?  Why is it that when a person sets his mind on something the unconscious goes to work night and day to achieve it?  For good or for ill? What is it about optimism and  anticipation that creates physical healing to advance?   Unbelievers may throw their chances in life to the wind, but visionaries who understand the magnificent power this simple proposal could make on their destination, may also realize the influence and command the psyche has on their life. Hope.

In this analysis, I will examine the idea that the mind is more powerful than medicine.  I will also discover why each journey in this life has unique qualities, and individual passions worthy of attention and care.  Diversity between humans, begs the discontinuance of judgments upon each other.  One person's hope promoting longings, may be at odds with another's, yet both are the ideal for that person.  Ultimately though, we all need each other to attain self-actualization. 

The short story, "The Last Leaf" will be the piece of artistic literature used to paint the answers to these questions.  This small tale includes many areas worthy of rhetorical analysis.  The objective of the story is to instill hope in a fate filled situation, by offering lessons the audience can relate to through the telling of the narrative.  I will focus on the characters within this narrative as my palate of color.

In painting this essay,  I will first explain the narrative mode of criticism.  Next I will describe the artifact, outlining its basic qualities.  This description will include the context in which this story was written, and a justification as to warrant this analysis.  Thirdly I will reveal the worthy points in the story of analysis I've chosen, proving the objective of the story according to my perspective.  Finally I will offer how these findings might improve the human condition by offering relative insight.

Narrative Criticism

The narrative form of criticism helps us make sense of stories through finding shared relevance and association.   Humans draw meaning by relating to the stories and therefore it can be a powerful means of persuasion and expression.   

Walter Fisher  created the narrative paradigm asserting that human beings are essentially storytelling creatures and that the dominant mode of human decision making involves the sharing of these stories.  A narrative begs involvement of its audience.

A narrative includes the following distinguishable elements:

          1.  Contains at least two events, either active or stative

          2.  Events are organized by time

          3.  Must have cause and effect relationships

          4.  Must be about a cohesive subject matter

A narrative has identifiable features that aid in satisfying the objective of the rhetorer.  These features are the setting, characters, narrator, events, relations, audience, and theme of the narration.  The objective may be met through any or all of these avenues, or one feature may hold the majority of the purpose of the narrative.  These features provide a structure or skeletal base in which an adequate analysis can be made.

I chose to use the narrative method in this essay because of how one can draw meaning from the characters in the story "The Last Leaf."  

The Last Leaf 

"TheLast Leaf," was written by O.Henry (1862-1910).

The major event in this story is that Mr. Pneumonia visits the village and many people are infected.  The story's setting is in a quaint old Greenwich Village comprised of seeking artists looking for opportunity.  The 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.  The main characters in the story are Sue and Johnsy, who are  roommates living on the 3rd story of a squatty brick building in a studio apartment.  These two women  share similar passions for painting. 

The humanized sickness, Mr. Pneumonia makes its way among the streets of Greenwich Village, captivating many, and Johnsy is no escapee.  She is stricken and on her deathbed.  The doctor of the town is the next character introduced as he shares Johnsy's diagnosis with Sue, explaining her chances were one in ten of living unless she has something to live for.  Johnsy is sure she will die at this point.  As Johnsy watches the leaves fall off the vine 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.

The doctor claims that if a patient has already counted the carriages in his/her funeral procession, he could almost safely deduct 50% chances of the his medicinal wisdom and power from curing.

A drunk 60+ year old man, deemed a failure in the art department, lives downstairs in the brick building and is called upon to help Sue.  He talked often of painting his 'masterpiece'. . .  someday.  Behrman comes to Sue's aid not initially realizing it would be Johnsy he would ultimately save. 

The context in which this story was written at a time in history where medicine was not advanced, and a bout with pneumonia posed as a deadly threat.  It's also worth mentioning that the artists were striving for their passions of becoming artists while it was unpopular at the time to do so, especially for two women. It would have been a more reasonable choice for them to settle down and find a man to marry.

This narrative is worthy of analysis as the reader can relate to feelings of hopelessness, trials, and despair.  It offers a view of powerful insight by using the mind in overcoming obstacles. 

Analysis

I will explore how the characters in the Last Leaf overcame their despair in their own unique way, using the mental powers of hope.  There are many parallels between the characters and their own journeys that I will mention.  The three characters I will explore specifically are the doctor, Johnsy, and Old Behrman.   Each were in some way "infected"  by the villain, Mr. Pneumonia.   Each overcame their limitations by the powers of hope along with the help of each other.  None of them could have accomplished this solitarily.  I will also discuss how Sue served as the facilitator for each of these three characters.

In this story Mr. Pneumonia is described as an "unseen stranger",  a "stalker", "icy", "smiting his victims without chivalry."  Metaphorically he is like the despair that comes into our lives.  Mr. Pneumonia could be the trials and tragedies that we are not expecting.  He could be anything that holds us back from reaching our potential.  Mr. Pneumonia could literally freeze our abilities, our lives, our ambitions with his icy hands.  For Johnsy, he froze her life as she lay on her deathbed.  

As this disease relates to the characters in the "The Last Leaf", Mr. Pneumonia presents exclusive obstacles.  For example, the doctor deals with the him in his quest to aid others to be healed from the sickness.  He isn't infected himself, yet in the story the doctor is still required to overcome Mr. Pneumonia.   

Johnsy's body on the other hand is infected itself and her biggest requirement is to be healed.   Behrman's obstacle is also related to Mr. Pneumonia, although the disease is actually the facilitator of his reaching his goal.  By him painting his masterpiece in order to save Johnsy from Mr.Pneumonia, he fulfills his sole purpose.  Ironically then, the sickness infects Behrman and takes his life, relieving him from his depression only after aiding him.  

My interpretation of Mr. Pneumonia is that he is a necessary evil for progression.  He's our trials in life.  Mr. Pneumonia persists as a blessing and a curse.  He both hurts and helps each individual he touches.   The infected find ways to overcome him, yet without him none could reach their potential thus fulfilling their purpose or greatest desire. We will all be given different burdens, exclusive mountains to climb, distinctive hardships, yet the common thread is that each mortal will definitely have to face them.  

But wait, will they HAVE to?  Can we sidestep Mr. Pneumonia?  Do we have the choice?  

It wasn't until the characters made the decision to face their problems that they could overcome them.  Had they continued in ignorance, Mr. Pneumonia would have only been a curse, taking their lives or the lives of their patient or upstairs neighbor.  So in reaction to the above question, I propose that NO we do not HAVE to face up to our problems.  We can indeed live in ignorance.  We don't have to call the doctor.  We don't have to find a passionate goal or reason to live.  We don't have to paint a masterpiece.  We don't have to help our friends, or heal the sick.  The choice must be made, and luckily with the help of others, our choices can be to face our demons and make up our minds to overcome our limitations.  It all starts (and ends) in our minds.

The characters in this story each face their demons.  Mr.Pneumonia.

The doctor uses science and medicine to facilitate treating his patients, yet he mentions that these devices hold little curative value if the patient have nothing to live for.  The doctor realizes the power of the mind in overcoming sickness.    

Johnsy is a hopeless and dying case.  She once had a desire to "paint the Bay of Naples" , yet she is on her deathbed counting the days till she passes.   Johnsy initially does not want to face her demon.  She has given up.  The rhetor metaphorically  portrays her as a test case, referring to her through Sue calling her a "little white mouse,"  suggesting a sort of experimental project taking place.  Sue aims to heal Johnsy by reminding her of a reason to live through deception of a clinging leaf painted on a brick wall.  Hope.   Sue facilitates, helps, draws on others (the doctor and Behrman).  Even Sue faces the same demon, she is the linking pin among the others infected.  

The experimentation then is to see if in fact the doctor was right in his implication that the mind is more powerful than his medicinal powers.  Sue tests out his theory by calling on Behrman to paint Johnsy 'hope' on the outside wall.  As Johnsy passively watches her life fade(watches the leaves fall) she believes she will die.  The idea of hope is the entity that brings remedy.  Believing that because that last leaf refused to fall, she in turn was meant to live, accordingly she did.  She then desired to paint "The Bay of Naples" again.  Using mental powers to overcome her sickness, she found her passion and ignition for living.

My favorite character, Old Behrman, is intriguing.  Behrman is a hopeless case.  He is depressed.  A failure.   Drunken daily sitting next to a blank canvas.   He hesitates to conform to Sue's request for help, but once he faces the opportunity to come out of his shell and assist, he is able to actually find the fulfillment he lacked.   Satisfying his dreams, while facilitating someone else to fulfill theirs.  He is like the leaf he painted, he became his own masterpiece in a sense.  Let me explain.  The story relates,

          ". . . after the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf.  It was the last on the vine.  Still dark green near its stem, but with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay, it hung bravely from a branch some twenty feet above the ground" (Henry, 2002).

Berhman experienced the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind as he failed in his attempts to be an accomplished artist.  I liken his body to the leaf he painted.  The above description of the leaf says it had "serrated edges tinted with the yellow dissolution and decay."   Behrman was an old man, a drunk, tinted by life's downturns.  He was decaying also.  But at his stem and core of his soul, he was still dark green, full of chlorophyll and life.  In spite of the storm at his core he still had strength to hang bravely from the branch amid the storm.  It portrays how he left his mark before he died.  His sacrifice remained as a permanent token.  He not only fulfilled his purpose, he left his legacy, a depiction of himself, for others to draw from.

Each character had differing passions and goals.

The doctor asks Sue if Johnsy has anything to live for, any reason to spur hope into her mind.  Sue answers that Johnsy has always wanted to paint the Bay of Naples.  The doctor's reply is "Bosh!  Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice---- a man, for instance?" (Henry, 2002)  He did not agree that wanting to paint a picture was a worthy cause to want to live.  He thought a man to marry would be a more justifiable cause for life.    Johnsy in a sense did not agree that her mind was powerful enough to cure her body.  Berhman did not initially agree to help.  They all had different desires, different passions, different goals.  Together, however, these characters  were able to bring about mutual fulfillment.

Insight

This narrative offers many points of discovery that can be insightful to the human spirit.  It offers hope,  significance of having a vision, sacrifice, self-discovery, and interdependence.
The power of the mind is a tool that can facilitate us to reach our highest potential.  It's power can trump that of years of science and medicinal discovery. 

 I draw the meaning that the choice to overcome your burdens through mental will-power, although harder than being passive, is the only way to experience self-actualization.  It reminds me of the  quote:

"And the day came for the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom" by Anais Nin

As we first face our hardships, we then can commit to make up our minds to overcome them.  We can choose to be stagnant, or we can choose to move forward.  We can improve and be better than we were before.  All of this can be accomplished by action, determination, and most importantly by the help of those around us.  Hope is a HEALING state of MIND!!!

Reference:

Henry, O. (2002). The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories. New York: Scholastic.