Last Leaf

Author: (American) Henry (Henry/O.) / Xu Hanlin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features:
"The Gift of the Magi": To buy a platinum watch chain for her husband as a Christmas gift, the wife sells her beautiful hair. Meanwhile, the husband, for the same purpose, sells his family heirloom gold watch to buy a set of hair combs for his wife. Although both gifts lose their practical value, the emotional fulfillment they gain is priceless.
"Last Leaf": To encourage a young painter suffering from poverty and illness to persevere, the old painter struggles through a stormy night to draw a evergreen vine on the wall, symbolizing immortality. He pays the ultimate price for his masterpiece, but the young painter is inspired by it and finds the courage to survive.
"The Furnished Room": A young man, who has endured hardships in search of his beloved, recognizes traces of his lover in the faint scent of osmanthus flowers in a furnished apartment. The disappearance of the fragrance marks the decline of his life. Meanwhile, the beloved he has been desperately searching for had ended his own life in the same day, at the same place, and in the same manner, just a week earlier.
O. Henry's stories are easy to understand and are filled with the realities of human life, carrying a strong American flavor. The touching underdogs in his novels demonstrate genuine love and care for others, even in harsh survival conditions, making invaluable sacrifices. The themes of his stories are not grand and dramatic events but rather the small, everyday experiences of ordinary people. Yet, it is through these small incidents that they achieve goodness and reach the pinnacle of their spiritual. O. Henry is equally sensitive to evil, perceiving the tricks and illusions of America's with keen insight. However, the good and evil in his works are not so clearly separated; they exist in a vast middle ground where moments of conscience, repentance, and redemption are possible. For nearly a century, O. Henry's stories have been reprinted worldwide, consistently attracting a large readership, proving the vitality of his work. In 1918, the United States established the annual "O. Henry Memorial Award" to honor achievements in short fiction. O. Henry's name is now inseparably linked to the craft of short story writing and the joys and sorrows of ordinary people.