O. Henry's stories are never quite what you might expect and "The Last Leaf" is not an exeption.
   Also you can watch an adaptation of O. Henry's "The Last Leaf" on my blog.

Have a good time!   

O. Henry

(September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910)  

       O. Henry, originally named William Sydney Porter, was an American writer of the early 20th century. In course of his distressful life, O. Henry wrote more than 300 short stories, and all of them were captivating, witty and with the endings always contrary to what readers expected. Thanks to those endings, yet not beyond reason,the writer combines realistic surroundings of contemporary society with romantic struggling of his soul. Being gifted with humor and having a good eye for details, he objectively shows us a true panorama of American life, which he puts together according to the stories of different members of motley society: clerks, policemen, waitresses, etc. In his stories, through the individuality of each character one can observe political crisis and various tensions of class and wealth in turn-of-the-century America.

       Among his most famous stories are: "The Gift of the Magi", "The Ransom of Red Chief", "The Cop and the Anthem", "A Retrieved Reformation", "The Duplicity of Hargraves" and others.

       O'Henry's style had a great influence on modern American fiction, therefore, some critics called him "the founder of American stories".

Pen Name

   Porter gave various explanations for the origin of his pen name. In 1909 he gave an interview to The New York Times, in which he gave an account of it:

   "It was during these New Orleans days that I adopted my pen name of O. Henry. I said to a friend: "I'm going to send out some stuff. I don't know if it amounts to much, so I want to get a literary alias. Help me pick out a good one." He suggested that we get a newspaper and pick a name from the first list of notables that we found in it. In the society columns we found the account of a fashionable ball. "Here we have our notables," said he. We looked down the list and my eye lighted on the name Henry, "That'll do for a last name," said I. "Now for a first name. I want something short. None of your three-syllable names for me." "Why don’t you use a plain initial letter, then?" asked my friend. "Good," said I, "O is about the easiest letter written, and O it is."

   A newspaper once wrote and asked him what the O stands for. He replied, "O stands for Olivier, the French for Oliver." And several of his stories accordingly appeared in that paper under the name Olivier Henry.

   

He, who has health, has hope. 

And he, who has hope, has everything. 

Arab proverb

     I’m not an experienced blogger, actually it was the first time when I did it. A blog is simply the easiest way available for publishing ideas on the Internet for others to see. I will do my best to make my blog exciting and informative.

     This is a wonderful story about importance of hope and at the same time a sad story about sacrifice. I read it a long time ago, and when I saw this story in the list suggested, I understood immediately that it would be more interesting to analyze this very story, as this one left an imprint on my memory. O. Henry is known for his witty stories and ironic surprise endings. His stories are fascinating even they don't always have happy endings.  
   
    You can read this story here, you won't be disappointed.