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The Last Leaf

Johnsy and Sue first met through their common interests in art. Johnsy fell ill with pneumonia and the doctor said her chance of recovery was only 10% if she had the will to live. Johnsy fixated on an ivy vine outside her window and believed the last remaining leaf represented when she would die. When only one leaf was left, Behrman - an older struggling artist living below - painted an extra leaf to trick Johnsy and save her life, though it cost him his own.

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435 views2 pages

The Last Leaf

Johnsy and Sue first met through their common interests in art. Johnsy fell ill with pneumonia and the doctor said her chance of recovery was only 10% if she had the will to live. Johnsy fixated on an ivy vine outside her window and believed the last remaining leaf represented when she would die. When only one leaf was left, Behrman - an older struggling artist living below - painted an extra leaf to trick Johnsy and save her life, though it cost him his own.

Uploaded by

K K
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TB Q/A

a) Sue and Johnsy first met at Hotel Delmonico. Their common interest in arts, Chicory salad and bishop
sleeves brought the two together.

b) Johnsy was diagnosed with pneumonia. According to the doctor, her one chance in ten to get better
was for her to want to live.

c) Johnsy was ill because of pneumonia. She was counting the leaves left behind on the old ivy creeper in
front of her window. She believed that when the last one fell, she would also die. When there was only
one left, she was eager to see when it would fall.

d) The leaf that he painted to save the life of Johnsy. It was a masterpiece because masterpiece is
usually an artist’s best work of art and this was certainly the best of Behrman because it saved a life.

e) Johnsy felt that when the last leaf from the ivy vine fell, she would also die. Behrman painted a leaf on
the ivy branch when the last leaf fell before he died. It was his first and last masterpiece. It saved
Johnsy’s life. So the title is apt.

2.a)

i) Johnsy’s eyes were open wide, weren’t they?

ii) The shade was pulled down by Sue.

iii) No other leaf is as green as that one on the tree.

iv) No sooner had the doctor gone than Sue went to the workroom.

v) Didn’t she want to paint the Bay of Naples someday?

WB Q/A

1. Why did the doctor visit Sue and Johnsy?


A. Sue had called the doctor to examine Johnsy who was diagnosed with pneumonia.
2. What was the doctor’s observation?
A. The doctor examined Johnsy. He was not confident about her ability to fight off pneumonia which had
dragged her to the verge of death. He told this to Sue, but assured her that Johnsy still had chances of
survival if she has the will to live. He promised to give the best medicine but advised Sue to do
everything possible to inject some hope and willpower back to Johnsy.

3. What was bothering Johnsy as she lay in her sick bed?

A. Pneumonia had worsened Johnsy’s body and mind. She imagined that the time to depart had come.
She became kept looking at an old vine creeper that was shedding leaves one by one due to autumn
season. She linked the number of vine leaves to her remaining life span. She concluded that the fall of
the last leaf would indicate her death. Thus, she waited for the last leaf to fall.

4. Who was Behrman? How did he earn his living?


A. Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath Sue and Johnsy. He was old and past
sixty and a failure in art. He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony who
could not pay the price of a professional.

5. Describe Behrman as a person, and the way he saved Johnsy’s life.

A. Despite his rough exterior, Behrman was a man with a golden heart. He had qualities of compassion,
humanity and readiness for extreme sacrifice. When he realized that Johnsy would remain alive only as
long as the last leaf remained in the creeper, he decided to paint an identical leaf on the creeper to
make Johnsy feel that the night’s storm had failed to remove the leaf. In the process, he saved a
precious life, but lost his own.

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