'The last leaf' by O.Henry is a beautiful heartwarming short story set in the 1900s in the quaint village of Greenwich.
The artists chose Greenwich because it was a centre that promoted and supported art and culture. It attracted artists from all over and a number of studio apartments were available for these artists.
Two of the three main characters of the story ,Sue and Jhonsy shared one such studio apartment. Sue was a professional artist and lived with her friend Jhonsy who was suffering from pneumonia.
The third character Behrman was an old man and was a failed artist. He lived in the apartment below Sue and Johnsy. He managed his living by modelling for artists who could not afford expensive models.
He sacrificed his life to save Jhonsy when he painted his masterpiece'The last leaf' of the Ivy creeper.
Since the story is about artists it is aptly set in the village of Greenwich.
The narrator of "The Last Leaf" offers several reasons why artists chose to live in Greenwich Village. The story was written more than a hundred years ago, in 1907, and at that time rents were cheap in that neighborhood. Most artists struggled and made very little money when they were starting out—and even late into their careers—so low rents were very appealing to them.
A second reason was that the neighborhood was very charming to the artistic eye. It was "quaint," with Dutch attics and eighteenth-century gables. Further, the way the streets and squares twisted and made odd angles meant that an impoverished artist could easily evade a bill collector coming to get paid for a canvas or paint.
As O'Henry describes it, Greenwich Village became a magnet for artists, and soon enough of them lived their for it to become an artists' colony.
Nice!!!!
ReplyDelete