欧亨利最后一片叶子

The last Leaf-----from O.HenryAbstractO.Henry, one of the three most famous short-story writers in the world, enjoys equal status with Chekhov and Maupassant. His short stories are famous for its unexpected ending, as well as their exquisite plots. The figures written by him are full of delight of li fe so Henry is praised as the “Humorous encyclopedia of American life”.The paper is to analyze the people in The Last Leaf and tries to explore the theme of the novel in order to grasp the meaning of the novel exactly, so that the readers can understand the aims of the author and enjoy the charm of the stories. Keywords: O.Henry; the last leaf; Behrman1. Introduction of the AuthorO. Henry, originally named William Sydney Porter, is a distinguished American storywriter. He wrote more than 300 short stories in his life. His stories are full of colorful characters most of whom are derived from his inclination to wander streets and parks, and to talk to people of every kind and condition. And all of his stories are ingeniously conceived, with the endings always contrary to readers' expectations. Though his stories' endings are always surprising, yet it is not beyond reason, for both ways conform well to the logic of life. He creates an original, typically American democratic form of short stories, at its best, a valuable critical awareness of life and society tellingly expressed through humor. Therefore, some critics call him "the founder of American stories". Being gifted with humor and a keen awareness of details, he objectively shows us what America looks like. As his experience shows, the majority people he met in his daily life are those lower class in society ---- clerks, policemen, and waitresses. All his stories putting together constitute a true panorama of American life, or as someone said, "The encyclopedia of American life".O. Henry's trademark is the surprising ending that each of his stories contains. He sets a story moving in one direction, and just when the reader is convinced of the general direction of the narrative, the story will be completely reversed. And if we look back to the total story, the ending seems logical and plausible. As a “plot-maker”, and designer of incident, he is an amazing genius. No one can do better than him to holds the reader in “suspense”. More than that, the reader scarcely knows that he is suspended until the very close of the story. Just as “turns on the lights and the whole tale is revealed in its entirety”. He uses this de vice of dramatic and humorous effect in the short story collection The Four Million which including The Ransom of Red Chief, The Gift of the Magi, and The Cop and the Anthem, The Service of Love, The last Leaf. At the same time he uses irony and satire to disclose the essence of American society: the weak are the prey of the strong, which is regarded as the law of the jungle universally. In addition, right and wrong are confused, good and evil are disordered. 2. Brief Account of the Novel2.1 Main content of The Last LeafO Henry’s best-loved story The Last Leaf is a significant embodiment of the author’s super skill of using “blank” techniques to make surprising but logical ending, which was called “tearful smile”.It is a story of some ordinary people. In “colony” Washington where some poor artists lived, pneumonia was epidemic. The young artist, Johnsy, “a mite of a little woman with blood thinned by Californian zephyrs” was smote by epidemic. “She lay, scarcely m oving”, looking at the blank side of the next brick house, and counting the leaves on the ivy vine outside the window which were stricken by the cold breath of autumn. She thought herself just like a weary leaf and said “when the last leaf falls, I must go, too” . Life was tough, and Johnsy was pessimistic, indulging in the abyss of despair, even her most significant dream of painting the Bay of Naples some day couldn’t arouse her desire for survival. The doctor, consequently, thought she had one chance in ten to get well, “and that chance is for her to want to live”.Johnsy’s bosom friend—Sue, getting to know her friend’s weakness, “cried aJapanese napkin to a pulp”. But to conceal her sadness, “she swaggered into Johnsy’s room with her drawing-board, whis tling ragtime”. Thinking Johnsy was asleep, “Sue stopped whistling”. When she found that Johnsy wanted to die, she had to make a white lie that Johnsy’s chances for getting well were “ten to one”. However, Johnsy was untouched to Sue’s painstaking efforts.She had made up her mind to go away with the last leaf of the ivy vine.Old Behrman, an old artist, who lived on the ground floor beneath them, knew what Johnsy thought. “With his red eyes plainly streaming”, he shouted his contempt and derision for Johnsy’s “idiotic imaginings”. He, though was “a failure in art”, had been always about to paint a masterpiece, and promised to help Johnsy move out of such a terrible place.“A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow” . The leaves on the i vy vine went more and more. Would the last leaf fall? What would happen to the poor mite? O. Henry continued the story.“But, lo! After the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. It was the last on the vine”.It was really an unbelievable miracle! But Johnsy believed that it would fall, and she would die at the same time. When reading the story here, readers will have the same thought like Johnsy’s. But “the day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall”.The whole night passed with wind and rain. Can’t the last leaf fall? Readers hold a firm belief that in the next morning the leaf must fall, and the girl must die. However, when it was light enough, when the shade was raised, Johnsy found “the ivy leaf was still there”.Johnsy was touched by the last leaf; she became convinced that “it is a sin to want to die”. (O.Henry 2004:59) The doctor came and said Johnsy had “even chances” to recover. However, he continued: “now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman…Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. There is no hope for him…”Henry didn’t describe how old Behrm an drew the last leaf on the wall on such a dreadful night, he use the “blank” technique to leads the end directly, but readers can imagine it through the limited description of the last leaf.2.2. Major theme of The Last LeafThe Last Leaf, moving along around the core—the last leaf—the masterpiece, sings the praise of the sincere friendship and the noble spirit---selfless sacrifice of ordinary people. The story about the three artists is not an occasional incident, but the life of the improvised, unpublished, would-be great artists. They are at the lower class of the society and strive for success, strive to accomplish a great masterpiece. They give support to each other, even without hesitation to sacrifice their own life. Their life will not be less splendid than that of the upper class because of poverty. On the contrary, they are great because of their fraternal love and the priceless friendship as the evergreen ivy leaf, which constitute their noble spirit.Although the poor show unselfishness and sacrifice to each other, they are too weak to avoid various tragedies happening from time to time in these rooms. We smile for Johnsy’s rebirth, cry for Behrman’s death but moved by his death at the same time. We are pleased for Johnsy’s rebirth with the sadne ss of losing Behrman. We smile with tears.3.Article AnalysisWhen a dying lady was looking out the ivy vine1 through the window, whose leaves were fa lling , she desperately thought “if the last falls, I must go”2. The old painter sacrificed his life to paint a green ivy leaf onto the brick wall ,when the real last fell .One died and one lived. No one could deny that piece of ivy leaf saved everything about love，nobility and greatness. The old man was just Behrman in O.Henry’s novel The Last Leaf.In O.Henry’s eyes, Behrman was a failure in art3, but we might say he was a success in humanity. Actually he ever set his mind to accomplish a surprising masterpiece and even prepared to be proud of it; Well , his masterpiece did not appear until the death approached .Otherwise, he lived by being a model for some poorpainters like him and drunk all day along. That’s the first impression which Behrman gave us at the middle part of the novel.As a matter of fact, Behrman represented a small shadow of American West people that seek fortune in 19th century .O.Henry was also born in a doctor family, which made him informed of the difficulties the poor had met. And we could discover many familiar roles in his novels, like Soapy in The cop and the Anthem , John Adair in A Municipal Report Jim and Della in The Gift of the Magi.As a loyal reader to O.Henry ,I guess these characters appearing in his novels might be someone he knew or heard, might be his friends or himself.At least these roles reflected O.Hen ry’s real voice into his mind. For some reasons, O.Henry had been in prison for 3 years during which he made his famous novel The cop and the Anthem.To some extent , Soapy’s painfulness was O.Henry’s .When he offered to get in the jail, it was refused; When he washed his brain and decide to live a common life he wanted, he was caught with no reason. This ridiculous result conveyed a great joke of American society.Now back to the old painter Behrman, O.Henry did not tell how he helped Johnsy, how he painted his masterpiece and why he chose to do it and readers knew it from the conversation between Sue and Johnsy as follows:"I have something to tell you, white mouse," Sue said. "Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in the hospital. He was ill only two days. The janitor found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn't imagine where he had been on such a dreadful night. look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece - he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."4 Behrman died at the end of the novel. Such a kind of way declaring Behrman’s death may mot surprise us, because we all know, his pneumonia was much worse than Johnsy and death will come sooner or later. Anyways, Behrman saved Johnsy in a silent and artistic way, which truly shocked me .That’s also why I like this character Behrman and this novel, even though O.Henry did not give him too many words.Perhaps, this writing style might make this character greater and stand out inthe other side, I think.That last leaf never means the last life. Behrman was like a doctor more than a painter. It cured Johnsy’s pneumonia and gave her a strong courage and great hope to hold on. What a great value his masterpiece had made! Meanwhile, Behrman seemed more alive than dead. We could say, Behrman did not only save a person’s life, but successfully saved an American dream for all the people who seek freedom and peace. Behrman died in the right way; He also taught us a lesson named “what’s humanity and where it lies”.That’s what his masterpiece brought us here and now.As is mentioned, Johnsy’s dream was to paint the Bay of Naples before she passed away. I could not imagine whether it had been realized or not. However,I was sure of Behrman’s--------the last leaf and the lasting life.4.ConclusionAs one of the three greatest short-story masters in the world, O. Henry enjoys equal literary status with Chekhov in Russia and Maupassant in France. He has profoundly influenced the course of American short story. “He still emerges, by his huge achievements and the immense popularity of his particular method, as an astonishingly persistent influence on the short story of almost every decade since his day”. Focusing on incidents of everyday life and characters of various kinds, O. Henry provides the readers a vivid picture of his time. Critics have paid enough attention to his story theme of humanity, story structure filled with such O. Henry’s technique as vivid plots, frequent coincidences, surprising ending and his humorous language.Reference:1.vine n.藤；葡萄树；藤类植物2/view/1679996.htm3/view/1679996.htm4王旭红编译2005 大连理工大学出版社《美国短篇小说精选》。