The last sentence in the book is, “her eyes were closed, and a grin was slowly forming at the corners of her mouth.” This embodies the theme of freedom. Throughout the entire novel Luke and his mother want freedom and this is finally achieved at the end.  The painted house symbolizes the fact that they have finally reached freedom. That is what she fought for the entire book and she finally gets that. They are finally doing something bigger with their lives then just staying on the farm. Freedom is a major theme in the book and it is shown in the very last sentence because she is happy she is free. Luke sees this and he is happy as well as his mother.