Loss In The Last Leaf

Even when short stories hold a meaning of loss some light always exists. Regardless of the object lost a silver lining always emerges. Even if it comes from finding new meaning after all is lost as in Gwilan’s harp. Persevering through unspeakable hardships midst a sea of loss similar to The Washwoman. Or a loss of one fixing the loss of another like in The Last Leaf. No matter the situation dealing with and finding something after loss is always possible. Executing a masterful depiction of many types of loss over three short stories shows the detail and care put into each one.

First, Gwilan’s Harp detailed the multiple losses of Gwilan, a woman who played the harp famously throughout her life. Clearly, the most obvious one involved

the loss of a harp passed down for generations. If this had been a normal harp, this might have only affected Gwilan minimally. However, the value of this irreplaceable harp remained priceless. Dramatically, this loss changed the remainder of her life opening the door for more implications coming in the form of the next loss for her. Due to the lost harp, she lost her livelihood. Rather than wandering from town to town and playing a harp, she married and settled down in one place never to leave again. For Gwilan the story does not end with loss “There’s nothing left for me to do but sing. I never could sing. But you play the instrument you have.” (Le Guin) Even after losing so much Gwilan still played whatever instrument she could until the end. As she lost one thing, she accepted the loss and continued living.

In The Washwoman, Singer provides multiple examples of loss. To start the washwoman has to deal with the loss of her son who has forsaken her in her old age. Sadly, her son demonstrates this fact by not supplying his mother with money despite his respectable income and by not inviting her to his weeding increase the obviousness. “the son had not invited the old mother to his wedding. “but she went to the church and waited at the steps to see her son lead the “young lady” to the alter”(Singer). Furthering this example remains the fact that he only offered to pay her funeral expenses when she nearly died. Next comes a significantly more obvious example of loss, the death of the washwoman. When she died, it was not until after she completed her job of washing the laundry. Even in her old age and when so close to death she persevered through everything to complete the task and only died after its completion. The Washwoman tells a tale of determination and an unshakeable will all while dealing with loss and of a son who never deserved her as mother nor understood all he lost.

Multiple themes of loss exist in The Last Leaf.

Losing the will to live came first. Starting with Sue, a young and upcoming artist who lost the will to live. Stuck with an illness, Sue believed that she would die as soon as the last leaf fells off a vine outside of her window. Unfortunately, Sue Demonstrated a loss of all hope. However, the leaf Sue watched on the vine never fell and her hopelessness changed to a will to live. She regained her lost will and chose to live again and survived. Following this loss came the loss of Behrman. Despite him being an old drunkard and artist who had waited 25 years to paint his masterpiece, his death had meaning. When he heard the tale of Sue, he took out his ladder and brushes and painted in the cold night. With the intention of painting the leaf on the brick outside Sue’s window to save her life, he had not intended to die in the process. “Ah, darling it’s Behrman’s masterpiece – he painted it the night the last leaf fell.”(O. Henry) The Last Leaf depicts a tale that gave loss a meaning and gave meaning to the life of a “worthless” man.

Despite the nature of short stories the points of loss still held impressive impact. Witch ever example comes to mind a theme of loss always shines. Whether it comes from the loss of an object forever changing a life. Persevering through loss and countless hardships. Even the loss of one to save the life of another the meaning holds true. While the details and type of loss vary from story to story the unchangeable fact of true loss never

changes.