Thornton Wilder, the author of our town, tries to get a very powerful message across during the course of his book. He says at the end of act III, "Do any human beings ever realize life when they live it"" What he meant by this was," do people ever stop and notice the simple bliss of life, or do they only look to the future for the big events; And when they're gone they realize that they should have lived every moment as if it were going to be their last."

At the end of act III there are several spirits of deceased town's members. Emily among them had been given the opportunity to return to a special time in her past as an outside observer. When Emily returned to the time of her 12th birthday, she realized how she had not taken notice to her parents youth or her father and aunt going out of their way to buy her a gift; although at the time she noticed the highlights of the day, such as the actual gift not the thought behind it. The deceased Emily had taken notice of all this and felt that she had not appreciated everything that had happened to her at that very moment.

The significance of this scene to the theme of the book was to show that every human goes through life blind and ignorant to the great things around them; Only when they have passed on will they realize all the good things they over looked. In short, life goes too quick to always be looking to the future for the great things, but to live in the moment as if everything had a great importance in life.