'The Last Leaf' is an excellent story. First, I read it in school. Now after years I read it again and found out what I missed in my first reading, and how my teachers were implicated in telling us only the 'safer' aspects of the story. They told us about friendship, concern, help and so forth, but they did not even slightly mention any other dimension, for instance, of same-sex love. I would have done the same if I were in their shoes.
With adult hindsight, I see how this short story is about same-sex love. To state it more clearly, this story can fit into an anthology of modern-day LGBTQ writings. It is a story of two young women artists, Johnsy and Sue, who live together. One of them gets sick, and the other brings her back to health by her devotion and care.
In the story, these two women are almost depicted like a homosexual couple. They live together and they deeply care for each other. In the story, we are told that they meet in a restaurant and learn that they have many things in common. They move in a shared flat. But I assume that there is more to this 'move' that O' Henry did not 'dare to speak its name' hundred years ago, he did not spell it out for us, however, he suggested its depth and its existence in very clear terms.
At one point in the story, the doctor tells Sue that he cannot save those patients who lose will to live. He goes on to ask her Johnsy's condition has anything to do with a 'man.' This how they speak in the story;
“She has a very small chance,” he said. “She has a chance, if she wants to live. If people don’t want to live, I can’t do much for them. Your little lady has decided that she is not going to get well. Is there something that is troubling her?”
“She always wanted to go to Italy and paint a picture of the Bay of Naples,” said Sue.
“Paint! Not paint. Is there anything worth being troubled about? A man?”
“A man?” said Sue. “Is a man worth—No, doctor. There is not a man.”
This is interesting how sharply Sue brushes aside this conjecture as if she is offended in some deep way. 'Is a man worth' also shows a very firm feminist streak in her, which only means that 'men' do not figure in their lives in the way doctor seems to have imagined. Later in the story, she helps and takes care of Johnsy in every possible manner. She acts like a seasoned lover. She chides Johnsy for imagining weird things about her sickness. For instance, Sue speaks to her with the poignancy of a sad lover. These words indicate their deep same-sex love. “Dear, dear Johnsy!” said Sue. “Think of me, if you won’t think of yourself. What would I do?”
There are also two other things in the story that make us see the connections between very visible contemporary gay life to the lives that were lived a century ago. It is interesting to see how Mr. Pneumonia enters the Greenwich village to infect its residents. Most of these residents are unusual in many ways, they are struggling artists, failed artists, people who want to do extraordinary things, and come from different parts of the country to inhabit this particular place, and be in the company of those who share their passion, their ways of being in the world. The story in these ways shows both the dangers and rewards that life poses to queer people without naming names.