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Galina-37 [17]
3 years ago
12

Comment on the surprise ending of the Last Leaf

English
1 answer:
Juli2301 [7.4K]3 years ago
4 0

‘The Last Leaf’, first published in O Henry’s collection ‘The Trimmed Lamp’, is quite a moving story that cherishes the treasury of life and the existence of faith and hope. While the story is set in Greenwich village, New York, it speaks volumes on the many battles humans strife through their journey of life.

The story presents the life of three struggling artists – Sue (who was from Maine), Johnsy (who was from California) and old Behrman. They live an impoverished life in an artists’ colony in Greenwich village. It is an area marked by low rents. Thus we understand that they belong to the lower strata of the society and strive hard for success while hoping to make it big one day. They understand each other's fate very well and yet support each other even at the cost of their own life. They may be impoverished but their lives are splendid. The notion of friendship and self-sacrifice is the central idea of the story and keeps the reader hooked till the end.

The story commences in Sue and Johnsy’s jointly owned apartment, that is at the top of an old three-story brick house, in an artists’ colony of Greenwich village. The two friends also use this apartment as their studio.

In the month of November, Johnsy comes down with a serious attack of pneumonia. The disease has a bad reputation in this village and seems to have taken several lives. When Sue calls for the doctor, she is told that her friend Johnsy has slim chances of survival. This was not because of her physical illness, but more because Johnsy had foolishly associated her chances of survival to that of the falling leaves of the ivy-tree.

 We are then introduced to Behrman, an old artist who was way past sixty years in age. He lived on the ground floor of the same apartment as that of Sue and Johnsy. He comes forward to help Sue in saving Johnsy’s life.

The story while maintaining the surprise elements, ends with a sting in the tail. Throughout the story, we read that Johnsy was ill and was expected to die with the fall of the last leaf. However, Behrman who paints the last leaf on the wall and battles the stormy night dies of pneumonia. Behrman was successful both in painting his masterpiece and in saving Johnsy’s life. Though Behrman appears once and speaks only twice in the story, his affection for Johnsy and Sue is well manifested in the story through his sacrifice. He thus becomes the very epitome of the theme of the story that self-sacrifice through love for others achieves happiness. The unexpected ending not only creates hope for other artists like Behrman but also recognizes him as a typical O Henry hero.  

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To kill a mocking bird
miss Akunina [59]

1. Dalton Conley says that the differences between how black and white people describe themselves are as follows:

a. Black people emphasize their skin color while white people do not.

 

b. Blacks demean themselves by stressing their classes based on wealth.

c. Black people think that they cannot rise above their levels because they are not upwardly mobile in their thought patterns.

<h3>Why does Conley Believe the Differences? </h3>

Conley believes these differences exist because of his personal experiences living among the black communities.

 

2. One will tend to agree with Conley because blacks still worship whites, assuming the whites to be angels from heaven because of their color.

<h3>Personal Descriptive Adjectives: </h3>

3. Many adjectives can describe a person. The following are prominent: Persistent, Genuine, Enthusiastic, Disciplined, Straightforward, Modest, and Tenacious.

 

On the other hand, the following adjectives took longer to think of: Generous, Independent, Resourceful, Courageous, Practical, Energetic, Motivated, Adaptable, and Truthful.

 

Some adjectives are easy to think of more than others. When you look at a person, some qualities are visible while others remain concealed.

<h3>Racial and Class Distinctions </h3>

4. When Dalton Conley says that <em>“race and class are nothing more than a set of stories we tell ourselves to get through the world,”</em> he means that people should not over-emphasize racial and class distinctions because they do not make a person human.

 

I concur because race and class are like appendages. People can live without making distinctions based on race and class.

 

Thus, we can agree with Dalton Conley's expressed opinions in "Honky," noting that "To Kill a Mocking Bird" was authored by Harper Lee.

Learn more about race and class here: brainly.com/question/7433149 and brainly.com/question/516226

3 0
2 years ago
Complete the analogy.
motikmotik

Answer:

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8 0
3 years ago
What should be included in the first paragraph of a reflective essay? A. an engaging opening and a thesis that states the main i
Yuliya22 [10]

Answer: A. an engaging opening and a thesis that states the main idea and three supporting sub-topics.

Explanation:

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3 years ago
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how does solomon use the image of a veil to explore the thought processes of people with and without depression ?
professor190 [17]

Answer:

It shows that for people in depression, there is a veil that disguises reality, this is the veil of happiness, that makes everything look different than it really is, but whoever has depression believes that this veil has been removed and that this person can now see everything as it really is.

Explanation:

As you may already know, depression is a very common disease in our society. However, even though it is a much talked about and debated disease, this disease presents itself as a very complicated and often misunderstood condition. This means that people who do not have depression do not understand how a person can become depressed if there are so many things that can bring happiness in the world.

Solomon was very important to overturn this concept, since he managed to explain how a depressed individual thinks, using a veil for this explanation.

Solomon said that for depressed people, reality is disguised with the veil of happiness. Depression removes that veil and allows that individual to see things as they really are, without happiness. For this reason, depressed people cannot see reasons to be happy.

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Arturiano [62]

Answer:

B. Character vs. self.

Explanation:

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The given excerpt is from when Paul decided to let Mitchell ride his horse Ghost Wind, even though he was not supposed to ride it, considering he was the son of a worker. The decision of Paul in allowing his best friend to ride the horse is against their very upbringing, for workers have inferior rights. Mitchell, being the son of a worker, is supposed to be lower than Paul, his master's son. But foregoing all these, Paul decides to let him enjoy. The particular excerpt is a conflict of interest between Paul's character and his own self. He even states that he "<em>don't know what possessed me in that moment to say the next thing I did"</em>. This shows the conflict he has within himself.

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