Congratulations for reaching Year 4 of your American English studies. This year we will read numerous American short stories to build American English listening and reading comprehension skills. Please pay close attention to each American short story assigned here and share your insights and what you’ve learned in the comments section below.
Directions: Listen and read each short story and then share what you learned in the comments section below.
4.12.4: Lesson 12- American short stories.
” The Last Leaf” written by O’Henry.
The story is set in Greenwich Village, New York and revolves around two young woman artists, Sue and Johnsy. They meet at a restaurant, where they discover that they like the same kind of art, the same kind of food and the same kind of clothes, so they decide to live and work together. In November, a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctor calls, ‘Pneumonia’ goes through the colony touching one here and there with his icy finger.O’Henry refers to Pneumonia as a cold unseen stranger. Pneumonia attacks a little woman, meaning Johnsy and she becomes seriously ill with it. She lies on her bed and looks through the window at the wall of the house. Doctor tells Sue that Johnsy has a very small chance to live, because she herself does not want to live, I think something is troubling Johnsy. Sue says that Johnsy wanted to go to Italy and painted a picture of the,’ Bay of Naples’.
Johnsy believes that the ivy vine outside her window loses all its leaves, she will die. Sue goes to visit their downstair neighbor, Behrman, an old unsuccessful artist, who after decades of failure, still hope to paint his, ” masterpiece”. When he hears about Johnsy’s illness and her obsession with the leaves outside her window. An idea reflects to Behrman’s mind, and he thinks that leaves could have anything to do with Johnsy’s health. Behrman stays out all night in a violent storm to paint a realistic looking- leaf on to the wall outside the window. Seeing that the leaf which is infect Behrman’s paint has seemingly survived the storm two nights in a row, Johnsy takes hope and begins to recover, however, Behrman catches pneumonia from exposure to the rain and cold and dies a few days later. When sue tells Johnsy all about Behrman’s painting and his death of catching cold, she remarks, Behrman has finally painted his, ” Masterpiece”. Hope and sacrifice are the central theme of the story .