The Great Divorce- A Summary

This was yet another great book by C.S. Lewis. Although this book may be short, it is packed full of deep, thought-provoking ideas. It challenges the reader to wonder what he is holding onto in Hell that is preventing him from entering Heaven.

The main story was about an ordinary man who boarded an unusual bus. This bus did not simply transport people to and fro around the city but took you out of the city, out of earth, and into Heaven. All of the passengers seemed to be anxious to get on, afraid that they would miss the bus, but then continually upset and quarrelsome even after they boarded. Although they were so urgent to get on the bus, they were skeptical about their destination.

The bus finally arrived in Heaven. The passengers faced a beautiful landscape before them. There were majestic mountains off in the distance, green fields, plenty of trees, bushes, and flowers, waterfalls, and a river. However, the passengers were surprised to find that the ground and all of their surroundings were incredibly solid. Rather than enjoying a walk on the cool, moist grass, they were being poked by the blades. The sharp blades would not bend under their feet. The man tried to pick up a leaf but was unable to. Others were trying to pick up fruit or flowers but found that they did not have the strength to lift such heavy, solid objects.

Soon after their arrival, the passengers noticed men and women coming towards them. These people seemed to be more than human in their stature and quality. They were slightly larger than most men, magnificently beautiful, and almost unbearably bright. In fact, these people seemed to be spirits more than men. These spirits were quickly coming towards the passengers as if they had an important mission to accomplish. It was then that the man noticed something. After looking at these spirits he realized that he and his fellow passengers were not men at all but ghosts. They were transparent like smoke and no longer seemed completely real.

As the spirits continued to advance, the man walked away, afraid of what they were intending to do. He entertained himself by walking on water. He found that even the water was solid enough for him to walk on as if it was concrete but he still had to run opposite of the current or else he would have been whisked away. He finally crawled back to the bank and began listening to several conversations between the ghosts and the spirits.

It appeared that the main goal of the spirits was to find an old friend or relative among the ghosts and encourage him to stay in Heaven. All of the ghosts, except for one, refused to stay. They were afraid of staying is such a solid place. They could not walk without pain, they would have nothing to eat, and they all had something they left behind that they could not live without.
The man was eventually confronted with a spirit that wished to talk with him about this new land. He did less convincing but allowed the man to listen to other conversations and then tried to answer any questions the man had. The man could not understand how this new world functioned, how there was such joy, peace, happiness, and unconditional love. Through conversation with the spirit, the man realized that where he came from was not simply earth, but Hell. He was not fully real (thus his ghostlike composition), he lived within time whereas this new land did not, and he lived in a place that did not understand true love, true joy, or real life as a whole. The spirit explained to the man that although this new world hurt him at first, if he would die to himself, thus allowing him to be reborn, he could become solid like the rest of the land. The main point was that one has to die, sacrifice, surrender before he could ever gain true life. The problem with so many of the ghosts is that they did not want to die, to go through the pain of surrender, to find a new life. They held onto their bitter emotions, their sense that they needed to be justified for the wrong doings of a husband or wife, brother, or son, and falsely accused Heaven of being ridiculous and Hell being the better option. It was sad for the man and for the reader to hear a ghost continually refusing to surrender, to let go of all their concerns, to forgive and forget. They refused paradise by blinding themselves to think that Hell was so much better.

The man was beginning to see the truth concerning Heaven and his need to repent, surrender, and be born again. However, his spirit told him that he was not actually in Heaven. He was simply dreaming. Although his dream did not portray the real Heaven, it would give good insight into the actions of men.