One of the main conflicts in The Longest Ride is an external conflict between Luke and his mom. Luke is a very good bull rider but his mom doesn't approve of his bull riding anymore. Throughout the book Luke and his mom go through times when Luke's mom is so mad at him about it that she won't even talk to him. This conflict connects to an internal conflict with Luke because Luke feels guilty about his mom's farm being taken away. Luke's mom is furious with Luke because he keeps bull riding, but the only reason he is continuing to do it is because he feels guilty about his mom losing her farm. Luke's internal conflict creates the external conflict with his mom. Luke's internal conflict also eventually leads to an external conflict with Sophia. Luke knows that if Luke doesn't quit bull riding, then he will lose Sophia forever.
The author, Nicholas Sparks, relies more on internal conflicts than external conflicts. Throughout the book Sophia constantly has the internal conflict about whether she should stay with Luke or not. Her roommate Marcia, makes Sophia question her relationship with Luke even more than she already was.
Another one of the main conflicts in the book is internal with Ira. Ira is trying to decide if he should keep fighting and try to live or if he should just give up to be with his wife in heaven. As Ira is having this internal conflict, he keeps seeing his wife who is telling him that it isn't his time to die yet. Ira's internal conflict ends up being an external conflict with his wife, Ruth. Ruth keeps pushing him to keep fighting and even though she's not really there, she turns his internal conflict into an external conflict.
Through all the internal and external conflicts in The Longest Ride, the resolutions to them all come down to one thing. True love.
