A Critical Discourse Analysis of ‘The Last Leaf’ by O. Henry Using Fairclough’s Model of CDA

Abstract

The present study analyzes the short story “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry using Fairclough’s CDA Model. The main objective of the study is to find out the differences in the portrayal of male and female characters in the story. The study focuses on the depiction of characters by focusing on lexicalization, nominalization, modality, transitivity and cohesive devices. The study finds that O. Henry’s depiction of male and female characters makes “The Last Leaf” a gendered discourse