", Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, Alexandra Fuller, "Yes, they will trample me underfoot, the numbers marching one two three, four hundred million five hundred six, reducing me to specks of voiceless dust, just as, in all good time, they will trample my son who is not my son, and his son who will not be his, and his who will not be his, until the thousand and first generation, until a thousand and one midnights have bestowed their terrible gifts and a thousand and one children have died, because it is the privilege and the curse of midnights children to be both masters and victims of their times, to forsake privacy and be sucked into the annihilating whirlpool of the multitudes, and to be unable to live or die in peace. The lines belong to Lily Briscoe, the novel's resident artist, but could just as easily describe the work of art that Woolf has just concluded. Most widely debated and surprising-yet-inevitable suicide-based ending ever: Then he went over and sat down on the unoccupied twin bed, looked at the girl, aimed the pistol, and fired a bullet through his right temple. There are few lines in all of cinema as cynical as that one. Anyone who has ever seen Se7en cannot forget its harrowing ending. I was eager to embrace the world. Everything about The Matrix is designed to make the viewer's head spin. Click through for 20 of our favorite endings from our bookshelf of classic and contemporary greats, and let us know your own picks for best last lines in the comments. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. 'And here is Toto, too. In the final pages, the narrator knows some readers will continue to ignore the relevance of his life: Youll fail to see how any principle that applies to you could apply to me. But he knows thats not true. The Finish Line - 10 questions - 3 mins. 'Everything's ready. Best wonderfully mangled last line from a wonderfully mangled novel: Prettiest description of oblivion and both the interconnectedness and meaninglessness of worldly phenomena that also sounds something like a dehumanized version of the last line of The Great Gatsby: The wake itself remains, etched out across the waters surface; then it fades as well, although no one is there to see it go. I been there before. This is the very famous last line of "Casablanca" which starred Humphrey Bogart, Paul Henreid and Ingrid Bergman. It's dark and psychological, but also exciting as all get out. His mix of treacly self-pity, witty cynicism and clinical depression speaks for millions of lonely people forced to endure a world of phonies. The quoted lines occur in a voiceover as people enter and exit a hotel's revolving door. The next day, Tony stands at a press conference and makes a stunning confession: "the truth is, I am Iron Man.". Here are 21 of our favorite last lines in literature: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." From The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Best reason to go adventuring in Wonderland: Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago; and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days. By the movie's end, he has a super-suit of his own, which he uses to battle Stark, but Iron Man wins. 1. He is attacked by planes circling the building, shooting at him. ", "The white floodlight shines through the wispy tule and makes thin shadows. While the line can certainly be taken literally, this could also be interpreted as the director inserting a comment about the film. Yes, I said. Lament nor sorrow at; but please your thoughts. Even the novels greatest fans have complained about those tedious final chapters, in which Tom and Huck plot to free Jim from the Phelpses farm. This Civil War story cleverly blends biographical details about the real Bronson Alcott, Louisa Mays father, with elements of the fictional Mr. March, who has gone south to serve as a chaplain to Union soldiers. ", "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known. What early event in American history was the backdrop for Arthur Miller's play in which this line appears? "If music be the food of love, play on" Twelfth Night Romeo and Juliet A Midsummer Night's Dream Reveal 2. In feeding them with those my former fortunes. The last line of DFW's first novel hints at what else he had in store. But over the old man's head they looked at each other and smiled. It's Life carrying on. It was Beauty killed the Beast.". Those words are meaningful because the entire theme of The Dark Knight is meaningful. ", Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, "Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days. Theatre quiz: which Shakespeare character is dying? ", "And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea. She gets her wish when a tornado hits and whisks her off to the magical land of Oz, where she makes some hip new friends and has to contend with a wicked witch and her flying monkeys. ", "At that, as if it had been the signal he waited for, Newland Archer got up slowly and walked back alone to his hotel. All of them wrap their respective movies up beautifully. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925). Rick speaks it later in the movie to bid Ilsa farewell and the odd, unsentimental phrase has come to be one of the most romantic . We can stop at Mancini's and have a little dinner on the way. (Hemingway condemned this section as cheating.) But that last lonely line is pure genius. the heroines decision to walk into the sea and drown herself. By this point in the movie, fans have fallen completely in love with E.T., so his departure affects them as much as it does Elliott. ", "There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air. "Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past. It determines if parting is such sweet sorrow or a thudding disappointment. Some are incredibly famous examples, others perhaps a little less obvious. Egan's theme of using music and sounds to convey nostalgia is wrapped up neatly here, and she paints the characters' lives as cyclical, like the playing of a favorite record. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (2006). His response: "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.". The really interesting thing, though, is that his parting words also offer a glimpse of hopeand the only one in Seven, for that matter. Roy Scheider's Brody spends the movie trying to get the citizens of Amity Islandespecially the town's mayorto take his shark warnings seriously. I got my thousand-yard stare. Before moving to Washington, he edited the books section of the Christian Science Monitor in Boston. Indeed, the Western image of the poetyouthful, idealistic, inspired . If you do, you start missing everybody. '", "I lost track after a while, happy to be home, weeping for my father, and thinking about what was next. Now, fortunately, the tumultuous story of Janie, a black woman in Florida, is firmly rooted in the canon of American literature, and every year new readers come and see., Where the Wild Things Are, We'll take any optimism we can get from curmudgeonly Franzen, regardless of whether or not it's meant in earnest (and in this case, it seems to be). The chaos and disappointments of the preceding months have cured him of pointless fantasies, and he dismisses Bretts romantic speculation with this bitter rhetorical question. ", "I'm fine. ", "The men began singing, a grave, slow song that drifted away into the night. The Extra-Terrestrial, 10 Best Comedy Movies Of 2021, According To IMDb. At that moment, McCarthy suddenly breaks away from his characters and describes trout that once swam in mountain streams. The miserable change now at my end. ", "For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration. The bottom line, though, is that it's about the way that the desire for anything valuable, monetary or otherwise, can lead people down dark roads in their efforts to obtain it. Helen came and embraced me. 8 Quotes From Famous Plays March 27, 2019 March 27 is World Theatre Day. ", RELATED: 10 Most Iconic Shots In Goodfellas. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Caddyshack takes place at Bushwood Country Club, an establishment filled with rich uptight socialites, most notably Judge Elihu Smails (Ted Knight). These famous lines appear in the fourth act of Henry V, one of Shakespeare's most commonly read history plays. It's Chinatown.". 21 Amazing Last Lines From Literature That Will Make You Want To Read The Whole Book. ", "She watched as Sandy Forsyth walked across the talmac towards them, smiling like an eager curious schoolboy as he lifted his face to the sunny English afternoon. Its a deeply contemplative story about a man whose inept parents were imprisoned for bank robbery, leaving him and his twin sister to fend for themselves when they were 15. That this time the wind will not hear. Where we're going, we don't need roads!" Chinatown was released in 1974, when Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal were on the US's collective mind. They win, much to the judge's dismay. Following our massively popular and lovingly selected list of the 100 best opening lines from books, its now time for the closing lines to shine. ", The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945, Wladyslaw Szpilman, "This is not a full circle. First Line: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.". Knowing that the complex power of her book is already complete, the very ending offers a sigh of emotional relief: a wry repudiation of Jane Eyre., Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson (2004). These days, the movie is seen as something of a modern classic, as well as a treatise on the cost of living in a world that is becoming increasingly materialistic and soulless. ", "And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever. Of course, former slaves and historians had described the horrors of slavery before, but nearly 125 years after Emancipation, Morrison made the psychological legacy of the Souths peculiar institution palpable as no other book ever had. That final line, with its simple, imploring repetition, concludes the novel with just the right spirit of affirmation and regret. ", The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger, "The old man was dreaming about the lions. Snow fell from the darkening, leaden sky. After a near-catastrophic experience that nearly erases his own existence, Marty McFly (Michael J. I justgave me a turn." Often called England's 'national poet', his work consists of about 38 . ", Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling, "He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance. Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt. A character in one of Jess Walters novels says, A book can only end one of two ways: truthfully or artfully. Alas, most dont end truthfully or artfully, but there are rare exceptions: novels that conclude with such gracefully calibrated language that we close the back cover and feel physically imprinted, as though the words were pressed into us by a weight we can hardly fathom. This is certainly one of the most famous lines of dialoguefinal or notin cinematic history. The Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace. Isnt it pretty to think so?From The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Repetition and cynicism may have reduced Tiny Tims final prayer to a saccharine cliche, but the tale of lives reformed and saved has lost none of its real sweetness. Most delicate ending to a delicate, harrowing story about the different kinds of humanity and grace: Shut up, Bobby Lee, The Misfit said. From old-school classics like Casablanca to modern masterpieces like Inglorious Basterds, these are the most remarkable final movie lines of all time. Hamlet ponders life, death, and the merits . The Catcher in the Rye, A Dark Knight.". The movie's theme could not be laid out any more succinctly; The Wizard of Oz is about a number of things, but nothing more than the idea of home. Here's looking at you, kid. The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (2011), Every once in a while a novel ends with the satisfaction of a final puzzle piece snapping into place somehow both inevitable and surprising at the same time. "Oh, Jake, Brett said, we could have had such a damned good time together. Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. But no one can forget Vivien Leigh I mean Scarlett OHara uttering that blithely optimistic line, which has since slid away from its source and entered our vernacular as an expression of gallows humor. Because, whilst the beginning of a book may get all the glory, its the ending that really stays with you. At the end, an attempt to kill the shark takes place. 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