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The Washwoman's Greed

498 Words2 Pages

Death, Accidents, and Arguments all have something in common. They lead to the feeling of loss. However, from loss, people can carry on, and that happens in all of these short stories. In “Gwilan 's Harp” written by Ursula Le Guin, Gwilan loses family members and her prized harp, but she carries on to find her true self. In “The Washwoman” by Isaac Beshevis Singer, the washwoman loses her son 's love, but continues to serve the community. Finally, throughout “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry, Sue and Joanna lose Behrman to pneumonia, but they have thankfulness for what he did.

Gwilan, the main character from Gwilan 's Harp written by Ursula Leguin, experiences great sadness throughout her life. Even though it does not get mentioned it seems that her mother dies. Then her prized harp gets destroyed in the cart accident. Eventually, her husband dies from sickness and she loses her ability to play the harp. Throughout all of that, she carries on. “I thought Torm 's wife was myself, but she was not.” (Leguin) She eventually finds what she looked for all those years, she finds her identity.

The gentile Washwoman, one of the main characters in “The Washwoman,” by Isaac Singer, endures a multitude of struggles, but gets back up and continues on. She loves her son very much and works hard …show more content…

Sue and Joanna, the main characters of “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry, live in New York City in the late 1800 's. Pneumonia ravages throughout the area and claims many lives with it. Joanna catches Pneumonia and gets very close to death. Joanna counts down the days to her death using the ivy leaves falling off the vine. Behrman deep down probably gets concerned and one stormy night paints a leaf on the wall beside the vine. The doctor tells Sue that Joanna will make it and he mentions Behrman caught pneumonia recently. “He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute.” (O. Henry) It truly does seem that Behrman acted as a good neighbor to Sue and Joanna, sacrificing his life so Joanna can

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