The main theme is forgiveness. This is a good example, and one of my favorite quotes from the book: "Ronnie, of everything I've said this is the most important." "What's that?", she asked. "You need to learn how to forgive." She crossed her arms. "I've already forgiven Will. I've left him messages..." Even before she finished her dad was shaking his head. "I'm not talking about Will. You need to learn to forgive yourself." This is the main theme because it ties in to a majority of the characters. Ronnie learns to forgive her father for leaving  them when she was young. She also learns to forgive her mother after she finds out the reason her dad left was because her mom had an affair. Will learns to forgive his friend for never admitting to a crime he committed. Ronnie learns to forgive herself for all the things she's done in her past. Also in the beginning Ronnie treats her dad terribly, but once she finds out he has cancer she feels terrible. He forgives her because he says shes one of the things she loves most in the world. Nicholas Sparks really tries to teach you that one of the most important lessons is forgiveness. Most of all that before you can forgive anyone you really need to learn to forgive yourself. "She squinted up at him. "But I haven't made good decisions." Pastor Harris smiled. "All that shows is that your human." I really like this quote because Pastor Harris is showing Ronnie that sometimes people make mistakes, and that's because were human. Everyone does. It's important to forgive yourself and others for only being human.