Seniors especially Numlians are requested to check my short stories notes.
Thanks in Anticipation.








O’Henry (William Sydney Porter) was a prolific American short-story writer, master of surprise and to the point ending, often referred to as an “O’Henry ending”. Rollin said:

“The conclusion is an enigma”.

He involved the reader under suspense until the last sentence. He had an idea that life is a spontaneous phenomenon, therefore you never know what kind of turn your life will take for the better or worse.
He was also called the American answer to Guy de Maupassant. Both authors wrote twist plots, however O’Henry’s were much more playful and optimistic.
His stories are split into five groups based on setting:

• The South
• The West
• The Central America
• Prison
• New York

His works provide one of the best examples of catching the entire flavor of an age. Whether roaming the cattle-lands of Texas, exploring the art of the “gentle grafter”, or investigating the tensions of class and wealth in turn of the century, New York. He had an inimitable hand for isolating some elements of society and describing it with an incredible economy along with grace of language. His basic techniques are:

• Use of local colour in speech patterns and rhythms.
• Use of realistic dialogue in his works, his own history, first hand observations of the various classes of people he knew and lived with. Rollin said Porter had a “maltreatment of words” his vocabulary was contained a lot of slang words and phrases. And “that” makes him favourable among general public.
• He used to sketch so his words are based on some pictures; first, an imposter or a person who wears a mask, second is the idea of fate as one thing in life that cannot be avoided.

Style:

• He has a good sense of humor and liked to show irony.
• His twist plots, the author set up a scene in one way, and then the opposite of what you expect actually happens.

Setting:

• His own times, early years of 20th century.


Thus, O’Henry’s works in total can be put together into these five elements:
• A quick opening that pulls the reader into action surefire ‘hook’.
• A confiding narrator who holds back important information until the last moment.
• A pleasant and worldly wise tone including chitchat, wit, satire, philosophy and swank.
• Open-minded use of a ‘humane renegade’.
• A healthy dose of coincidence usually with a reversal in which everything is safe and set right.
• Surprise endings.


‘The Last Leaf’ by O’Henry is a story that entails the treasury of life and the existence of faith, hope and God. In which a symbolic article of hope becomes another man’s doom. It is a story of deep-felt love between the poor artists in which love wins poverty, disease and misery, and makes art valuable as well as alive. Art triumphs over death and immortalized life by its touch. Aristotle quotes:


Here nature does not mean external natural phenomenon but it deals with inner human feelings and emotions of delicacy. Thus, art plays a vital role in the philosophy of life.


Critical Analysis of ‘The Last Leaf’:


‘The Last Leaf’ consists of four human characters; Johnsy, Sue, Doctor and Buhrman, and a non-living character Mr. Pneumonia.

Literary devices:

In style main focus is on manners which are used by the writer, i.e., dialogues, vocabulary, metaphorical diction, comparison, syntax, kinds of imagery, symbolism, personification and subject matter. A variety of figurative or metaphorical language is used to portray human attributes and feelings.

“The streets run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called ‘places’”.

“Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman”.

“Buhrman had a Michael Angelo’s Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr along the body of an imp.”

“Young artists must pave their way to art by drawing pictures for magazine stories that young authors write to pave their way to literature.”

(Art and literature are very close to each other but the writer compares them on the level of their functions.)

Leaf deals with life, nutrition, growth and rebirth to some extent.

Shoes symbolize oppression, tyranny and death.

The image of ‘white mouse’ used for Johnsy represents her health, as white color denotes innocent and purity.

Elucidation:

This story highlights the lives of New Yorkers, the city itself Henry liked to call ‘Bagdad-on the-Subway’, it depicts the lives of poor artists and their “unconditional” love that is revealed at a time when ‘a cold unseen stranger’ appears, touches with its icy fingers and Johnsy’s blood dries by the west wind. However, her friend does everything for her.
Johnsy falls ill. She confines herself with a fancy that she will die when the last ivy leaf of ivy tree falls.


Unlike Johnsy, Sue is optimistic, she tried to console her. When it does not work she consults the painter Behrman to paint an ivy leaf against the wall as Johnsy fears that she is indeed, light and fragile like a leaf that would float away when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker. First he becomes mad on Johnsy’s such idiotic imaginations. Afterwards he paints a leaf clinging to the stem against the wall. Thus Sue recovers her health, but Buhrman dies of pneumonia in the hospital.
The strangest character in the story with unsuccessful and miserable life is Old Buhrman. For forty years he has not touched the ham of art fairy. And after twenty years, he even cannot lay first line of drawing for his masterpiece, which he has been dreaming. His work is model. However, his portrait is staring at the end of life, he finishes his masterpiece; Johnsy’s life. He pours his rest life into Johnsy. That “lovely” voluntary act is mutely taken place in a dark night but it makes old artist “immortal”.
Subsequent to the profound analysis of this story, we have following themes:


• Optimism and Pessimism
• Hope and Faith
• Life and Death
• Don’t judge people by their outward appearance
• Friendship


In ‘The Last Leaf’ O’Henry portrays system of the universe, as it is based on opposite forces; day and night, black and white, hope and frustration, as well as optimism and pessimism. We observe pessimism in the character of Johnsy. She loses her hope and bounds herself with the dying ivy tree, whose leaves fall due to the seasonal change. We can also term this observable fact a ‘psychological disturbance’ in her personality that leads her to such a melancholy. Unlike Johnsy Sue is full of hope and faith. Thus, the characters in of O’Henry in ‘The Last Leaf’ indicate the universal fact that one must have faith and hope in the existence of Nature which governs the universal law of life, death and destiny. For the reason that God is the only one who is the master of the ‘Whole’. Hope and conviction are the basic tools that can change one’s life, or it may be more appropriate to say; Destiny. Pope quoted that:

Hope springs eternal in the human breast,
Man is never but always to be, blest.

Emily Dickinson utters:


Hope gives us courage to dream for future, For instance, if someone falls seriously ill, recovery seems impossible, but still one is dreaming for his healing because of hope. One does not think of the black or fatal bird. The significance of ‘leaf’ is life and nurture. Leaf is the hope of life for tree or plant. When Johnsy sees the painted leaf against wall through window then she says:


And

“The next day the doctor said to Sue: She’s out of danger. You’ve won”.

Nature is contrasting, everything in nature has its opposites and these opposites are closely linked together to form a proper connection of natural continuation. Likewise, life and death are closely related to each other. It seems that they are two sides of a single coin. The title of this short story also conveys the theme of Death along with Life. In title “The Last Leaf” Last represents Death or something going to an end while; Leaf, as it is the sign of nurture, or “rebirth” we can say, denotes Life. The life or growth of tree or plant may be guessed through its branches and condition of leaves. There were almost a hundred leaves clinging with the stem but they were falling due to seasonal change. Autumn is the mortal season for leaves. At the same time Johnsy fell ill due to Pneumonia which is the symbol of death for human being.


However, we can see how he selflessly saved Johnsy’s life. So we must not judge people by their outward appearance but instead by their actions, because at an end, actions truly make an impact.
All the characters of this short story are tied together by the knot of friendship, which is fixed firmly with the seasoning of sacrifice, loyalty, love and sincerity.


Conclusion:


As a final point, we can say that the story with dim, immense, cold and quiet night background in which an old fragile creature Buhrman draws his last painting; his masterpiece, by his own heart in extremely difficult circumstances reveals that:


Whether it is Sue’s help to Johnsy out of glumness or it is of Buhrman’s self sacrifice to give Johnsy a life! Help, love, sacrifice and to give others hope, are the deeds that uplift humanity. Because:

“What we do to ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains immortal”.

I would like to modestly request Shooting Star & Courageneverdies along with other seniors to very kindly share their views on my short stories notes. Being an external candidate of M.A English NUML i am confused somewhat....

Thanks in Anticipation.

Though I am not an authority on prose yet I would say that you have encompassed all the main points about the short story that one can think of. It is brief, to the point and covers almost every literary and critical aspect.

Love, kindness, poverty, eternal happiness and art for humanity's sake are also prominent themes in this story amongst others that you mentioned. Importantly, because the first three themes (i.e. Love, Kindness and Poverty) are present in most of O' Henry's stories e.g. The Gifts of Magi and The Robe of Peace. The later also has the theme of eternal happiness in addition to others. Art for humanity's sake might not be a very well discussed theme in this story yet it is true that not every masterpiece of art is applauded and acknowledged widely. What other masterpiece could surpass the splendour of Brahman's last leaf that saved a human life.

The opposition and satire on the suburban life and surroundings - like that of Eliot's - might be a hint of modernist influence on his writing.

Another noticeable thing about O Henry's short stories is his selection of limited number of characters. The number of characters is not too many as to confuse the reader. These are 3 - 5 in most of his stories.

These points can further be deliberated not only while discussing a particular story of O Henry but also while putting a comparison between his stories to bring about the general style and themes etc.

Regards

__________________
Conscious does make cowards of us all...

Many thanks it’s very kind of you Sir, I have 11 more short stories, what if I post notes here one by one….. I know I’m asking for a great deal but I want to have them checked at least for once….

Regards

Your notes should be just fine if prepared in line with the one you shared. Actually, I am working on my thesis and might not be able to promptly look into it. Nonetheless, I would try my best to give'em a look. And as I am a linguist and, therefore, don't have much hands on experience dealing with Literature. But keeping in view the Reader Response Theory every interpretation of a literary work is possible and equally acceptable.

Regards

__________________
Conscious does make cowards of us all...