Summary Of C. S. Lewis The Great Divorce

C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce is a work that showcases the many patterns of denial and rejection that people use to avoid giving their lives to God. Lewis attempts to show the difference between heaven and hell. He does not do this in the literal sense of the places where humanity will be going in eternity. Rather, he embodies the figurative sense of heaven and hell which people experience on earth. He focuses on the importance of our earthly decisions in the balance of not only how we spend eternity, but how we experience our lives on earth. The picture he shows for hell is dark and grey. People don’t realize in hell; rather, they feel that they have an abundance of freedom without being able to find any satisfaction from what they build
Meanwhile, they are transparent and easily hurt by the solidness of the environment. This is a representation of the “realness” of living of a heavenly life. The ghosts are approached by solid people who attempt to persuade them to go with them into the heavenly mountains. The ghosts have many different reactions to this. Some flat out refuse to go, some agree but ultimately refuse to go because they won’t give up their vices. Only one ghost ultimately gives up himself, and becomes a Solid person. In perhaps one of the most gripping moment of the book, a man with a small whispering lizard on his shoulder is asked to give it up. An angel asks permission to kill the lizard, which we later find out is a representation of lust. The man is very hesitant at first, as the lizard tells him how unnatural he will be without it. Eventually, the man gives over to the angel, and the angel rips the lizard from his shoulder. Both the man and the lizard are transformed into beautiful Solid creatures, and the lizard turns into a muscular horse. This is a representation of how our sinful desires can become the glorious desires that they were truly meant to be when we give them up to