Irony In The Last Leaf By O Heny Analysis

O. Henry can be rightfully called a genius of literature as his short stories skillfully render beauty and unpredictability of life. The author turns to various characters and settings but it is always entertaining and interesting to the reader what will happen to the characters next and how the conflict of each particular story is solved. Irony is one of the major instrument that O. Henry uses in his work to achieve his artistic purposes. In this aspect, one can talk about situational and dramatic types of irony in different contexts. From The Last Leaf, The Gift of the Magi, and The Cop and the Anthem, one can see how ironically life takes its most unexpected turns.

Thus, The Last Leaf is the short story by O. Henry that can be called ironic in a tragic way: Behrman dies trying to save the life of Johnsy who has given up on her survival already. Having caught pneumonia, Johnsy convinces herself that she is going to die soon, and there seems to be nothing in the world that can make her change her mind: “Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days”(The Last Leaf). Johnsy is emotionally weak and not prepared to face any challenges in the conditions she is in. The doctor warned Sue that Johnsy was unstable, and now Sue sees that he was right: Johnsy has found a reason not to fight for her life. Irrespective of how irrational this reason may seem to others, it is the only thing that Johnsy believes in, and in her current state it is the thing that can kill her.

Old Behrman, a painter living in the same building with two girls, decides to save Johnsy, although he is reluctant to make his plan public. In fact, he acts emotional and somewhat irritated when he learns about Johnsy’s idea...

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... looks at her weirdly because he does not like her without her hair, but little does she know that his look is only conditioned by the emerging uselessness of his present.

However, the most important outcome of this story is that there is a force that can be stronger than life itself. Facing financial difficulties, both Della and Jim sell their most valuable possessions to buy each other presents. In the end, love defeats irony and unfairness of life: “And now suppose you put the chops on”(The Gift of the Magi). Della and Jim proceed to dinner, without feeling any regret about material things and being happy to have each other. The reader cannot but feel emotionally excited and happy for the couple as they take their seeming misfortunes lightly and with humor. This story shows that life can be ironic and unfair but love is stronger than any unexpected twist of life.