the greatest closing lines in literature

[cacian]

my first proposal is taken from
The Fall- Albert Camus.

but of course you are not a policeman: that would be too easy.. what? Ah. I suspected as much. you see. so practice that strange affection I felt for you had sense to it. You practice in Paris the noble profession of lawyer! I sensed that we were of the same species. Are we not all alike. constantly talking and to no one. for ever up against the same questions although we know the answers in advance? then tell me please what happened to you one night on the quays of the Seine and how you managed to never risk your life. You yourself utter the words that for years have never ceased echoing through my nights and that I shall at last say through your mouth: 'O young woman, throw yourself into the water again so that I may a second time have the chance of saving both of us!* A second time eh, what a risky suggestion! Just suppose cher maître that we should be taken literally?
we'd have to go through with it. Brr......! the water's so cold! but let's not worry! it's too late now. It's always be too late. Fortunately!




N.P please do leave a reference with the quote to those of us are unsure. :)

[kev67]

I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.

I'll leave you to guess.

[Ruben Meijerink]

Surely thine hour has come, thy great wind blows, Far-off, most secret, and inviolate Rose?

[Emil Miller]

There are of course so many great closing lines but these always get to me:

“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—to-morrow 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.”

[JHG]

The one that jumps out in my mind:

"Marlow ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved for a time. "We have lost the first of the ebb," said the Director, suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

Heart of Darkness, Conrad

[Dono]

The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed. -Stephen King's Dark Tower VII.

Not only was it the first line of the epic and a recurrent theme, the fact that it wrapped up the series in such a numbing, crushing way made up for the missteps King took along the latter half of the story. Great ending. Just not the one a lot of people wanted.

[Dono]

Or one of my favorites:

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. -Animal Farm. George Orwell.

[cacian]

There are of course so many great closing lines but these always get to me:

“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—to-morrow 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.”

I have always wondered what the green light was.
could there be a link with the northern light?

[Poetaster]

'And so they buried Hector, tamer of horses.'

[Vladimir777]

'And so they buried Hector, tamer of horses.'

Good call! I completely forgot that is how the Iliad ends. To me, Hector was really the great character that came out of Homer's epic poem, and this just adds to that. I know that Achilles is the great Greek hero, but the Trojans' story is so much more interesting, noble, and full of pathos in the Iliad than the squabbling of Achilles and Agamemnon.

[kev67]

'You've been feeling tired,' said the stranger, 'but I can do something about that. I've come to ask whether you'd care to join my Owsla. We shall be glad to have you and you'll enjoy it. If you're ready, we might go along now.'

They went past the young sentry, who paid the visitor no attention. The sun was shining and in spite of the cold there were a few bucks and does at silflay, keeping out of the wind as they nibbled the shoots of spring grass. It seemed to Hazel that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it lying on the edge of the ditch, but stopped for a moment to watch his rabbits and to try to get used to the extraordinary feeling that strength and speed were flowing inexhaustibly out of him into their sleek young bodies and healthy senses.

'You needn't worry about them,' said his companion. 'They'll be alright - and thousands like them. If you'll come along, I'll show you what I mean.'

He reached the top of the bank in a single, powerful leap. Hazel followed; and together they slipped away, running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom.

Watership Down, Richard Adams

[kev67]

But mostly, I wanted to tell about the cat. I had kept my promise; I had found him. It took weeks of after-work roaming through those Spanish Harlem streets, and there were many false alarms - flashes of tiger-striped fur that, upon inspection, were not him. But one day, one cold sunshiny Sunday winter afternoon, it was. Flanked by potted plants and framed by clean lace curtains, he was seated in the window of a warm-looking room: I wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now, certain he'd arrived somewhere he belonged. African hut or whatever, I hope Holly has too.

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote

[Emil Miller]

I have always wondered what the green light was.
could there be a link with the northern light?

Why not read the book? It's less than 150 pages.

[JanVanHogspeuw]

"And when he came back to, he was flat on his back on the beach in the freezing sand, and it was raining out of a low sky, and the tide was way out."

Infinte Jest - David Foster Wallace

[cacian]

Why not read the book? It's less than 150 pages.

I have.
my question is this:
is the green light effect in reference to the Northern lights?
the writer uses the green light out of a point of reference it does not come from nowhere.
that was the meaning of my question.
to get the full picture of the book one must reflect on point of references the writer uses such as the green light used here.
this is very similar to the northern lights/aurora is:
an aurora is a natural light display in the sky (from the Latin word aurora, "sunrise" or the Roman goddess of dawn),
these lights occur mainly between
the beginning of September and extending until the middle of April.)
to me that solving one question out of the great Gatsby.
the other would be to understand the meaning of Gatsby.
this came up:
''the book's Jay Gatsby gussied up his name from Gatz, whose meaning is given variously as left-handed, cat, God, and person from Gat. As a first name, it's got a lot of energy and that great pedigree.''

it also came up under
masculine and German for warrior.

there is also a slight reference to the word gas which the germans used to eliminate jews.

[Poetaster]

No, it's not a reference to, or related to the Northern Lights.

[cacian]

No, it's not a reference to, or related to the Northern Lights.

how can you be so sure?
the author mentions the green light.
here is pick of the northern light
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/nov/13/aurora-borealis-northern-lights-travel
Northen lights Norway/German relation
Fitzgerald is a german/dutch name of descent.
there is a link.

[Poetaster]

how can you be so sure?

Because I'm sure. The green light is in the novel's world just a light, but it represents Gatsby's longing for Daisy and jealousy of, and distance with the other wealthy people around him. An aurora borealis doesn't really appear naturally over West Egg, New York, the novel's version of Great Neck, New York; and it doesn't really fit in with the mood or what it's trying to do. Also, the northern lights are kind of big and high in the sky, the light in the book is small and I think it's a dock light.

[cacian]

Because I'm sure. The green light is in the novel's world just a light, but it represents Gatsby's longing for Daisy and jealousy of, and distance with the other wealthy people around him. An aurora borealis doesn't really appear naturally over West Egg, New York, the novel's version of Great Neck, New York; and it doesn't really fit in with the mood or what it's trying to do. Also, the northern lights are kind of big and high in the sky, the light in the book is small and I think it's a dock light.

you see the reason I am pushing it to the northern light is because they recur ever year which would mean that Gastby 's Daisy is alive again. immortality is explored here.
daisy is also a flower an april flower alongside the daffodils they are hardys and so grow back year in year out they do not need replanting again.

I take a book to be a map anything that is inside is somehow linked to the outside world.
this is the case of Gastby and Daisy and the Green Light the Northern Lights and Aprils hardys flowers and the theme of immortality they all link. it all makes sense.
that is the reason why a book is a book,

[Emil Miller]

Here's Maupassant's mordantly ironic ending to his great novel Bel-Ami:

Georges took the arm of Suzanne to leave the church.
When he arrived at the entrance, he saw a great crowd, a dark crowd, noisy, come there for him, for him Georges Du Roy. The people of Paris looked at him and envied him.
Then raising his eyes, he discovered below, behind the place de la Concorde, the Chamber of Deputies and it seemed to him that he could leap from the portico of the Madeleine to the portico of the Palais-Bourbon.
He descended the high steps of the entrance between two lines of spectators but he didn't see them at all; now his thoughts were in the past, and before his eyes dazzled by the brilliant sunshine floated the image of Madame de Marelle adjusting in front of the mirror the little curls on her temples, always undone when leaving the bed.

[cacian]

Here's Maupassant's mordantly ironic ending to his great novel Bel-Ami:

Georges took the arm of Suzanne to leave the church.
When he arrived at the entrance, he saw a great crowd, a dark crowd, noisy, come there for him, for him Georges Du Roy. The people of Paris looked at him and envied him.
Then raising his eyes, he discovered below, behind the place de la Concorde, the Chamber of Deputies and it seemed to him that he could leap from the portico of the Madeleine to the portico of the Palais-Bourbon.
He descended the high steps of the entrance between two lines of spectators but he didn't see them at all; now his thoughts were in the past, and before his eyes dazzled by the brilliant sunshine floated the image of Madame de Marelle adjusting in front of the mirror the little curls on her temples, always undone when leaving the bed.

funny you mention the curls on her temples. it is a very jewish orthodox look isn't it?
shaven heads but the curls on each side of the temple is a jewish orthodox boyish look. it would be fair to mention that jewish orthodox women shave their hair off completely and instead wear a wig.

shaken but not stirred 007 comes to mind
shaven but not inferred is another way of putting it.

[Emil Miller]

funny you mention the curls on her temples. it is a very jewish orthodox look isn't it?
shaven heads but the curls on each side of the temple is a jewish orthodox boyish look. it would be fair to mention that jewish orthodox women shave their hair off completely and instead wear a wig.

shaken but not stirred 007 comes to mind
shaven but not inferred is another way of putting it.

Well that's my translation, if you can do a better one go right ahead.

[cacian]

Well that's my translation, if you can do a better one go right ahead.

that is an interpretation.

you translated that from French?
you have read Bel- Ami in French ?

[Emil Miller]

that is an interpretation.

you translated that from French?
you have read Bel- Ami in French ?

Yes .

[cacian]

Yes .

c'est très bien.

[qimissung]

"He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up int the morning." To Kill a Mockingbird.

[qimissung]

"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home..." The Outsiders

[cacian]

Vet In Harness - James Herriot


''I wish I had known then that it was not the end of everything. I wish I had known it was only the beginning. but at that moment I knew only that soon I would be far from here, in London, pushing my way through the crowds. Taking big steps and little 'uns.''

[DATo]

Her finely touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

- George Elliot Middlemarch

[miyako73]

sorry, this is out of topic. I want to write a "Faulknerish" short story with this last line: "My mother is a fish." Do you think it will work?

Miyako

[cacian]

sorry, this is out of topic. I want to write a "Faulknerish" short story with this last line: "My mother is a fish." Do you think it will work?

Miyako
what would drive you to that conclusion? I mean how can a mother be a fish?

[Emil Miller]

sorry, this is out of topic. I want to write a "Faulknerish" short story with this last line: "My mother is a fish." Do you think it will work?

Miyako

Yes you are out of order and the answer is NO!

[Kafka's Crow]

"...God of heaven theres nothing like nature the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with the fields of oats and wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going about that would do your heart good to see rivers and lakes and flowers all sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the ditches primroses and violets nature it is as for them saying theres no God I wouldnt give a snap of my two fingers for all their learning why dont they go and create something I often asked him atheists or whatever they call themselves go and wash the cobbles off themselves first then they go howling for the priest and they dying and why why because theyre afraid of hell on account of their bad conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was anybody that made it all who ah that they dont know neither do I so there you are they might as well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him to propose to me yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth and it was leapyear like now yes 16 years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath yes he said I was a flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers all a womans body yes that was one true thing he said in his life and the sun shines for you today yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I knew I could always get round him and I gave him all the pleasure I could leading him on till he asked me to say yes and I wouldnt answer first only looked out over the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharons and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls and the old castle thousands of years old yes and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you to sit down in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas 2 glancing eyes a lattice hid for her lover to kiss the iron and the wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night we missed the boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and the pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes."

[qimissung]

Oh yeah, I like that one, too, without even having (yet) read the novel.

[miyako73]

Are you okay, Emil? I prefaced my post with an apology. Just wait for my fish story. Relax for now.

Cheers,

Miyako

[cacian]

Are you okay, Emil? I prefaced my post with an apology. Just wait for my fish story. Relax for now.

Cheers,

Miyako

where is my answer Miyako? :D

[Lokasenna]

How about:

There comes the dark
dragon flying,
the glittering serpent
from under Niðafjöll;
in his wings,
as he flies over the field,
the Niðhoggr carries corpses.
Now she must sink down.

Or something more recent:

As from the power of sacred lays
The spheres began to move,
And sung the great Creator's praise
To all the Blest above;
So when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And Music shall untune the sky!

[mal4mac]

Prospero's closing statement in the Tempest?

Prospero is bringing a halt to his sorcery, and gives a final speech to the audience. And, of course, this is Shakespeare's final sole-authored play, and heralds his retirement:

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

[free]

From a fairy tale (lot of them end like this):

I've heard this story from some old men and if they have lied to me, I am lying to you, too.

[DATo]

Prospero's closing statement in the Tempest?

Prospero is bringing a halt to his sorcery, and gives a final speech to the audience. And, of course, this is Shakespeare's final sole-authored play, and heralds his retirement:

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

Very good choice! These are among my favorite closing lines as well ... AND ... the most eloquent letter of resignation ever penned!

[Lokasenna]

Prospero's closing statement in the Tempest?

Prospero is bringing a halt to his sorcery, and gives a final speech to the audience. And, of course, this is Shakespeare's final sole-authored play, and heralds his retirement:

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

I agree as well - superb stuff, and one cannot help but get a little bit sentimental over Shakespeare's beautiful goodbye.

[cacian]

From a fairy tale (lot of them end like this):

I've heard this story from some old men and if they have lied to me, I am lying to you, too.

funny you mention lie and fairy tale. is it not a tale that is fairy is lying?
it takes one to know on or bird of a feather flock together.

[L'Aquila]

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.

[free]

funny you mention lie and fairy tale. is it not a tale that is fairy is lying?
it takes one to know on or bird of a feather flock together.

Fairy tales (classic ones) belong to oral or folk literature, they were transferred in spoken words from generation to generation in the ancient times. Nobody knows their author, like myths. They have come to our time thanks to their collectors like brothers Grimm in Germany. Collecting and writing down this literature in order to preserve it from being forgotten, was very popular in the age of Romanticism when written literature was largely inspired by this kind of literature.

[sbarretth]

Sounds a lot like a Hemingway last line, doesn't it? though they are (obviously) very different stylists.

[Emil Miller]

These are great closing lines from Frank Norris's remarkable novel McTeague, written in 1899 but as powerful as anything in American writing that came after.

McTeague did not know how he killed his enemy, but all at once Marcus grew still beneath his blows. Then there was a sudden last return of energy. McTeague's right wrist was caught, something clicked upon it, then the struggling body fell limp and motionless with a long breath.
As McTeague rose to his feet, he felt a pull at his right wrist; something held it fast. Looking down, he saw that Marcus in that last struggle had found strength to handcuff their wrists together. Marcus was dead now; McTeague was locked to the body. All about him, vast interminable, stretched the measureless leagues of Death Valley.
McTeague remained stupidly looking around him, now at the distant horizon, now at the ground, now at the half-dead canary chittering feebly in its little gilt prison.

[ennison]

Well ok **** off then -- Donleavy