Emily and the other spirits can go back and relive moments from their lives. However, it is an emotionally painful process because the past, present, and future are realized all at once. When Emily revisits her 12th birthday, everything feels too intensely beautiful and heartbreaking. She returns to the grave where she and the others rest and watch the stars, waiting for something important. The narrator explains:
Stage Manager: Y’know the dead don’t stay interested in us living people for very long. Gradually, gradually, they let go hold of the earth—and the ambitions they had—and the pleasures they had—and the things they suffered—and the people they loved. They get weaned away from the earth {…} They’re waitin’ for something they feel is coming. Something important and great. Aren’t they waitin’ for that eternal part of them to come out -- clear?
As the play concludes, Emily comments upon how the Living do not understand how wonderful yet fleeting life is. So, although the play reveals an afterlife, Thorton Wilder urges us to seize each day and appreciate the wonder of each passing moment.
