In literature climax is the point in a plot that creates
the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. The climax is usually the point at
which the conflict in the story is resolved. So, the reader must not make a subjective
judgment in determining climax, but, rather look closely at the sequence of events and
find the particular event that is the turning point with regard to the
conflict.
The conflict of the very poignant story "The Last
Leaf" by O. Henry involves Sue's loving attempts to keep her friend Johnsy from
her determination to perish from pneumonia: the doctor tells Sue, "Your little lady has
made up her mind that she's not going to get well." And, in her efforts to prevent
Johnsy from dying when the last leaf of the vine outside the window dies, Sue tells
Johnsy she must close her eyes while she uses the light from the window to paint by,
using Old Behrman as a model. Sue goes downstairs to Behrman and tells him of her fears
that Johnsy, fragile as a leaf herself, may float away as her hold upon the world grows
weaker.
After Sue paints with Behrman modeling as an old
miner, she finds Johnsy staring at the shade. When Sue raises the shade for her friend,
they find one tenacious leaf hanging from a branch above them. Despite another storm,
the leaf is yet there the next morning. Here, then, is the
climax:
Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. And
then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken broth over the gas
stove.
"I've been a bad girl, Sudie," said Johnsy.
"Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I
was. It is a sin to die. You may bring me
a little broth now, and some milk with a little port in it, and--no, bring me, a
hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you
cook."
After this speech by
Johnsy, the conflict is resolved, and the falling action brings the reader to the
surprising conclusion of Mr. Behrman's sacrifice--his masterpiece--to save the life of
Johnsy.
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