I once assigned this to my Catholic religion classes, even though C. S. Lewis was decidedly not Catholic. If he had only lived a little longer, his friends J.R.R. Tolkien or G. K. Chesterton would have almost certainly won him over to the home team.
I'm not sure the high schoolers really understood The Great Divorce. In hindsight, I probably would not do that again. Nevertheless, it gave me multiple opportunities to re-read this great book, and it's still one of my favorites.
I think this book is uniquely well-suited for book groups, Catholic or not. Why? Because so often when reading this book, you want to shout at the characters. You're being ridiculous! Heaven is right there. And with just a line or two, C. S. Lewis presents to you a full-fledged, fully relatable character. As a writer myself, he makes me sick. He's so good. He's like Rembrandt, who could somehow create a detailed portrait with just a few strokes.
Happy reading! I hope these questions will help you dig in.
C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce Discussion Questions - Table of Contents
#1 The Great Divorce, Discussion Questions - Purgatory
How is the Grey City both alike and different from the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory?
To jog your memory: C. S. Lewis conceives of a place, the Grey City or Grey Town, that can be either Hell or Purgatory, depending on whether you decide to leave it or not. If you stayed there up to the moment of nightfall, the Grey City will have been Hell all along. If you proceed to Heaven from the Grey City, which apparently few do, your time in the Grey City will have been your Purgatory. This is all according to C. S. Lewis. Here's the quote:
"But I don't understand. Is judgment not final? Is there really a way out of Hell into Heaven?"
"It depends on the way you're using the words. If they leave that grey town behind it will not have been Hell. To any that leaves it, it is Purgatory. And perhaps ye had better not call this country Heaven. Not Deep Heaven, ye understand." (Here he smiled at me). "Ye can call it the Valley of the Shadow of Life. And yet to those who stay here it will have been Heaven from the first. And ye can call those sad streets in the town yonder the Valley of the Shadow of Death: but to those who remain there they will have been Hell even from the beginning." [Chapter 9]
The main difference between the Grey City and true Purgatory is that everybody who gets to Purgatory will eventually get to Heaven.
What is Purgatory? Also, if you want to read more on the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, you can check out this article. It also includes all the different places Purgatory is described in the Bible, too, in case you're being asked about this.
Bonus Question: How do you like this image of the Grey City that I generated? Does it fit your mental image of the Grey City?
#2 The Great Divorce, Discussion Questions - The Episcopal Ghost
A. Of all the paradoxes that seem to co-exist within this one character, which one is the greatest or the most heinous or ridiculous?
B. Have you ever encountered or heard of a pastor, priest, or other other cleric that espoused thoughts like this?
To jog your memory: (1) This is an Episcopal bishop who doesn't believe in Heaven, Hell, or the Second Coming ... or even God, as we learn in the end. This, despite being damned to Hell, taking a trip to Heaven, and being offered a chance to go see God right there and then. (2) The Episcopal Ghost is surprised that Dick actually believes in objective reality, being objectively right or wrong, when it is obvious that Dick was objectively right and the bishop's ghost was objectively wrong. (3) The Episcopal bishop refuses to believe in a literal Heaven and Hell, insisting they're just metaphors, when he's actually standing in Heaven and Hell.
#3 The Great Divorce, Discussion Questions - The Hard-Bitten Ghost
A. How would you attempt to convince this ghost that reality is not a scam, conspiracy, or propaganda?
B. Were you itching to tell this ghost anything when you were reading about him? (This same question could be used on many of the characters of The Great Divorce)
To jog your memory: This ghost is a conspiracy theorist who believes that Heaven and Hell are actually on the same side, faking the so-called war of good and evil to exploit the Ghosts. This is similar to the "constant war" contrived between the superpowers of George Orwell's 1984. This ghost thinks that Heaven is a scam, and ghosts becoming more solid is propaganda.
#4 The Great Divorce, Discussion Questions - The Lady with the Unicorns
A. Have you ever considered/imagined being too ashamed to enter Heaven, because all of your past sins would be laid bare (and already are) to everyone in Heaven
B. How does C. S. Lewis depict this feeling of nakedness as an appearance of intangibility?
To jog your memory: This is a female Ghost who is too ashamed to be seen in Heaven by the Bright Ones. She is ashamed of appearing ghost-like, i.e. phantasmal or intangible. She fears how the Bright Ones will react to her appearance. A herd of unicorn tries to persuade her to stop focusing on her looks, which is a ridiculous distraction in Heaven. The observers call on the herd to stampede to help knock the lady out of her endless mental loop of self-absorption about appearance.
#5 The Great Divorce, Discussion Questions - Robert's Wife
A. Did this line sting, regarding the quality of our forgiveness? "I forgive him as a Christian," said the Ghost. "But there are some things one can never forget."
B. How has Robert's Wife convinced herself that her husband is at fault? How does she justify the following statement: "The ingratitude! It was I who made a man of him! Sacrificed my whole life to him!" Why does he need to forgive her, rather than she forgive him?
#6 The Great Divorce, Discussion Questions - The Ghost with the Lizard
You don't have to answer out loud, but have you ever been so torn by a vice or addiction? So torn that part of you is trying to give it away, while the other part is holding tight -- an internal, unending tug-of-war that pits your own will against itself?
To jog your memory: This is the ghost hounded by uncontrollable lust. The lizard on his shoulder is the manifestation of the lust. He understands that the lizard can't accompany him to heaven, but he can't give it up ... or can he?
Bonus Question: St. Teresa of Avila in The Interior Castle also describes sins, like those afflicting the ghost, as reptiles. The "reptiles" prowl about the outside of the castle and sometimes intrude into the outer courts. What do you think this means?
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