The novel ends on a darkly comic note. Linnet, who had seemed so important in her life, ends up being little more than a talking point in the local pub before everyone moves on to talking about horse racing. Horse racing—which can encourage greed and lead to sudden wins or losses of fortune—is a fitting final image, since much of the novel was dedicated to various characters jockeying to try to control Linnet’s fortune. The idea that only the future is important sums up the attitude of the patrons in the pub, which mirrors the get-rich-quick attitudes that motivated (and doomed) many of the other characters in the story.