{"id":67926,"date":"2018-06-14T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=67926"},"modified":"2018-06-30T12:28:53","modified_gmt":"2018-06-30T19:28:53","slug":"the-great-divorce-c12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2018\/06\/14\/the-great-divorce-c12\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Divorce: Chapter 12"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-68106\" src=\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Saint.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"860\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Saint.jpg 860w, https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Saint-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Saint-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Saint-600x315.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The branches of trees down one aisle of the forest dance with light and Lewis thinks there must be another river nearby. It turns out the light is coming from people in a procession. Lewis tells us that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;If I could remember their singing and write down the notes, no man who read that score would ever grow sick or old&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Behind them came a beautiful lady in whose honour all this was being done. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lewis whispers to MacDonald, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;Is it? \u2026 is it?&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. His teacher responds that it\u2019s actually a lady from Golders Green named Sarah Smith, who is <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;one of the great ones&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in this country. MacDonald identifies some of the people in the procession as angels, and others as <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;her sons and daughters&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who were any child she met on earth. She is also surrounded by animals: cats, dogs, birds and horses. MacDonald explains that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;Every beast and bird that came near her had its place in her love. In her they became themselves. And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Lady moves towards <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;two phantoms: a great tall Ghost, horribly thin and shaky&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, whom Lewis dubs <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;The Tragedian&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, who is being led on a chain by another Ghost who is <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;no bigger than an organ-grinder\u2019s monkey&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. When they meet, despite the Tragedian being the one who speaks, the Lady addresses only the Dwarf Ghost. She kisses him and asks for his forgiveness <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;For all I ever did wrong and for all I did not do right since the first day we met&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The Dwarf shakes the chain and the Tragedian responds, saying he accepts her apology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Tragedian says that he\u2019s been thinking only about her <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;all these years\u2026breaking your heart about me&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In a small, bleating voice, the Dwarf Ghost asks if she missed him. When the Lady tells him that he\u2019ll understand it soon enough, the Dwarf and Tragedian speak in unison to each other, saying that she didn\u2019t answer the question. It is at this point that Lewis <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;realised then that they were one person, or rather that both were the remains of what had once been a person&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Sarah\u2019s husband, Frank. The Dwarf and the Tragedian tell each other that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;it would be rather fine and magnanimous not to press the point&#8221; <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">but they aren\u2019t sure if she\u2019d notice, recalling a time when they let her have the last stamp and she didn\u2019t <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;see how unselfish we\u2019d been&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Dwarf and the Tragedian are shocked to find out that the Lady has been happy in Heaven without him. The Tragedian asks here if she even knows the meaning of the word <span style=\"color: #000080\">&#8220;Love&#8221;<\/span>! The Lady responds:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\"> &#8220;How should I not?.. I am in love. In love, do you understand? Yes, now I love truly&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Rather than being comforted by this, the Tragedian asks if this means she didn\u2019t love him on earth. The Lady says she did but <\/span><span style=\"color: #000080\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;only in a poor sort of way\u2026 mostly the craving <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to be loved<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2026 I needed you&#8221;<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The Tragedian is horrified at the idea that she no longer needs him, even though she says that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;We shall have no need for one another now: we can begin to love truly&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Tragedian, becoming even more melodramatic, laments <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;Would to God I had seen her lying dead at my feet before I heard those words&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The Lady tries to snap him out of it by saying to the Dwarf <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;color: #000080\">&#8220;Frank! \u2026 Look at me\u2026 What are you doing with that great, ugly doll? Let go of the chain. Send it away. It is you I want. Don\u2019t you see what nonsense it\u2019s talking?&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Her message seems to get through and he starts to smile and grow a little bigger.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Questions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Q1. How would you describe the procession? What is Lewis\u2019 suspicion regarding the identity of the lady? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Q2. Who are the ghosts in this chapter? Why are there two ghosts, one of them on a chain? Why are the ghosts shocked to find that the lady has been happy in Heaven?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Q3. How does the lady describe her love for her husband on earth? How is it different now in Heaven?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Q4. How does the lady try to snap Frank out of the melodrama? Why might this work? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2018\/06\/02\/the-great-divorce-c11\/\">Previous Episode<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2018\/05\/09\/the-great-divorce-notes\/\">Index<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2018\/06\/17\/the-great-divorce-c13\/\">Next Episode<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary The branches of trees down one aisle of the forest dance with light and Lewis thinks there must be another river nearby. It turns out the light is coming from people in a procession. Lewis tells us that &#8220;If I could remember their singing and write down the notes, no man who read that score would ever grow sick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1914,2969,4848,4852],"class_list":["post-67926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-featured","tag-the-great-divorce","tag-the-great-divorce-series"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Saint-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67926"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68335,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67926\/revisions\/68335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}