The Great Divorce Essay - 893 Words

In The Great Divorce, the narrator suddenly, and inexplicably, finds himself in a grim and joyless city (the grey town, representative of hell). He eventually finds a bus for those who desire an excursion to some other place (and which eventually turns out to be the foothills of heaven). He enters the bus and converses with his fellow passengers as they travel. When the bus reaches its destination, the people on the bus — including the narrator — gradually realize that they are ghosts. Although the country is the most beautiful they have ever seen, every feature of the landscape (including streams of water and blades of grass) is unbearably solid compared to themselves: it causes them immense pain to walk on the grass, and even a†¦show more content†¦Conversely, the evil of hell works backwards also, so that if a soul remains in, or returns to, the grey town, even its happiness on earth will lose its meaning, and its experience on earth would have been hell. No ne of the ghosts realize that the grey town is, in fact, hell. Indeed it is not that much different from the life they led on earth: joyless, friendless, and uncomfortable. It just goes on forever, and gets worse and worse, with some characters whispering their fear of the night that is to eventually come. According to MacDonald, heaven and hell cannot coexist in a single soul, and while it is possible to leave hell and enter heaven, doing so implies turning away (repentance); or as depicted by Lewis, giving up paltry worldly pleasures and self-indulgences — which have become impossible for the dead anyway — and embracing ultimate and unceasing joy itself. In answer to the narrators question MacDonald confirms that what is going on is a dream. The use of the chess game imagery as well as the correspondence of dream elements to elements in the narrators waking life are reminiscent of Lewis Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The narrator discovers that the vast grey town and its ghostly inhabitants are minuscule to the point of being invisible compared with the immensity of heaven and reality. This is illustrated in the encounterShow MoreRelatedThe Great Divorce And The Screwtape Letters1891 Words   |  8 Pagesfocused on literature and classic philosophy. His most popular work is the children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia. This book series has been loved by many readers for decades and movies have also been made. (C.S. Lewis Biography.) One of the great things that Lewis was able to do with his novels are that he could hide a deeper meaning in different characters and even make the entire novel a lesson that teaches his readers something while they are reading. C.S. Lewis was very involved aboutRead MoreThe Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis567 Words   |  2 PagesIn The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis provides an allegorical description of a dreamers journey from hell to heaven. 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But most dont, about which the great Scottish authorRead MoreHeave in Hell in C.S. Lewis ´ The Great Divorce Essay1010 Words   |  5 PagesIn his novel The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis depicts two settings: one of a grey town where whatever you want is provided for you and another of grand pasture. These settings, in the book, represent Heaven in Hell in a way, depending on which characters perspective the places are viewed from. However, the places that the main character visits and the journey that he takes is one that can be used to model the journey of our spiritual walk. Similar to how the protagonist starts in a bleak town thenRead MoreCritique Of The Great Divorce1898 Words   |  8 PagesCritique of The Great Divorce The Great Divorce is a wonderful work of literature written by C.S. Lewis about a mans trip on a bus to heaven and an understanding of eternity written form a first person perspective. 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Divorce is not always the easiest solution when ending a marriage, along with divorce comes stress, psychological issues and sometimes even strengths. While divorce is often hard on the couple, if there are any children