Summary
Johnsy tells Sue that she has been counting the leaves left on the vine. There are only six, but three days earlier there were one hundred—enough to make her head hurt to count them. But it’s easy now. As she speaks another leaf falls, leaving five. Johnsy says she’ll die when the last one falls; she has known this for three days, and even told the doctor of her belief.
Sue rejects Johnsy’s nonsensical suggestion that the ivy leaves have anything to do with her health. Sue says the doctor said her chances were ten to one, and figures that Johnsy’s risk of death is no greater than it would be if they walked past a building site or rode a streetcar. She tells Johnsy to drink some broth she made, but Johnsy says she doesn’t want any. Another leaf falls: Johnsy wants to see the last leaf fall before dark, then she’ll die.
Sue implores Johnsy not to look at the leaves. She says she would lower the blinds but she needs the light to draw by, and her illustration is due tomorrow. Johnsy asks why she can’t draw in the other room, and Sue says she wants to be near Johnsy. Johnsy closes her eyes and says she can’t wait to see the last one fall; she is tired of waiting, of thinking, and she wants to release her hold on life and go sailing down like one of the poor, tired leaves.
Sue tells Johnsy to sleep and says she’ll be right back: she needs to ask Behrman to come upstairs and pose as a model of an old hermit miner for her illustration.
The narrator comments on how Behrman is past sixty, with a long beard and small body. He is a painter, but has failed to have a career in art. He always speaks about wanting to paint a masterpiece but he never begins it. He makes money painting for advertisements and posing as a model for young artists in the neighborhood who can’t afford a professional. He drinks gin heavily and thinks of himself as being responsible for the safety of the women who live upstairs, as though he is a large mastiff dog waiting to protect them.
In Behrman’s dim apartment, Sue finds him smelling of the juniper-scented liquor. A blank canvas sits in the corner waiting for his masterpiece, as it has for twenty-five years. Sue tells him about Johnsy belief that her fate was connected to the vine leaves. Tears stream from Behrman’s eyes as he denounces and laments, in a thick German accent, the foolishness of Johnsy’s belief. Sue says she is ill and weak, so her mind is prone to morbid thoughts.
Believing he does not want to pose for her, Sue begins to leave in a huff, but Behrman he has been trying to tell her for half an hour he is ready to pose. He says this is no place for someone as good as Johnsy to lie sick; one day, he will paint a masterpiece, and all of them will go away from that building.
Johnsy is asleep when they go upstairs. Sue lowers the shade over the window and motions for Behrman to go to the other room. There, they peer fearfully at the ivy vine, then look at each other in silence. A cold rain, mixed with snow, is falling. Behrman sits to pose as the hermit miner.
Analysis
The theme of superstition is introduced when Sue learns that Johnsy believes she will die when the last ivy leaf falls. The conversation that results reveals Sue and Johnsy’s antagonistic relationship: while Sue dismisses Johnsy’s superstitious belief as nonsense and implores her to focus on getting better, Johnsy wishes to be left to die in peace. But Sue refuses to hear it: she even tries to spin the doctor’s prognosis as being no more dire than the risk of being hit by falling building materials or run down by a streetcar—everyday risks of life in New York.
During their minor argument about whether Johnsy should try to be optimistic, chicken broth is introduced as a symbol of health. Though Johnsy refuses to drink the broth Sue has warmed for her, later in the story, her mood will grow more optimistic and she will ask for broth.
The narrator’s digression about Behrman seems to be nothing more than a thorough character sketch, but every detail finds relevance later in the story: Behrman’s advanced age makes him vulnerable to catching pneumonia; his desire to paint a masterpiece motivates his decision to paint Johnsy’s last leaf; and his doglike sense of loyalty to the women upstairs gives justification for him to risk his own health to save Johnsy’s life.
To reinforce the points introduced in Behrman’s character sketch, O. Henry moves from narrative summary into the scene through the use of imagery. In Behrman’s apartment, the olfactory (i.e. scent-based) imagery of the juniper berries Sue can smell emanating from Behrman is explained by the fact that he is a heavy drinker of gin, which is flavored with juniper berries; the visual imagery of the blank canvas calls back to his desire to paint a masterpiece; and the tears streaming from Behrman’s eyes reveal his sadness over Johnsy’s poor health.
The day ends with Johnsy falling asleep while Sue and Behrman look fearfully at the few ivy leaves left attached to the vine. The visual imagery of the leaves wavering as they are pelted by a persistent mix of rain and snow establishes an ominous mood: without sharing a word, it is clear that both Sue and Behrman know it is highly unlikely that any of the leaves will make it through the night.
