Final Words: Great Last Lines in Fiction
By Sophie Masson | March 1, 2018 |
In my last Writer Unboxed post, I wrote about great first lines in fiction. Today I want to jump forward to the opposite end of a novel, and great last lines.
Last lines are important not only because they are the final words a reader will see in a book, but because they help to fix it in the reader’s mind. Great last lines can have the effect of sending chills down your spine, or making you breathe a sigh of satisfaction, or intriguing you with possibilities to come. They may make you want to go right back to the beginning to start again on what has been an exciting journey. Or they may simply make you feel pleasure at the thought you have been so skilfully guided by the author through that journey. Great last lines work because whatever feeling they evoke in you, they are both suited to the particular kind of story they’ve been telling, and they’re memorable. And generally short, like those effective first lines I mentioned in my previous post–though that isn’t always the case, especially with 19th century novels. Finally, they come in two main types: the kind that closes the story off completely, having tied up all loose ends; and the type that whilst not being completely open-ended, leaves the story door slightly ajar, as it were, allowing for the reader to continue wondering about the characters and their futures. I’m not talking about books that have sequels here—those obviously will have last lines that are open-ended in one way or the other—but standalone novels.
Let’s look at some favourite examples of both types of last lines, and why they work.
First, the ‘closed’ kind:
He loved Big Brother. (from Nineteen Eighty Four)
We know from this chilling last line of George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel that nothing will be right for Winston, the main character, ever again; his spirit has been utterly broken.
And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one! (from A Christmas Carol)
In contrast, this line expresses joy that everything worked out for everyone, the perfect ending to Charles Dickens’ short novel that blends ghost, fairy tale and morality tale elements.
Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them. (from Pride and Prejudice)
This last line from Jane Austen’s celebrated novel underlines both the happiness of Darcy and Elizabeth and their thoughtfulness regarding other people. You know they are set for a good future!
But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing. (from The House at Pooh Corner)
With this nostalgically beautiful line, AA Milne both points to the end of childhood and the putting away of favourite toys: yet the enduring power of memory and imagination.
There are many more examples, of course, that we could find—but now let’s look at the ‘slightly ajar’ kind:
And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea. (from Rebecca)
This atmospheric last line from Daphne du Maurier’s novel, which leaves readers with the image of the unnamed narrator and her husband Max de Winter watching the burning down of Manderley, also leaves us wondering about the de Winters’ future life, and whether they can ever be free of the ghosts from the past.
What will be the next adventure of the Moonstone? Who can tell? (from The Moonstone)
With these teasing last lines, author Wilkie Collins stimulates the reader to imagine what next could happen in the twisty tale of the famous jewel. But he never actually wrote a sequel! (An opportunity for someone perhaps? 😊)
After all, tomorrow is another day. (from Gone with the Wind)
In this ‘never give up’ last line, Margaret Mitchell pretty much encapsulates a central aspect of Scarlett O’Hara’s character: and leaves us wondering where she might fetch up next.
‘I know what you mean,’ said Harry Cat. (from The Cricket in Times Square)
This enigmatic last line in George Selden’s charming, magical children’s novel gives readers hope that Chester the cricket and his friends, the mouse Tucker and Harry the cat, might be one day reunited in the Connecticut countryside, where Chester has apparently gone, but also hints that things may be not quite what they seem.
Over to you: What are some of your favourite last lines in fiction? And why do you think they work?
Born in Indonesia of French parents, and brought up in France and Australia, Sophie Masson is the award-winning author of over 70 books for children, young adults and adults. Her latest books include Sydney under Attack (children’s historical novel, Scholastic Australia, 2022) A Hundred Words for Butterfly (adult novella, ES-Press, 2022) and Cock-a-doodle-doo (children’s picture book, (illustrated by Kathy Creamer, little Pink Dog Books, 2022). In 2019, Sophie received an AM (Member, General Division) award in the Order of Australia honours list.
The memory of the last line doesn’t stay with me but the feeling that I have when I close the books does and I think a lot of has to do with the final paragraph and/or line.
An oldie but a goody that I took off the shelf recently, IT, had a memorable last scene of Bill Denbrough’s wife waking up while riding on the handlebars of old silver. That entire last page was closure and a wonderful bit of closure at that.
When I read a book I want the last line to wave goodbye. We had a fun ride together and now it’s time to go our separate ways. When an author can do that for me I’m satisfied.
What a fun post, Thank You Sophie.
Out of all the last lines I’ve ever read, this one has stuck with me the longest.
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things:
Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Great examples to prove your point, Sophie. I’ve always called endings ‘closed’ and ‘open’, myself, so ‘slightly ajar’ made perfect sense to me.
My favorite ending is the one I tweeted with your article earlier, from The Great Gatsby:
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
All the sentences before that are pretty good, too.
Absolutely one of the best.
Ah, the ending of a great book is bittersweet. You never want it to end, yet you know it must. I always return to the beginning right after because I can’t bear to say goodbye. Not yet.
My favorite: “It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” Charlotte’s Web. I love how Wilbur encapsulates the whole book and how it makes me aspire to be just like Charlotte.
This took my breath away for a sec, Vijaya. Beautiful sentiment.
I don’t think we can have a thread like this without mentioning: “Well, I’m back,” he said.
Of course the “he” in this case being Samwise Gamgee, a true hero in his own right, of one of the great stories of the 20th Century. It means so much, but to me it mostly means that life goes on; that our struggles, our joys, our sorrows, they all make us who we are.
Thanks, Sophie.
“And the world was all around us, new with possibility.”
Diana Gabaldon, OUTLANDER
Great post today!
Goodness, Sophie, you’ve got me flipping through my favorite books, reading last lines. What fun!
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth
Terrific post, thanks, Sophie. I love endings that are left up to the reader to fathom. As for leaving the door ajar, how can you go past the last line of The Handmaid’s Tale? “And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.”
I believe that great books ALWAYS have a stunning last line. And so they should!
Ever played Ex Libris? You get a title, an author, and a brief description of the book, and then you all have to make up a first line or last line (flip of the coin). They’re all read out (including the real one), you all vote for whichever you think is the real one etc – basically it’s like Balderdash/The Dictionary Game only with first/last lines.
My favourite last line is from Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment: “And the new day was a great big fish.”
Like Dee I have been looking at favourite books. What a lovely post.
I think the end of Middlemarch is unbeatable.
Your post has also sent me in a panic to my own last lines. My published novel Timed Out ends: “we’ve had our time and our chances, we cherish our friends and our better memories, we find things to laugh at,, and we go on trying to live a meaningful life with or without a god.” OK but a bit wordy. My second (unpublished) novel ends: “I never deserved a second chance.” better, I think.
Nothing has ever beaten the last line of Arthur C. Clarke’s short story The Nine Billion Names of God. I won’t type it here, because it needs to be read in context… but I guarantee you will never forget it. (It’s available here: https://letras.cabaladada.org/letras/nine_billion_names.pdf. That said, I suspect this is not an authorized posting of the story.)
I love the last lines of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God:
“She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called her soul to come and see.”
Lovely post! I remember some of them…which proves your point!