The Last Leaf Summary

“Oh I lost my sock or my shirt.” Sayings like this might seem important, although they are incomparable to the loss experienced by the characters in “Gwilan’s Harp” by Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry. The characters all share the fact that they experienced great personal loss, which effected their characters. These authors use loss to help develop or reveal something about their characters. In “Gwilan’s Harp” the author uses loss to help progress the storyline and reveal to the reader Gwilan’s thought process after such a tragic loss. While in “The Washwoman” the author uses the loss of the main characters life to expose to the reader one of the key themes of the story. And lastly, in “The Last Leaf” the author uses the loss of Behrman’s life to help shock and surprise the audience of readers. Overall, these authors all use the process of loss to help enhance and better their stories.

Out of all the short stories, Ursula K. Le Guin story, “Gwilan’s Harp” consists of the most loss. The story revolves around the idea of loss,

Henry’s surprising story “The Last Leaf” tells a more different and unexpected story of loss. The main character of the story, Johnsy, is losing her battle against a fatal case of pneumonia. Losing the will to fight the illness, she decides when the last leaf falls on the ivy vine outside her window she will die. “When the last one falls I must go, too” (Henry). Mr. Behrman, a gruff man who lives in the apartment below them hears of Johnsy’s predicament and believes he can help. So he paints a realistic leaf and goes out in the icy, harsh, and unforgiving weather; placing it outside her window. He commits the ultimate sacrifice and he exchanges his health for Johnsy’s life. A sacrifice that ended up costing him the loss of his own life. Although different from the other stories, the theme of loss still exists through the loss of Behrman’s life in exchange for Johnsy’s