Tag: The Great Divorce Series

The Great Divorce: Chapter 7

Leave a comment

Summary

Made uncomfortable by the Water-Giant, Lewis leaves and continues to make his way downstream again. He meets a “tall…a lean hard-bitten [ghost] with grev hair and a gruff, but not uneducated voice” leaning against a tree.

The ghost asks Lewis if he’s going back and Lewis says he’s unsure. The ghost explains that he is since he’s “seen about all there is to see.” He just came up to “have a look around”. He did the same on earth: “Pekin… Niagara Falls, the Pyramids, Salt Lake City, the Taj Mahal” and didn’t think much of any of them, claiming that they were “All run by the same people…a World Combine”.

He’s exceptionally disappointed with Hell, saying “They lead you to expect red fire and devils and all sorts of interesting people sizzling on grids… but when you get there its’s just like any other town”.

The Hard-Bitten Ghost claims that there’s no possibility of staying in Heaven since “You can’t eat the fruit and you can’t drink the water and it takes you all your time to walk on the grass… All that idea of staying is only an advertisement stunt.”

After complaining about how uncomfortable Heaven is, Lewis said that “There seems to be some idea that if one stays here one would get…acclimatised.” The ghost rejects this, saying he’d been told that lie his entire life. In the nursery he was told that if he were good, he’d be happy, at school they said Latin would get easier, he was told marriage would would “settle down”, during the World Wars that peace would eventually come.

Our ghost is a conspiracy theorist. He goes on to claim that, just in the same way “[Mummie] and Father were the same firm”, that Heaven and Hell are run by the same people and it’s an elaborate joke. He argues that Heaven and Hell can’t be at war, otherwise Heaven “would attack and sweep the Town out of existence”.

After complaining that there’s nothing to do, either in Heaven or Hell, Lewis asks the ghost would he would like to do if he had a choice. The ghost rejects the entire idea, saying “It’s up to the Management to find something that doesn’t bore us, isn’t it? It’s their job. Why should we do it for them?” He goes on to say that the same thing was wrong with “the parsons and moralists” who “keep on asking us to alter ourselves. But if the people who run the show are so clever and so powerful, why don’t they find something to suit their public?” Regarding the idea of becoming “solider”, the Hard-Bitten Ghost cynically asks Lewis what he would think of a hotel which told you that you’d grow to enjoy eating bad eggs eventually!

The ghost prepares to leave and asks Lewis if he’ll join him. Lewis cheekily responds that
“There doesn’t seem to be much point in going anywhere on your showing”. When he comments that at least it’s not raining here, the Hard-Bitten Ghost points out at that it’s bound to soon and, when it does rain, the raindrops “will make a hole in you, like a machine-gun bullet”. Convinced that “they” won’t catch him that way, our ghost leaves.

Questions

Q1. What do you make of the Hard-Bitten Ghost?

Q2. Why do you think the ghost was so unimpressed with everything on earth?

Q3. Why is the ghost so unimpressed with Hell?

Q4. Why is the ghost so unimpressed with Heaven?

Q5. Why does he reject the idea that the ghosts will become solider over time?

Q6. Why does the ghost not think Heaven and Hell are at war? Why does he think they are colluding?

Q7. Why does the ghost not suggest anything he’d like to do?

Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode

The Great Divorce: Chapter 6

Leave a comment

Summary

Our protagonist walks upstream on the hard water for an hour, but only advances “a couple of hundred yards”. However, the foam forces him to leave the water and walk on the great flat stones on the banks.

After hearing “an immense yet lovely noise vibrated through the forest” for several hours, he finally arrives at a massive waterfall which he says “was like giant’s laughter: like the revelry of a whole college of giants together laughing, dancing, singing, roaring at their high works”. Lewis comments that his senses “were now receiving impressions which would normally exceed their capacity. On earth, such a waterfall could not have been perceived at all as a whole; it was too big”

He then notices that “a hawthorn bush not twenty yards away seemed to be behaving oddly”. It turns out to be his “bowler-hatted companion” he met on the bus whom the Big Ghost had called Ikey, who wanted to setup a shop in The Grey Town.

The Intelligent Ghost was trying to cross the ground in a stealthy fashion without being seen, but making slow progress through the heavenly environment. He makes his way to a tree when the wind blows, dislodging golden apples which land both around and on him!

Upon recovery, The Intelligent Ghost attempts to fill his pockets with the apples. However, “his ambitions were gradually forced down” from multiple, large apples to the single, smallest apple he could find. Even though he is bent double, “inch by inch, still availing himself of every scrap of cover, he set out on his via dolorosa to the bus, carrying his torture”.

A great voice suddenly says “Fool. Put it down”.  Jack realizes that that the waterfall itself was speaking, that it “was also a bright angel who stood, like one crucified, against the rocks and poured himself perpetually down towards the forest with loud joy”. The giant tells The Intelligent Ghost to put the apple done since “There is not room for it in Hell”. Instead, he invites him to remain in Heaven and “learn to eat such apples” and tells him that “the very leaves and the blades of grass in the wood will delight to teach you.”

The ghost either doesn’t hear the angel, or chosoes to ignore him and continues his journey back to the bus…

Questions

Q1. Why do you think Lewis’ senses are increasing in capacity?

Q2. What is The Intelligent Ghost so afraid of?

Q3. What is The Intelligent Ghost trying to do? What problems does he have?

Q4. How can the waterfall also be an angel?

Q5. What does the angel tell The Intelligent Ghost to do instead?

Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode

The Great Divorce: Chapter 5

Leave a comment

Summary

Two lions arrive, “playing some solemn romp”. Feeling nervous, Jack leaves. By the river, he finds one of the Bright People, a man named Dick, talking to the Episcopal Ghost Lewis had met earlier.

Dick and the Episcopal Ghost were friends on earth. The ghost reminisces about the conversations they used to have. He comments that his friend “became rather narrow-minded towards the end”, believing in a literal Heaven and Hell, but he assumes that he’s now “broadened out again”. In response to this, Dick asks the ghost if he knows where he thinks he’s been living. The ghost is scandalized when Dick refers to the Grey Town as “Hell” (but if he chooses to never go back, he may call it “Purgatory”). The Episcopal Ghost asks why he was sent to the Town and is told that it was because he was an apostate.

The ghost indignantly asks “Do you really think people are penalised for their honest opinions? Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that those opinions were mistaken.” He declares that “They were not only honest [opinions] but heroic. I asserted them fearlessly. When the doctrine of the Resurrection ceased to commend itself to the critical faculties which God had given me, I openly rejected it. I preached my famous sermon. I defied the whole chapter. I took every risk.” Dick points out that nothing was risked and the inevitable happened: “popularity, sales for your books, invitations, and finally a bishopric”.

Len explains their “opinions were not honestly come by”. They adopted a certain current of ideas because they “seemed modern and successful”. He asks his ghostly friend “When, in our whole lives, did we honestly face, in solitude, the one question on which all turned: whether after all the Supernatural might not in fact occur? When did we put up one moment’s real resistance to the loss of our faith?” He says that they were “playing with loaded dice… errors which are sincere in that sense are not innocent.”

The Bright One tells him “You have seen Hell: you are in sight of Heaven. Will you, even now, repent and believe?” The ghost affirms that he already believes, saying his “religion is a very real and a very precious thing”.

Dick invites him to the mountains, but the ghost says he will only do so with some assurances: “a place where I shall find a wider sphere of usefulness-and scope for the talents that God has given me – and an atmosphere of free inquiry”. Dick promises him no such thing, “No sphere of usefulness: you are not needed there at all. No scope for your talents: only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of inquiry, for I will bring you to the land not of questions but of answers, and you shall see the face of God.”

The ghost protests that “there is something stifling about the idea of finality… what is more soul-destroying than stagnation?” The Spirit responds “There was a time when you asked questions because you wanted answers, and were glad when you had found them… Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth. What you now call the free play of inquiry has neither more nor less to do with the ends for which intelligence was given you than masturbation has to do with marriage.” Regarding this statement as obscene, the ghost responds saying “that question-and-answer conception of thought only applies to matters of fact. Religious and speculative questions are surely on a different level.”

Dick asks the ghost if he even believes that God exists, to which the ghost asks “What does Existence mean?”

Dick then asks if he still even desires happiness, but while the ghost is dispensing his own wisdom on the subject, he suddenly remembers that he’s later presenting a paper at the Grey Town’s Theological Society, asking what Jesus’ opinions would have been if he hadn’t been tragically killed at such a young age. It is at this point the Spirit leaves him and the ghost returns to the bus humming a hymn to himself.

Lewis tries walking on the river’s hard water and falls flat on his face due to the water’s motion.

Questions

Q1. What do you think is the significance of the lions?

Q2. What do we learn about the background of the ghost and the spirit in this chapter?

Q3. Why is the ghost’s criticism of the spirit’s “narrow” opinions ironic?

Q4. What is the ghost’s sin?

Q5. How do the ghost and the spirit each regard the ghost’s beliefs?

Q6. What are the ghost’s demands for Heaven?

Q7. What would you regard as the ghost’s essential resistance to the spirit and to Heaven?

Q8. Why do you think the chapter ends in the way it does?

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

The Great Divorce: Chapter 4

Leave a comment

Summary

Anticipating “affecting scenes”, our protagonist wanders away from the group. He discovers that the grass, “hard as diamonds”, makes progress slow and painful. He is followed by The Big Ghost and one of the solid people. It turns out that, on earth, the ghost was the boss of the bright, solid man, who is named Len. Len had murdered a common acquaintance, a man called Jack. The Big Ghost is horrified Len has been allowed into this land. Len explains that his victim is there too and that he will see him soon.

The Big Ghost then asks Len if he’s ashamed of himself, to which Len replies “Not as you mean. I do not look at myself. I have given up myself” and explains that this began following the murder. The Big Ghost asks Len why “a bloody murderer” is here, while he had been living in the Grey Town. Len says that, although he’ll come to understand, it’ll be difficult to comprehend for the time being, so best to not bother about it.

But the Big Ghost says “I gone straight all my life. I don’t say I was a religious man and I don’t say I had no faults, far from it. But I done my best all my life, see? I done my best by everyone, that’s the sort of chap I was. I never asked for anything that wasn’t mine by rights” Len explains that the situation is far better than he thinks, saying “I haven’t got my rights, or I should not be here. You will not get yours either. You’ll get something far better. Never fear.” The Big Ghost says he’s “not asking for anybody’s bleeding charity”, but Len exhorts him to do just that: “Ask for the Bleeding Charity. Everything is here for the asking and nothing can be bought.”

At this point, we begin to see that the Big Ghost is not going to accept a Heaven where someone like Len is also welcome. Len attempts to correct this attitude without much success. He points out that the Big Ghost was neither a decent man, nor did he even “do his best”. The Big Ghost was hard on his employees, as well as on his wife and children. Len goes on to explain that murdering Jack wasn’t actually the worst thing he did: “I murdered you in my heart, deliberately, for years. I used to lie awake at nights thinking what I’d do to you if ever I got the chance”. He explains that, because of this, he has been sent to the Big Ghost to ask for his forgiveness and to serve him for as long as he would like.

The Big Ghost angrily tells Len to stay out of his “private affairs”, even though Len says that “There are no private affairs”. It is at this point the Big Ghost declares that he’s not going to go to the mountain at all: “Tell them I’m not coming, see? I’d rather be damned than go along with you”

Questions

Q1. What do we learn about the relationship between the Big Ghost and the solid person who meets him? Who is Jack?

Q2. Why is the Big Ghost surprised to see Len?

Q3. Why does Len say he isn’t ashamed? What virtue is he displaying?

Q4. On what basis does the Big Ghost think he should be granted admission? According to Len, would he get in on that basis?

Q5. What does Len say is the worst thing he’s ever done? Why is it worse than killing Jack?

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

The Great Divorce: Chapter 3

Leave a comment

Summary

The bus climbs over a cliff and travels across “a level, grassy country through which there ran a wide river” where it lands. All the passengers push and shove to get out.

Lewis leaves the bus where “the light and coolness that drenched me were like those of summer morning, early morning a minute or two before the sunrise”. He has the sense of “being in a larger space…which made the Solar System itself seem an indoor affair”. This gives him a feeling both of freedom, but also of exposure to possible danger.

Looking at his fellow-passengers, Jack sees them as almost transparent. The “grass did not bend under their feet: even the dew drops were not disturbed”. At this point he realizes that “the men were as they always had been” and that “it was the light, the grass, the trees that were different; made of some different substance, so much solider than things in our country that men were ghosts by comparison”. He tries to pluck a daisy and fails, it being “heavier than a sack of coal”. One ghost runs back into the bus, screaming “I don’t like it!”.

The Big Man asks the Driver when they’ve got to go back, but he replies that they can stay as long as they please. One of the quieter and more respectable ghosts comments to Lewis that personally he left the Grey Town to get away from this riff-raff!

Our protagonist looks around and sees some great mountains with “cities perched on inaccessible summits”. In the same way that the Grey Town seemed to be frozen in time, here the light does not change, with “the promise or the threat of sunrise”.

He then sees “bright” people coming to meet them, whose “strong feet sank into the wet turf”. Some of these people are naked, others robed, but it seemed to make very little difference, “the naked ones did not seem less adorned, and the robes did not disguise in those who wore them the massive grandeur of muscle and the radiant smoothness of flesh“. Although some had beards, they all seemed ageless. Two more ghosts scream and hide in the bus. The remaining phantoms huddle close together.

Questions

Q1. How is this new land described? What do you think is the significance of these descriptions?

Q2. What does Lewis come to realize about himself and the other passengers?

Q3. What does the Bus Driver say about their stay in this new land?

Q4. What annoyed the Respectable Ghost?

Q5. How are the “bright” people described? What do you think is the significance of this?

Q6. Why do some of the phantoms hide in the bus?

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

The Great Divorce: Chapter 2

Leave a comment

Summary

The Tousle-Headed Poet explains that his parents never appreciated him. The schools he attended, the education system in general and capitalism all failed to recognize his genius. During the War, he was a conscientious objector and moved to America. After money troubles and poor treatment by a girl, he jumped under a train. He is convinced that, while all the others would return, he would stay at their destination and finally receive the recognition he deserved.

A fight breaks out in the bus. Nobody is hurt, but when it is over, our protagonist finds himself at a different seat with a new companion, an Intelligent Man with a large nose and bowler hat. His new companion explains to him why the town seems so empty, that everyone there is so quarrelsome that they keep moving further and further away from each other.

Some residents of the town are identified: Tamberlaine, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Henry the Fifth and Nepoleon. Some had gone to visit Napoleon, a journey which took fifteen thousand years. They found a huge house in the middle of nowhere with Napoleon “Walking up and down-up and down… never stopping for a moment…muttering to himself all the time. ‘It was Soult’s fault. It was Ney’s fault. It was Josephine’s fault…’”

At this point, the Intelligent Man shares his plan. He says “there’s no proper economic basis for any community life. If they needed real shops, chaps would have to stay near where the real shops were… It’s scarcity that enables a society to exist”. His solution is to “come back with some real commodities” which he could sell, forcing people to live nearby. This would also provide  “safety in numbers”, particularly when the dusk eventually turns to night… The Big Man and the others tell the Intelligent Man to shut up, under threat of violence.

A nearby passenger, “A fat clean-shaven man”, tells Lewis that “there is not a shred of evidence that this twilight is ever going to turn into a night. There has been a revolution of opinion on that in educated circles”, arguing instead that it is a precursor to the dawn. He rejects the Intelligent Man’s “earth-bound” desire for “real commodities”.

The greyness outside begins to subside and the bus is fulfilled with light. Our protagonist goes to open the window, but it is forcefully shut by the Intelligent Man. The Big Man encourages him to hit Lewis. The cruel light reveals the “distorted and faded” faces. Then Lewis then sees his own reflection in a mirror…

Questions

Q1. What is the sin of the tousle-haired poet? What is he expecting to find in Heaven?

Q2. According to the Intelligent Ghost, why does The Grey Town seem so empty?

Q3. What solution does the Intelligent Ghost present?

Q4. What spiritual lesson can you draw from the way houses are constructed in The Grey Town and their poor function?

Q5. How would you describe the outlook of the “fat clean-shaven man”?

Q6. What does the light reveal?

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

The Great Divorce: Chapter 1

Leave a comment

Summary

We open with Lewis standing in a bus queue. He’s been wandering in continual twilight through The Grey Town in the rain. Other than the bus queue, the town appears to be deserted.

As he joins the queue, a couple argue and they both leave.  

The Short Man in front of him makes a disparaging comment about “the sort of society” in the bus queue. After Lewis fails to respond to the slight, The Big Man  punches The Short Man who limps away.

Next, a young, seemingly androgynous, couple leave arm in arm, “it was clear that each for the moment preferred the other to the chance of a place in the bus”.

A woman four places ahead complains “We shall never all get in”. A man offers to change places with her for five shillings, but he then double-crosses her. The rest of the group throw her out of the line.

We get the impression that events like this continue to happen for some time until “the queue had reduced itself to manageable proportions long before the bus appeared”. The bus is a stunning vehicle, driven by a driver who is “full of light”. To our protagonist’s puzzlement, the driver’s appearance raises the ire of those in the queue. They all push and shove to get into the bus but, in the end, there is plenty of room for all.

Our man sits at the back of the bus, a good distance away from the others, but is immediately joined by “a tousle-headed youth” who sees in our protagonist a kindred spirit. He comments on his bewilderment at the other passengers, saying they “won’t like it at all when we get there, and they’d really be much more comfortable at home” where “they’ve got cinemas and fish and chip shops and advertisements and all the sorts of things they want”. He says he ought to have taken the bus as soon as he arrived, but he’d “fooled about trying to wake people up”. It becomes clear that this man is a poet and, to our protagonist’s horror, he is about to show him some of his poetry… It is at this point Lewis realizes that the bus is now airborne and he looks out of the window to see the Grey Town disappearing below into the rain and the mist.

Questions

Q1. What words would you use to describe The Grey Town?

Q2. What do you make of the different members of the queue? The arguing couple, The Short Man, The Big Man, The Androgynous Couple, The woman who pays to change places with the man who cheats her…

Q3. In what way do the characters in the line each display one of the Seven Deadly Sins? Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, Wrath

Q4. In what ways are the members of the bus stop similar? In what ways are they different from each other?

Q5. Why do you think the line for the bus is so short? Why do people so easily leave the line?

Q6. Why do you think the members of the queue react so badly to the driver?

Q7. Do you think the tousle-headed youth represents anyone in particular?

Q8. Why does the tousle-headed youth think that the others would be happier staying in the town?

Q9. Who do you think Cyril Blellow was?

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

1 2 3