Que. 3: Examine the character of Johnsy
Answer: Joanna is an artist. She came from California. Joanna has another nickname Johnsy. Sue and Johnsy are two young painters who came from different places, Maine and California. They live in a shared rental room on the third floor and have a Studio there.
It was called painter’s colony, where these young painters live and earn a little through their commercial art. Their life was just like ordinary people. Though, both they were friends and living together, temperamentally have different. Sue is practical and healthy-minded girl.
Johnsy’s inner characterization comes across when she gets sick with pneumonia. In the Winter, Johnsy fell seriously ill with pneumonia. She lays in her bed as if immovable. Her friend Sue takes care of Johnsy and for treatment and she calls the doctor. When Doctor examines Johnsy’s health and points out that her case is different from normal patients.
Johnsy has unnecessarily engaged her mind and remain worried. So the doctor asked to Sue that is there any man in her life? But Sue reuses such things. But she says about her incomplete aspiration. Before getting sick, her greatest wish was to travel to Italy to paint the Bay of Naples, which reveals that art is an important part of her life. However, as she gets sicker day by day, Johnsy soon loses her wish to live and falls prey to desperation.
When she counts the leaves from the ivy vine, she made convinced herself that she will die once the last leaf falls. This becomes a sort of obsession with Johnsy, who seems unaware of Sue’s efforts to make her regain her wish to live. Johnsy was a girl of weak will power. Out of that she begin to count the Ivy vine as twelve, ten, eight, six, another one is gone, now only five remain. The mumbling was heard by Sue immediately she says to Johnsy for stopping to count such nonsense. But Johnsy doesn’t stop there. She felt tiresome to count when there were many Ivy leaves. But now there were only few.
Two day snow-falling with storm has shaken the Ivy vine completely second leaf also gone. Sue worries for Joanna. Now Joanna waits to fall down the last one also. Her friend Sue says that she should sleep. Johnsy is hesistating to sleep but somehow she sleeps.
To save the life of Johnsy, Old Behrman and Sue were finding the solutions. Out of those efforts Old Behrman paints the Last Leaf at the fierce time of extreme cold and snowfalling. When morning rises Johnsy looks still the there is Ivy leaf. Suddenly, Johnsy recovers the will of surviving and asks a cup of soup to Sue and begin to discuss other eatables. Old Behrman knows that Johnsy has made some foolish fancy. He helps Johnsy. So when the last leaf falls, he spends the whole stormy night to paint a new leaf in its place. Ultimately Johnsy sees the last leaf survived, so she should also survive. It revives her wish to live.