Short Story: The Last Leaf

Overview
O. Henry's "The Last Leaf" is a compact, poignant tale of friendship, sacrifice, and the life-giving power of art. Set among struggling artists and tenants in Greenwich Village, the story turns a small domestic crisis into a moral fable about hope and selfless courage. The narrative builds to an ironic, moving reveal that reframes the value of a lifetime of unrecognized effort.
The story's tone blends gentle humor with melancholy and closes with a bittersweet uplift: a seemingly ordinary, even failed painter achieves a masterpiece not on canvas for fame but as a literal act of rescue. The famous twist, an act of art that costs the artist his life, makes the story linger far beyond its few pages.

Setting and Characters
The action unfolds in a modest boardinghouse and the nearby brick wall where an ivy vine clings, emblematic of endurance amid the bohemian grit of Greenwich Village. The cramped, cold rooms, the thin meals, and the view of the vine create an intimate stage where large moral decisions are made quietly.
Three figures dominate the plot. Joanna, called Johnsy, is a young artist who falls gravely ill and loses the will to live. Sue, her roommate and fellow artist, tends to Johnsy with practical care and fierce devotion. Behrman is an elderly, cantankerous artist who lives downstairs, long on bravado and talk of "the great thing" he has always meant to paint, but short on success and recognition.

Plot Summary
When Johnsy contracts pneumonia, she becomes obsessed with the idea that she will die when the last leaf falls from the ivy visible through her window. Each leaf's fall becomes, to her, a sign of diminished days; she counts them with grim certainty. The doctor is careful but pessimistic, advising Sue to keep Johnsy's spirits up, otherwise medicine will not be enough.
Sue tries every gentle ruse to restore hope, but Johnsy's fixation deepens. Behrman treats his life as a joke, grumbling and coughing more than painting, yet he watches the two women with a rough affection. During a particularly fierce storm, with wind and rain beating down the ivy, the vine is stripped almost bare. When the last visible leaf seems poised to fall, Sue and Johnsy brace for the end. In the morning, one stubborn leaf remains clinging to the wall, unruined by weather. Seeing that leaf, Johnsy regains her will to live; her hope returns and she slowly recovers. Only later is the truth revealed: the last leaf was not a leaf at all but Behrman's final act, a painted leaf, created in the night to give Johnsy something to live for. Behrman succumbs to pneumonia contracted during his outing, and his death redefines him: the failed painter has achieved his single, greatest masterpiece of human compassion.

Themes and Significance
The story explores how hope can become a matter of life and death and suggests that acts of art can be profoundly moral. Behrman's painted leaf functions as both artwork and sacrament, a tangible embodiment of care that restores the will to survive. O. Henry frames art not merely as self-expression but as service, transforming an unremarkable life into a redemptive legacy.
Irony suffuses the tale: the man who never painted his masterpiece for galleries produces the work that truly matters, while the young artist who doubts life is healed by a deception rooted in love. The narrative also celebrates quiet heroism and the neighborly bonds that make city life bearable, leaving readers with the image of a small, selfless gesture that outlives the one who made it.