The Last Leaf Essay

Everyone in this world experiences some large loss in their lifetime. “Gwilan’s Harp” by Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry all starkly portray this theme. The harpist in “Gwilan’s Harp” loses her harp and then later her skills and soon after her beloved husband. In “The Washwoman”, the dear old launderer has lost the love of her son, health, and soon her life. One of the artists in “The Last Leaf” loses her hope for living when she contracts pneumonia and because of his care for her she ends up losing the best neighbor she could hope for. All three authors carefully weave in many life lessons through the bittersweet stories they tell. Ursula K. LeGuin, in her exquisite story “Gwilan’s…

humans experience in life. These stories are “Gwilan’s Harp” by Ursula K. Leguin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry. “Gwilan’s Harp” shows the loss of Gwilan’s identity and her loved one. “The Washwoman” shows the washwoman losing her son and her own life. Finally, “The Last Leaf” demonstrates self-sacrifice, when Mr. Behrman sacrifices his own life to give Johnsy hope. All three stories show losses in several forms, but they have one kind in common: the loss of…

such as Gwilan’s Harp by Ursula K. LeGuin, The Washwoman by Isaac Bashevis Singer, and The Last Leaf by O. Henry. The climax of each story comes when an important character dies, forever impacting the surrounding characters. In Gwilan’s Harp, Gwilan endures the loss of her husband Torm and of her beloved harp, but finds fulfilment in her god given talents. The Death of the washwoman in the aptly named Washwoman explains a difficult yet important lesion regarding the importance of a strong work…

In the short-stories “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “Gwilan’s Harp by Ursula K. LeGuin, all of the characters struggle with many losses. One of the main and most apparent loss is life in each story. In “The Last Leaf”, ironically, a failure of a painter, Old Behrman dies, when it is least expected. Behrman was not respected, but his death leads the reader to instantly admire him for his brave attempt to save someone he loved. “Gwilan’s Harp” displays a loss of…

Henry explore this theme in their respective stories Gwilan’s Harp, The Washwoman, and The Last Leaf. Although the characters in these three novels are very different, they all share in great loss of one type or another. Gwilan faces loss early and often but always gets back up fighting. The old Washwoman losses her ability to do the work she loves but leaves behind a legacy that impacts all who observed her. Finally, self-sacrifice and redemption shine through in The Last Leaf as an old man…

Loss may damage one person or bring him nirvana. People have their decisions of their life which show various results. The way people treat the relationship between the environments and themselves foreshadows their ends. Being a profound topic, many authors put theme of loss in their story recipes. In “Gwilan’s Harp” written by Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry, the main characters all experience different extent of loss. The authors reveal to…

influenced his writing. O. Henry was capable of taking the world around him and transforming it into a work of art. One of his most popular short stories, “Gift of the Magi”, along with “The Last Leaf”, reflects his use of surprise endings, witty plots, and association to his everyday…

“The Washwoman,” and “The Last Leaf” all short stories that hold a very different theme, but could there be anything significant that could tie these stories together? From “Gwilin’s Harp,” a story about a woman, who finally learns to love her voice and to embrace the change, to “The Washwoman,” who learns she must prevail though the hard times, all the way to “The Last Leaf,” where a young girl realizes that there is always hope no matter how dark and dim the case may seem. These three short…

In each of the following short stories—“Gwilan’s Harp”, by Ursula LeGuin, “The Washwoman”, by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf”, by O. Henry—a main character experiences deep loss. Whether it be the loss of a prized possession, the loss of life, or the loss of a loved one, these characters face grief in extremity. The title character of “Gwilan’s Harp” comes into contact with loss when a sudden accident destroys her most precious instrument. A Jewish family in “The Washwoman” slowly discovers…

The stories, “Gwilan’s Harp” by Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry all have a main theme of loss. Each character experiences some form of loss, death, or heartbreak. Gwilan loses her most prized possession, the Singer family loses their washwoman to a brutal illness, and the characters in “The Last Leaf unexpectedly lose Mr. Behrman. These stories clearly display three characters that go through a tough time, and it shows how they act before, and…