[email protected]

New Order

The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper

The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis: Research Essay Instructions
Listening for God in Fiction—Prof. Hecht
Length: 4-5 pages (approx.1600-2000 words), double-spaced; use MLA 8th ed.
Purpose of this literary essay: to show in Lewis’s The Great Divorce how he challenges readers
to encounter the true gospel (one of its many facets).
***Don’t forget to review and apply the instructions for writing a literary essay—already posted
on Canvas earlier in the semester.
Audience: The readers of your essay have already read The Great Divorce, but they haven’t
discussed it with anyone or read any sources about it.
Sources: The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

1. The Great Divorce (Use strong quotes from the story, showing that you have interacted
with it and made some of your own observations.)
2. At least one quote from George MacDonald, the Scottish Teacher in the novel.
3. 3-4 literary criticism sources (literature databases on Moody’s library website; books in
any library). Make sure they are published sources by literary scholars.
Q: Do I find a theme from the stories or from the literary criticism?
A: From both—as you read literary criticism, you may come up with ideas that you’d like to
write about. Also from our discussions in class, what intrigues you that you’d like to explore?
Topic Suggestions:
1. Create a theme sentence–a universal principle or truth. The thesis/theme is expressed in
a complete sentence, not just a word or phrase. Also, don’t include the author’s name or
story title in the theme sentence (they should be elsewhere in the introduction).
2. Analyze in depth one of the ghosts and his or her Bright Spirit. What theme is Lewis
suggesting from their conversation?
3. What truths does Lewis portray about sin or salvation or godliness or love, etc.???
4. Why does Lewis portray heaven the way he does? What themes come out of this
portrayal? OR answer the same questions about hell….
5. As you can see, there are many options—feel free to come up with something that I
haven’t listed above. The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper

In C.S. Lewis’s book, The Great Divorce, he depicts heaven and hell in a form that is different from the usual expectations of the two places by the readers. I personally find the description of heaven and hell very different from what I have known since I was taught by my Sunday school teacher and other resources such as the bible. First, the narrator finds himself in a “gray town,” waiting for a bus. While waiting for the bus in the town, the narrator encounters several spirits and ghosts and the place turns out to be hell while the mountains are heaven. Further, the narrator recognizes the reasons as to why some people were in heaven and others in hell. The differences separating those in heaven is the fact that the spirits in heaven allowed God to take them and disowned worldly things while those in hell were held greed and other similar things. The first few pages of the book introduce the reader to things that are not fiction but those that can be found here on earth. For instance, the reader is introduced to the grey town which represents hell. Interest grows higher among readers in trying to understand why the author depicts both heaven and hell the way he does which is very different from what most re4aders have known for long  and this forms part of the topics addressed later in this paper. At the end of the book, the reader is made to understand that the description in the book is a representation of the day-to-day spiritual battles that happen in the world.

In the book, Lewis describes hell as a “grey town” which has thousands of houses and streets and millions of miles long. While in the bus, the neighbor to the narrator explains to him the reason as to why the grey town is extremely large, and the reason is because of a lot of quarreling that happens in the town and hence people keeps on shifting to avoid the buildup of conflicts. The neighbor states that “…He’ll move right out to the edge of the town and build a new house” and that is how the town keeps on growing (Lewis, 10)The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper. In addition, it is evident that Lewis uses the term grey town to describe hell in order to highlight the intensity of loneliness that exists in hell as well as the selfish interest of the people who are in hell. Just like in the current world, most of the wrongdoers are self-centered and hence, the people in the grey town move to the furthest edge to build their houses. Also, the grey town just like here on earth is full of sin but the people do not recognize this fact until they get to heaven and because they have been used with their life of sin, they prefer to remain in hell.

The reader further realizes towards the end that even though hell appears to be endless, the grey town is indeed very small, smaller than one atom of the world (Lewis, 138). Lewis highlights that hell is indeed very small as compared to heaven to warn sinners that their wrong doing will reach an end at some point. For instance, Lewis states that even if a butterfly was to swallow earth, it is not big enough to cause it harm or even feel its taste. Therefore, the size of hell is to signify that evil can never defeat heaven therefore, the tribulations and suffering that is in hell cannot be compared to the happiness that is to be experienced in heaven.

Also, Lewis contradicts heaven and hell using the quantity of light in the two places. For instance, hell is described as being a never-ending twilight while heaven is continuously bright. As they proceeded with the journey to heaven, the light advanced in its brightness indicating that hell was a place of great darkness. This explanation of the darkness of hell is similar to the biblical stories that liken hell to an endless ditch that is full of darkness The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper.

Lewis describes heaven in such a way that portrays a feeling of pain, discomfort and great suffering. This he does so by describing the nature of pain that the ghosts undergo as they alight the bus from the grey town to heaven. First, immediately they are off the bus, they feel great discomfort and it is at this point that the ghosts realize that they are not human but rather ghosts. Besides realizing that they were ghosts, the narrator goes ahead to narrate heaven in a beautiful way, and even described heaven as being in a large space (Lewis, 20).

Everything in heaven was extremely heavy including the grass on which they were walking. For instance, the narrator was unable to either lift a daisy or twist it as it was extremely heavy and also, likened it with a diamond; he said that its hardness was not like wood or iron but diamond (Lewis, 21). The grass as well did not bend under the feet of ghosts, but does so for those who had been in heaven for a long time. The narration however leaves the readers with many questions including why the Lewis depicts heaven as painful and heavy. The most appropriate reason is the fact that to go to heaven, one must suffer and under several challenges and hardships. Just like in this world, those who seek the kingdom of God must sacrifice some of their luxuries, happiness and joy to get to the kingdom of God. Also, in the biblical reference, Jesus underwent a painful journey while on earth to an extent of carrying a heavy cross, a crown of thorns on his head and persevered through his journey to fructification (John 19: 13-17). Also, Lewis depicts that the suffering experienced in heaven was merely a human experience because other non-human beings did not seem to feel the pain; he described how two lions came bouncing while walking on the same grass that was very painful to the narrator (Lewis 12). Monika further argues that Lewis’ work reflects the biblical worldview of heaven as “humanity’s true country” pulsating with cosmic joy” (Hilder 2018, pp.99-100)The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper.

In addition, heaven gave the narrator a feeling of freedom because it is a place where people have the free choice to either stay or leave. However, if they choose to stay, they have to meet some conditions of enduring the discomfort of the grass to an extent of being resistant to the discomfort and become more solid. Similar to the people in trey grey town, those in heaven are also in a continuous journey to get closer to the mountains, Gods residence.  According to Richardson in his work “Nature in Heaven and Nature on Earth” emphasizes the sacrifices made to get to heaven.  “Journey to God takes mankind ‘further into the mountains and away from cities and anything man-made” (Richardson, 2021, p.92). This argument that the people in heaven are moving to the mountains reveals that the journey represents the transition from a non-believer to a believer.

Throughout the novel, it is vivid that the heaven and hell depicted do not signify heaven or earth, but the spiritual battles that exist in our lives. From the Christian teachings, people know the fact that they have a choice to make while in this life and their choices cannot be changed once they die. Thereby, Lewis in his book presents the human free will. The idea of free will has also been emphasized by Jeffress and Brown who described Lewis’s dream fantasy as a reminder to the people that heaven and hell were consequences of their choices made throughout life (Jeffress & Brown 2017, p 12)The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper.

For instance, God has granted human beings the freedom of choosing to follow him and his teachings. In addition, it’s the humans will that sin came into the world. Lewis as well presents several characters that represent the various sins that are in this world and they are all given the opportunity to change their ways by moving away from sin to heaven by making a journey from the grey town to the mountains. As expressed by MacDonald, the grey town is purgatory to the believers as they wait to go to heaven but it is hell to the unbelievers. “If they leave that grey town behind it will not have been Hell. To any that leaves it, it is Purgatory.”Yet again, none of the characters is forced to stay in heaven hence highlighting the freedom among believers to decide whether to stay or leave. Lewis ends his story and leaves the readers to ask themselves whether to stay in heaven or proceed to hell.

Works cited

Hilder, Monika B. “The Packed Reality of Heaven.” Sehnsucht: The CS Lewis Journal 12 (2018): 93-120.

Jeffress, Michael S., and William J. Brown. “Freedom of Choice in The Great Divorce: CS Lewis’ Rhetorical Vision of Afterlife.” CSL: The Bulletin of the New York CS Lewis Society 48.2 (2017): 1-14.

Lewis C.S., 1984. The Great Divorce. New York: Collier Books

Richardson, Joshua. “Nature in Heaven and Nature on Earth: Heaven’s Natural World in The Great Divorce.” Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism 13.2 (2021): 9.

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis:  Research Essay Instructions

Listening for God in Fiction—Prof. Hecht

Length: 4-5 pages (approx.1600-2000 words), double-spaced; use MLA 8th ed.

Purpose of this literary essay: to show in Lewis’s The Great Divorce how he challenges readers to encounter the true gospel (one of its many facets)The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper.

***Don’t forget to review and apply the instructions for writing a literary essay—already posted on Canvas earlier in the semester.

Audience: The readers of your essay have already read The Great Divorce, but they haven’t discussed it with anyone or read any sources about it.

Sources:

  1. The Great Divorce (Use strong quotes from the story, showing that you have interacted with it and made some of your own observations.)
  2. At least one quote from George MacDonald, the Scottish Teacher in the novel.
  3. 3-4 literary criticism sources (literature databases on Moody’s library website; books in any library). Make sure they are published sources by literary scholars.

Q: Do I find a theme from the stories or from the literary criticism?

A: From both—as you read literary criticism, you may come up with ideas that you’d like to write about. Also from our discussions in class, what intrigues you that you’d like to explore? The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper

ORDER TODAY

Topic Suggestions:

  1. Create a theme sentence–a universal principle or truth. The thesis/theme is expressed in a complete sentence, not just a word or phrase. Also, don’t include the author’s name or story title in the theme sentence (they should be elsewhere in the introduction).
  2. Analyze in depth one of the ghosts and his or her Bright Spirit. What theme is Lewis suggesting from their conversation?
  3. What truths does Lewis portray about sin or salvation or godliness or love, etc.???
  4. Why does Lewis portray heaven the way he does? What themes come out of this portrayal? OR answer the same questions about hell….
  5. As you can see, there are many options—feel free to come up with something that I haven’t listed above. The Great Divorce Research Essay Paper