10 Questions about Famous Last Words

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What book ends with the line, "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"?

Answer: Animal Farm

Eric Blair, writing under the pen name George Orwell, completed 'Animal Farm' in 1945. A self described democratic socialist, Orwell came to despise Communism while serving with the Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War. He wrote 'Animal Farm' as an allegory of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and used his barnyard fable to expose the brutality and hypocrisy of the Stalinist regime.

2. What famous novel ends with the line, "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"?

Answer: A Tale of Two Cities

These are the last words of the dissolute Sydney Carton as he is about to give his life to save Charles Darnay, the husband of his unrequited love Lucie Manette. It is among the most famous and quoted literary endings in history.

3. What English novel ends with the lines, "With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. 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"?

Answer: Pride and Prejudice

The relationship between Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet is the primary plot of 'Pride and Prejudice'. Unfortunately the two make very poor first impressions on each other and they remain stubbornly aloof and refuse to admit their growing mutual fondness. Darcy eventually admits his feelings and proposes to Elizabeth but does it in such an awkward and condescending way that she coldly rebuffs him. Darcy's feelings remain unchanged, however, and when Elizabeth's younger sister Lydia gets herself into an embarrassing predicament, Darcy secretly bails her out.

The Gardiners of Derbyshire are Elizabeth's aunt and uncle who help Elizabeth see the generosity and kindness in Darcy.

4. What 20th Century American novel ends with the line, "Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day"?

Answer: Gone With the Wind

This final line is spoken by Scarlett O'Hara as she determines to win back her estranged third husband Rhett Butler. Prior to submitting the final manuscript for publishing in 1936, author Margaret Mitchell called the primary character of the book Pansy O'Hara. Only shortly before publishing did she change Pansy's name to Scarlett. I think most people would agree that Mitchell made the right choice.

5. What 20th Century American science-fiction book ends with the following lines? "The Martians were there--in the canal--reflected in the water. Timothy and Michael and Robert and Mom and Dad. The Martians stared up at them for a long, long silent time from the rippling water.

Answer: The Martian Chronicles

'The Martian Chronicles' is not a novel per se, but a collection of loosely related vignettes that are, in the words of the author, "a book of stories pretending to be a novel". Most of the vignettes were originally published as separate short stories in the late 1940s and were assembled into a single anthology by author Ray Bradbury in 1950.

The ending lines refer to a family of settlers from Earth who are among the last humans left in the universe after a catastrophic nuclear war destroys the Earth.

The father promises the family that he will show them "real Martians" who turn out to be reflections of themselves in a canal, symbolizing that they are no longer Earthlings but Martians.

6. What 19th Century American novel ends with the following words? "It bore a device, a herald's wording of which might serve for a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend; so sombre is it, and relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow: "On a field, sable, the letter 'A', gules."

Answer: The Scarlet Letter

The ending lines refer to a gravestone and allude to the scarlet colored "A" that Hester Prynne is forced wear to mark her as an outcast after it is discovered that she has taken part in an adulterous affair. "Gules" is a heraldic term for red.

7. It shouldn't come as a surprise that this is the last word in the Bible. What is the word?

Answer: Amen

"Amen" is a Hebrew word that means, "let it be so," and is used at the end of many Christian hymns and prayers. The Book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible and describes events that will happen at the end of the world. Its author, John of Patmos, ends with a dire warning against anyone who disregards the prophesies found therein. (Rev 22:18-21) "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen."

8. "One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, 'Poo-tee-weet?'", is the last line of what 20th Century American novel?

Answer: Slaughterhouse-Five

Billy Pilgrim is the primary character in Kurt Vonnegut's 1969 novel 'Slaughterhouse-Five'. Straddling several literary genres including satire, allegory, science fiction, and postmodern metafiction, it is widely considered to be among the best literary works of the 20th century.

The author loosely based Billy Pilgrim on his own experiences in World War II. Like Pilgrim, Vonnegut served in the US Army and was captured by the Nazis who held him in a makeshift POW camp housed in an abandoned meat packing plant in Dresden known as 'Schlachthof-f�nf' (Slaughterhouse #5).

9. What novella, set in 1930s Montana and made into a 1990s Hollywood film, ends with the following words? "The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters."

Answer: A River Runs Through It

'A River Runs Through It' by Norman Maclean was first published in 1976. The autobiographical story deals with the author's complex relationships with his stern father, passive mother, and charismatic but self-destructive younger brother Paul. It was made into an Academy Award-nominated film of the same name in 1992.

10. What early 20th Century American novel ends with the following description of the fate of its main character? "When the long winter nights come on and the wolves follow their meat into the lower valleys, he may be seen running at the head of the pack through the pale moonlight or glimmering borealis, leaping gigantic above his fellows, his great throat a-bellow as he sings a song of the younger world, which is the song of the pack."

Answer: The Call of The Wild

Jack London (born John Griffith Chaney) based his 1903 epic 'The Call of the Wild' on his experience with pack animals during the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush. Like many novels of the day, it was first published in serial form in the 'Saturday Evening Post'. London sold away all rights to the story and earned just $2,750 from what would become one of the best selling novels of all time.

Source: Author Maiguy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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10 Questions about Famous Last Words | Literature

Can you guess the name of a literary work from just its last few lines? Don't worry if you don't have a photographic memory, most of the lines have enough clues about the plot and/or characters that you should be able to figure it out.

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