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Class 9 INTER UNIVERSITY PRESS Solutions English Chapter 6 - The Last Leaf

The Last Leaf Exercise Passage 1

Solution 1

In November, the colony was stalked by Pneumonia, whom the author calls an unseen stranger visiting the places and touching here and there with his icy fingers. 

Solution 2

Johnsy was psychologically affected by Pneumonia more than being physically affected. She deeply believed that she would never get well and her doctor told Sue that she was trying hard to not get better. 

Solution 3

According to the doctor if Johnsy set her mind on something or someone which could give her hope to live for example a man, then there would be a chance of her recovering soon from the illness. 

The Last Leaf Exercise Passage 2

Solution 5

The author has used the phrase to explain how Sue entered Johnsy's room after the discussion with the doctor. Although Sue was very upset over Johnsy's health, she didn't make it obvious to her friend when she entered the room. She came into the room confidently humming a jazz tune, making Johnsy feel comfortable and good despite her health condition. 

Solution 1

The speakers in the extract are Sue and the doctor who is treating Johnsy. The two are discussing Johnsy's health condition.  

Solution 2

The above words are uttered by Johnsy's doctor on realising that Johnsy is not willingly trying to recover from her illness. The doctor says that if Johnsy sets her mind to dying instead of recovering from her illness, he will subtract 50 percent from the curative power of his medicine. This means that not only medication but the patient's willpower to recover is equally important.

 

Solution 3

The doctor said that if Sue could make Johnsy discuss the latest winter fashion in cloak sleeves, he would promise a one-in- five chance of her survival. 

Solution 4

After the doctor had left, Sue went into the workroom and cried hard worrying about Johnsy's health. The doctor's remarks on Johnsy's health made Sue cry 'a Japanese napkin to a pulp'. Soon after that breakdown, Sue composed herself and walked into Johnsy's room creating an impression that everything was fine. She didn't want to upset Johnsy more by discussing how seriously ill she was and that she wouldn't live for long. 

The Last Leaf Exercise Passage 3

Solution 1

Sue was sketching a pair of elegant horseshow riding trousers and a monocle of the figure of a hero, an Idaho cowboy. 

Solution 2

Johnsy was lying on her bed with her eyes wide open, staring outside the window and murmuring something softly while Sue was drawing. 

Solution 3

Johnsy was counting the leaves falling from the Ivy vine. She did this as she believed when the last leaf would fall from the wine, she would die. 

Solution 4

Johnsy seemed to have gone into a state of frenzy because of her failing health. She had given up hope of living, which was also the reason why the doctor had said that she may not survive. She was counting the leaves falling from the Ivy wine and had formed an impression in her mind that when the last leaf would fall off the wine, she would die.   

The Last Leaf Exercise Passage 4

Solution 1

Johnsy told Sue about how the decreasing leaves on the Ivy vine were taking her closer to her death. Sue found no logic in Johnsy's assumptions and therefore called it nonsense. 

Solution 2

Johnsy stared at the Ivy vine outside her window every day. She had started believing that she would cease to exist in other words die when the last leaf fell from the vine fell. She had begun to number her days of life by to the decreasing leaves on the vine. 

Solution 3

Sue wanted to complete her drawing and sell it to the editor so that she could get some money to buy port wine for Johnsy and pork chops for herself.  

Solution 4

Johnsy kept staring out of the window because she wanted to see when the last leaf from the vine fell. When the last leaf fell she would know that it was time for her to let go of her life forever. 

The Last Leaf Exercise Passage 5

Solution 1

Behrman was an old man in his sixties who had a Michael Angelo's Moses beard curling down his satyr like face and a body of an imp. He was a failed painter who was waiting to create his masterpiece. Old Behrman lived on the ground floor beneath Sue and Johnsy's studio. 

Solution 2

Behrman was an unsuccessful artist. In his forty years as a painter, he had failed miserably at even sketching the outline of the masterpiece that he so dearly wish to paint. 

Solution 3

Behrman earned money by posing as a model for young artists who couldn't afford to hire professional models. 

Solution 4

Behrman is a perpetual drinker and an unsuccessful painter. Though he is generally rude, he feels highly protective of Sue and Johnsy who live in the studio above him. Although he smells of gin all the time, he appears to be a good natured man who always speaks of his coming masterpiece. O'Henry has used some comical relief by introducing Behrman in the story The Last Leaf. As we know, the story is rather a sad and mournful tale about Sue trying hard to bring her best friend back on the road to recovery after a brief illness. The conversations that happen between Sue and the doctor and between Sue and Johnsy are rather serious and dull. However, with the introduction of Behrman, the tone of the story is lightened. 

The Last Leaf Exercise Passage 6

Solution 1

Sue requested Behrman to paint a leaf similar to the last leaf on the Ivy vine so that Johnsy would think that the last leaf was still on the vine. 

Solution 2

The weather outside was rough when the two went up to Johnsy's room. It was raining persistently and snowing at the same time. 

Solution 3

The doctor had given up hope of Johnsy recovering because she herself lacked the willpower to recover. The weather outside was unpleasant with persistent rain and snow. The atmosphere outside was dull and grim, just as Johnsy's health and her emotional condition. 

Solution 4

The term 'livelong night' stands for a night that seemed never-ending. The weather on that night was very rough with persistent snow and rain. Moreover, both Sue and Johnsy knew that the last leaf would fall from the Ivy vine that night. The inclement weather and the fragile condition of Johnsy added hours to the already restless night making it seem longer than normal. 

Solution 5

The last leaf that clung to the ivy vine carries deep symbolism. It represented Johnsy, who was ill and in a critical condition. The leaf was also brave like Johnsy, who, although showed no inclination directly, clung on to life in her own way despite all odds by means of the leaves on the vine.  

The Last Leaf Exercise Passage 7

Solution 1

Johnsy calls herself 'merciless' as she had set a date for her own death by looking at and counting the leaves falling from the Ivy vine. She ceased to care for anyone, even for her roommate and friend Sue, who had been taking very good care of her during her illness. 

Solution 2

Sue was stirring chicken broth over the gas stove when Johnsy called her. 

Solution 3

When Johnsy saw that the last leaf had managed to cling on to the vine despite the blustery weather of the previous night, she realised that she had been mean in giving up on life. The last leaf being still there on the vine was like a revelation to her. She understood how inappropriate it was to think about death when the doctor and Sue were trying their best to treat her illness.

 

Solution 4

Johnsy asked Sue to bring her some broth and milk with a little port wine in it. She also asked Sue to give her a hand mirror and pack some pillows around her so that she could watch Sue cook. 

Solution 5

Throughout the story, we see a very cynical and a pessimistic Johnsy, who has no willpower or strength to recover from her illness. Sitting idle in her bed, she thinks that she too will wither away like the falling leaves from the Ivy vine outside her window. She starts counting the falling leaves and concludes that she is going to die when the last leaf falls off. However, after a very stormy night when Johnsy sure that the last leaf has fallen instructs Sue to draw the curtains she sees that the leaf is still clinging on to the vine. The leaf's struggle to survive hepls her realise how mean and illogical she has been to herself and to Sue in waiting for her death. In the given passage, we see a different Johnsy, someone who is ready to bounce back to life. 

The Last Leaf Exercise Passage 8

Solution 1

On showing signs of recovery, Johnsy once again mentioned her wish to paint the Bay of Naples to Sue. Johnsy's even contemplates knitting the woollen scarf which she may never need just to feel the normality of life that she has returned to. 

Solution 2

People who are close to each other often call each other with different names. Johnsy often called Sue 'Sudie' out of affection. In the same way, Johnsy was called 'white mouse' affectionately by Sue. Since Johnsy fell ill all she did was lay on her bed passively awaiting her impending death. She showed no sign of hope or interest in life. More over her illness had rid her skin of its colour. This prompted Sue to use the phrase 'white mouse' to refer to her. 

Solution 3

Sue had to tell Johnsy that Old Behrman had died of pneumonia that day in the hospital. She also had to confess the truth about the last leaf on the vine. 

Solution 4

Old Behrman spent the entire night painting the last leaf on the Ivy vine outside Johnsy's window in the rain and the storm. The janitor found him in the morning in his room helpless and in pain. His shoes and clothes were icy cold and wet. Behrman was ill for the next two days, and given his age, he couldn't recover and died of pneumonia. 

Solution 5

The last leaf is definitely Behrman's masterpiece. It was so accurate that it gave a new lease of life to Johnsy who had quit on life despite the doctor and her friend telling her that she would be fine. He was very protective about the two women and he proved this by sacrificing his life so that Johnsy could see the leaf whenever she woke up and thus find hope to live on.  

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