SEBA Class 9 English Supplementary Reader Chapter 7: The Last Leaf--- O. Henry All Questions & Answers
The Last Leaf
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. What is Johnsy’s illness? What can cure her, the medicine or the willingness to live?
Ans. Johnsy was suffering from pneumonia.
Her willingness to live was most crucial for her. Even though the medicines did their part, Johnsy could not be cured until she was willing to live.
2. Do you think the feeling of depression Johnsy has is common among teenagers?
Ans. Yes, I think the feeling of depression Johnsy had is fairly common among teenagers.
3. Behrman has a dream. What is it? Does it come true?
Ans. Behrman’s dream is to paint a masterpiece. Yes, Behrman’s dream comes true in the end, just before his death.
4. What is Behrman’s masterpiece? What makes Sue say so?
Ans. Behrman’s masterpiece was the last leaf that he painted on the wall outside Johnsy’s window. Sue thought that it was Behrman’s “masterpiece’ because his painting was single handedly responsible for bringing Johnsy back from the verge of death. Most importantly it provided her with the will to live,
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
Answer the following questions :
1. Who were Sue and Johnsy? How did Sue try to help Johnsy when she fell ill?
Ans. Sue and Johnsy were two young artists who shared a flat. When Johnsy fell ill, Sue was worried for her and arranged for a doctor to visit her. She diligently took care of Johnsy and tried her utmost to nurse her back to health. Sue tried to make Johnsy take an interest in things around her by talking about fashion and clothes. She tried all that she could to provide Johnsy with a renewed will to survive her pneumonia and a desire to live which alone could bring her back from the brink of death.
2. Who was Mr. Behrman? How did he fulfil his dream?
Ans. Mr. Behrman was a sixty year old painter who lived on the ground floor of the same building, on the third floor of which Sue and Johnsy shared a flat.
Mr. Behrman fulfilled his dream of painting a masterpiece when in the duration of one night, braving natural elements, he painted a leaf on the wall outside Johnsy’s window. The leaf provided Johnsy with the will to survive and she overcame her pneumonia. Thus Behrman’s painting had managed to save a life. It was truly a masterpiece.
3. Mr. Behrman died
- Pneumonia
- Cold
- being out in the rain.
- old age
Ans.(a) Pneumonia
4. “They are falling faster now.”
(i) Who is the speaker?
Ans. The speaker of the above quoted sentence is Johnsy.
(ii) What does ‘they’ refer to?
Ans. ‘They’ in the above quoted sentence refers to the leaves of the ivy creeper growing outside her window.
(iii) Why were ‘they’ falling?
Ans. The leaves were falling because it was autumn, the season when trees shed their leaves.
5. How did Johnsy associate herself with the leaves of the ivy creeper?
Ans. Johnsy being sick and in a depressed state of mind associated her health with the state of the leaves. Refusing to accept the logic that the ivy creeper was shedding its leaves because it was autumn, Johnsy instead, chose to believe that the falling leaves represented her deteriorating health. And she believed that the moment the last leaf fell, she too would die.
6. “I can’t draw the curtain for I need the light.”
(i) Who is the speaker talking to?
Ans. Sue, the speaker, is talking to Johnsy, her sick friend.
(ii) What does the speaker need light for?
Ans. Sue needed light because she had a painting to finish.
(iii) What does the word ‘draw’ mean here?
Ans. ‘Draw’ in the above given sentence means “close”.
7. “Promise not to look out of the window while I paint.”
(i) Who is the speaker?
Ans. Sue is the speaker.
(ii) What is the speaker painting? Why?
Ans. The speaker is painting an old miner. Sue needed to finish her painting and sell it so that she could purchase essential medical supplies and food for herself and her sick friend, Johnsy.
(iii) Who does the speaker forbid from looking out of the window? Why?
Ans. Sue forbade her sick friend, Johnsy, from looking out of the window.
Johnsy being sick and in a depressed state of mind associated her health with the state of the leaves. Refusing to accept the logic that the ivy creeper was shedding its leaves because it was autumn, Johnsy instead chose to believe that the falling leaves represented her deteriorating health. And she believed that the moment the last leaf fell, she too would die.
8 “I have realized that it is a sin to want to die.”
(i) Who is the speaker?
Ans. Johnsy is the speaker of the above quoted sentence.
(ii) What made the speaker realize that it is a sin to want to die? How?
Ans. Johnsy in her frail health and depressed state of mind had associated her health to that of the ivy creeper growing outside her bedroom window. She believed that when it shed its last leaf she too would die. But though she waited for days, the last leaf seemed to cling to the creeper through icy storms and increasing chill in the air. Seeing the last leaf’s resilience Johnsy realized that it is a sin to want to die because life is precious, even the last leaf was trying to save itself. The credit for making Johnsy realize her folly and provide her with renewed will to live goes to Mr. Behrman. It was he who braved a storm and painted a leaf the night the last leaf fell. Johnsy, who was unaware of this fact, believed that the last leaf had clung on to the creeper.
