The opening lines of most books usually receive the greatest attention-- or at least are the ones most quoted and remembered. However, since I began reading chapter books years ago I have been intrigued by the final words of a novel. The closing lines have the power to leave a reader hanging on the edge of a proverbial cliff. The last words have the ability to keep a reader thinking about the content long after the back cover of the book shuts. Some closing lines are simple and concise; they finalize a story, tying it up nicely with a bow. Others, however, elicit thought. An author’s final words may offer promise or leave an opportunity for the reader to debate the meaning. After a book is finished-- the pages pressed together as the book is closed-- the final lines of a novel are what stick in my mind.
Here are 12 of my favorite last lines of literature.
1. F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby'
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
2. Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone with the Wind'
“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
3. E.B. White's 'Charlotte's Web'
“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."
4. Markus Zusak's 'The Book Thief'
"A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR. I am haunted by humans."
5. J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'
“The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."
6. Sandra Cisneros's 'The House on Mango Street'
“Friends and neighbors will say, What happened to that Esperanza? Where did she go with all those books and paper? Why did she march so far away? They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out.”
7. Alice Sebold's 'The Lovely Bones'
“I wish you all a long and happy life."
8. Jenny Downham's 'Before I Die'
"Light falls through the window, falls onto me, into me. Moments. All gathering towards this one."
9. Elie Wiesel's 'Night'
“From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.”
10. Tim Tharp's 'The Spectacular Now'
“Goodbye, I say, goodbye, as I disappear little by little into the middle of the middle of my own spectacular now.”
11. Veronica Roth's 'Allegiant'
“Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other.”
12. Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner'
“I ran with the wind blowing in my face, and a smile as wide as the valley of Panjsher on my lips. I ran.”
