Class 9 English - TELANGANA
Supplementary: The Last Leaf
Supplementary: The Last Leaf by O. Henry is a touching story set in Greenwich Village, New York, focusing on two young artists, Sue and Johnsy. When Johnsy falls seriously ill with pneumonia and links her will to live with the falling ivy leaves outside her window, an old, failed artist named Behrman sacrifices his life to paint a masterpiece—a single, unchanging ivy leaf on the wall—saving her. This chapter matters for Telangana (TSBSE) board exams as it tests reading comprehension, character analysis, and the understanding of supreme sacrifice, altruism, and the healing power of hope and positivity.
Start Learning FreeKey Concepts
Setting the Scene
The story is set in Greenwich Village, an artists' colony in New York, where Sue and Johnsy share a small flat at the top of a brick house.
Johnsy's Illness and Delusion
Johnsy falls ill with pneumonia in November and becomes severely depressed, convincing herself that she will die when the last ivy leaf falls from the vine outside.
Behrman's Masterpiece
Behrman, an aging, unsuccessful sixty-year-old painter who always dreamed of creating a masterpiece, bravely paints a realistic ivy leaf on the brick wall during a stormy night.
The Supreme Sacrifice
Behrman paints the leaf in freezing rain and cold wind, catching pneumonia himself and passing away within two days, finally creating his true masterpiece that saves Johnsy's life.
Theme of Hope and Selflessness
The chapter highlights how positive thinking aids medical recovery and portrays the ultimate selfless act of love and sacrifice by an artist.
Important Formulas
Board Exam Info
In the Telangana (TSBSE) Class 9 English board examinations, supplementary chapters like 'The Last Leaf' usually carry around 4 to 8 marks. Common question types include short answer questions on character sketches (Behrman, Johnsy, Sue), paragraph questions explaining the irony and theme of the story, and multiple-choice or reference-to-context questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Johnsy was suffering from pneumonia and had lost her will to live. She linked her life to the ivy vine outside, believing that when the last leaf fell, she would die too.
Johnsy associated her life with the falling ivy leaves out of deep depression and feverish delusion, believing she would die when the very last leaf fell.
Behrman's masterpiece was the last ivy leaf painted on the brick wall outside Johnsy's window during a stormy night, which looked so real that it tricked Johnsy into living.
Behrman's masterpiece was the artificial ivy leaf he painted on the wall during a freezing, stormy night, which saved Johnsy's life by restoring her hope.
Behrman died of pneumonia after spending a freezing, wet night outside painting the ivy leaf on the wall to save Johnsy.
Behrman caught pneumonia while painting the leaf in the freezing rain and wind during the night, and died two days later.
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