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The detailed description of pneumonia at the beginning of the story serves as foreshadowing, hinting that someone in the narrative will inevitably become afflicted with the disease. When discussing Johnsy’s diagnosis with Sue, the doctor suggests that a man might give Johnsy the will to live. Ironically, the man who gives hope to Johnsy is not a male romantic partner but Mr. Behrman. The doctor also says that people’s wills are stronger than medicine, which foreshadows that it will not be medicine that cures Johnsy but her will to live. The characterization of Mr. Behrman as a “mastiff-in-waiting” shows his protectiveness toward Sue and Johnsy, which foreshadows the sacrifice he will later make to protect Johnsy. Mr. Behrman’s failure as an artist, unable to achieve his life’s great masterpiece, foreshadows the “masterpiece” that he creates to save Johnsy’s life. His comment that he will paint his masterpiece and then go away foreshadows his death after painting the last leaf.
