While opening lines may get a great deal of attention in the world of science fiction literature, closing lines often present an even greater challenge for writers. To get a truly remarkable closing line, the author often has to leave readers with a strong image that speaks truly to not only the characters and world of the book, but also resonates strongly with the main themes and messages the rest of the novel has been building up to.

As if being a fitting thematic conclusion wasn’t enough weight, a good closing line should also leave readers with something to chew on and ponder so that the story can live on well past the initial reading.

With this myriad criteria, it’s a miracle that any writer gets things even 50% right with their closing lines, let alone 100% right. Despite the enormous difficulty of the task, however, one novel managed to deliver a closing line so powerful that it easily ranks among the best novel quotes of all time.

Cloud Atlas’ Last Line Is Nothing Short Of An Outright Masterpiece

Written by David Mitchell, 2004’s Cloud Atlas is a critically acclaimed novel that deserves to be known outside of its big-budget Hollywood adaptation. The book follows six individuals fighting some form of oppression at different times in history. To tell these six stories, Cloud Atlas utilizes a nesting doll structure where the first half of one story directly leads to the first half of another story all the way until the sixth story, which wraps up completely before transitioning to the second half of the fifth story, and so on until readers end up right back at the first story’s conclusion.

Cloud Atlas’ first tale takes place in the 19th century and follows a young American lawyer named Adam Ewing as he travels throughout the Pacific Islands. Throughout the first half of his journey, Adam comes to trust a physician named Henry Goose. Though Goose initially appears to be helping Adam overcome some affliction, it is eventually revealed that the good doctor is poisoning his patient to steal his personal effects.

Adam is eventually saved by a former Maori slave named Autua who brings the weakened lawyer to a group of nuns who help him recover from his poisoning. Stuck with nothing to do but lie in bed and think, Adam vows to become an abolitionist so that he might fight the predatory nature of humanity.

Musing upon potential responses to this change in philosophy, Adam reasons that his father-in-law will tell him that his turn toward abolition will only land him and his family in danger and that it will ultimately amount to just one drop in an ocean. Here, Adam delivers the novel’s last line, “Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?”

While this is already a strong line on its own, what makes it such a revelation is its place in the story.

Cloud Atlas’ Last Line Is The Culmination Of The Book’s Themes

Each of Cloud Atlas’ six stories is wildly different from the last. The first story is a swashbuckling 19th-century adventure, the second is a 1930s romance drama, the third a 1970s political thriller, the fourth a comedy of errors set in the modern day, the fifth is about a cyberpunk revolution, and the sixth is a tale of post-apocalyptic survival.

Despite the stories having radically different tones and plots, all focus on similar themes. The six tales are, essentially, about the predatory nature of man. Whether that be through systems of oppression that allow one class to exploit another, or something more personal and intimate, the six stories all deal with those who feel they have a right to prey on others. This is why so much of the novel references (either directly or indirectly) cannibalism.

Though Cloud Atlas’ six protagonists carry their own morality, they are all eventually enlisted in the fight against these predators. However, just because they fight doesn’t mean they all win. Inevitably, some of the protagonists beat the odds and defeat their oppressors, while others have to content themselves with a more pyrrhic victory or even none at all.

As depressing as the losses are, however, Mitchell exposes the true point of fighting predation with his final line. As Adam observes in his last monologue, the quest for justice is difficult and often comes at great personal cost. Oftentimes, systems of oppression are so entrenched that changing them is a monumental task no one person can undertake alone. Yet, win or lose, the fight against oppression and predation is always just and is always worthwhile. Cloud Atlas argues that the only way one person can truly change the world is through other people.

Cloud Atlas’ Structure Reinforces The Novel’s Main Themes And Last Line

As strange as Cloud Atlas’ six-in-one story structure might be to some casual readers, it is essential to the novel’s main theme of fighting oppression and is a key reason why it still ranks among the best science fiction novels of all time. Each of the novel’s six stories is an in-universe text that exists in the story that comes after it.

Adam Ewing’s diary is found by the second protagonist, Robert Frobisher. Frobisher’s letters to his friend and lover are given to the protagonist of story three, Luisa Ray. Luisa’s adventures are a novel read by fourth protagonist, Timothy Cavendish. Cavendish’s life is adapted into a movie watched by the fifth protagonist, Sonmi. Finally, Sonmi’s interrogation is turned into a hologram viewed by the sixth and final protagonist, Zachary Bailey.

Though the implication is clear that each hero (save for the last), is some sort of reincarnation of the previous one, taking that literally misses the point. While Cloud Atlas’s plot may focus on one soul traveling across time and rediscovering itself, on a deeper level, it’s about people inspiring each other.

This is why the last line hits as hard as it does and why it would lack power if it weren’t in a novel structured like Cloud Atlas. Readers know that Adam Ewing’s life and thoughts did matter, that they did make a difference, because they see his life echoed, mirrored, and referenced hundreds of years after his story ended.

While Cloud Atlas might be remembered more for the divisive 2012 movie adaptation, the novel is a truly remarkable text. It might not be for everyone, but those who enjoy slightly more experimental literature and layered symbolism will certainly find something unlike anything else. Cloud Atlas’ closing line is a perfect distillation of the novel’s story and theme, and it’s a perfect reminder that while the quest for justice might be never-ending, it is also always worth the fight.

Release Date

October 26, 2012

Runtime

172minutes

Director

Tom Tykwer, Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Writers

David Mitchell, Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Lilly Wachowski