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Asked by: Puiu Tres
business and finance publishing industryWhat is the significance of the last leaf falling from the ivy vine in the last leaf?
Keeping this in view, what is the significance of ivy leaves in the story the last leaf?
For Johnsy, watching the leaves of the ivyvine fall becomes an obsession. She watches them obsessively andbecomes convinced that she will die once the last leaffalls. For Johnsy, then, the ivy leaf comes to symbolizedeath and giving up, while it can also come to symbolize will tolive and hope.
Beside this, what is the significance of the last leaf?
The title implies that the most important thingabout the story is the leaf. On the one hand, this makessense because it is the leaves that make Johnsy think she isgoing to die and it is the last leaf (as painted by the oldman) that makes her live.
Behrman caught pneumonia because he was out inthe cold, rainy night standing on a ladder and painting aleaf on the ivy on the wall across Johnsy's window. Thelast leaf is not a leaf at all. How can there be anylink between a yellowing leaf falling off from an ivyvine during autumn and a person breathing herlast?