Q&A of 'The Last Leaf' by O. Henry

THE LAST LEAF

- by O.HENRY

(YOU ARE FREE TO REFRAME THE ANSWERS IN YOUR OWN WORDS AND DON’T FORGET TO REMOVE THE BACKETS)

NEW WORDS

traversing :to pass or move over

quaint : strange

prowling : searching stealthily

gables : the portion of the front or side of a building enclosed by or masking the end of a pitched roof

chafing dish : an apparatus consisting of a metal dish with a lamp or heating appliance beneath it, for cooking food or keeping it hot at the table.

congenial : agreeable, suitable,

ravager: to work havoc upon; damage

Chivalric: Being generous and pertaining to chivalry

Zephyrs: a gentle, mild breeze.

Pharmacopoeia: a book published usually under the jurisdiction of the government and containing a list of drugs

Swaggered : to walk or strut with a defiant

Contempt: the state of being despised; dishonour; disgrace

Derision: ridicule ,mockery

Confounded: confused

Morbid: gloomy, unhealthy mental attitude

Persistent : constantly repeated, continued

Wearily: tiredly

Masterpiece: a person's greatest piece of work, as in an art.

Gusts : strong blast of winds

Serrated: having a notched edge or saw-like teeth,

Wielded: to exercise (power, authority, influence, etc.), as in ruling or dominating.

Mysterious: involving mystery

Twilight: the soft, diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon,

Janitor : a person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to clean the public areas,attics and low rent places)

EXTRA QUESTIONS

1.Where did Johnsy and Sue meet? Who were they?(They were painters and they had

met at a café called Delmonicos.)

2.Did they have similar tastes? ( Yes , their taste in art , chicory salad were the same)

3.Who was the cold unseen stranger? (The stranger was Pneumonia, the disease. This

stranger had stalked the colony and struck many people, means many people were

down with pneumonia)

4.What did the doctor say after examining Johnsy? (He said that Johnsy had made up

her mind that she would not get well. She should think about other things than her

sickness. She should generate in her will to live.)

5.What did Sue hear while she was painting? ( she heard a low sound that happened to be

Johnsy counting the leaves falling from an old ivy vine)

6.What reason did Johnsy give to Sue for counting the leaves? (She said that when the last

one falls she will die.)

7.How did Sue react? ( She said that it was all nonsense and doctor had given her one in

ten chance to love and one in chance is as good a chance you have in New York when

you ride on the street cars or walk past new buildings.)

8.Who was Old Behrman? (He was a painter who lives on the ground floor. He was past 

sixty and he had spent his life dreaming to paint a masterpiece .)

9.Do you think that pneumonia was really a ravager?( yes)

10.Why do think so? ( Because it was ravaging lives of people by making them sick)

11.Why is pneumonia not chivalric? ( because chivalric attitude is one gentlemanly

attitude )

12.How will you describe the attitude of Sue? ( she was very negative in her thinking. She

had given up on her life. And was not fighting the disease )

13.What did Johnsy and Sue find the next morning when they got up? ( when they got up

the next morning and worriedly pulled the shades up they were surprised to find that

single ivy leaf still clung to the vine after the whole night of storm and gusty winds)

14.What did Johnsy tell Sue after they found the ivy leaf still clinging to the vine?

(She said that she had been a bad girl. She agreed that it was a sin to want to die; She 

asked for a broth and milk to drink. She also asked for a hand mirror. She wanted to sit up 

and watch Sue cook. She looked cheerful)

15.How was Johnsy saved? (Johnsy was Saved by Old Behrman, Who painted the Last

leaf , his masterpiece around the ivy vine, braving cold wind and rain. He caught

Pneumonia and died following that. But his masterpiece saved the life of Johnsy)

16.What was Behrman’s dream? (His dream was to paint a masterpiece and his dream

came true when he painted the Last Leaf)

17.What was Berhman’s masterpiece? What makes Sue Say so? (The leaf that he painted

to save the life of Johnsy. It was a masterpiece because masterpiece is usually an

artist’s best work of art and this was certainly the best of Behrman because it saved a

life!)

18.Justify the title the last leaf. (It was the last leaf painted by Behrman that saved the life

of Johnsy. So the title is very much apt.)