The Great Divorce Chapter 13 & 14 Discussion Questions

1. Who does the tragedian blame for his going back to Hell? Why?

2. How have you noticed the term "self respect" being misused?

3. What do you think about the following statement:

"You made yourself really wretched. That you can still do. But you can no longer communicate your wretchedness. Everything becomes more and more itself. Here is joy that cannot be shaken. Our light can swallow up your darkness: but your darkness cannot now infect our light."

4. How have you seen pity misused?

5. What do you think of Lewis describing Hell as almost undetectably small compared to Heaven?

6. Lewis makes the point that "Bad cannot succeed even in being bad as truly as good is good." How does this shape our perspective on evil and suffering?

7. What do you make of Lewis' analogy of the lens?--What of the chess board?

8. What do you think of the ending?

The Great Divorce Chapter 12 Discussion Questions

1. Why would Lewis chose to name the lady character Sarah Smith?

2. What do the dwarf and the tragedian represent?

3. What is revealed about the Sarah Smith's husband in the following passage:

"Didn't you want me to be [happy]? But no matter. Want it now. Or don't think about it al all."

4. Why is it the case that we can truly love each other when we don't need each other?

5. What is it so hard for the husband (the dwarf) to be free from the tragedian? Why is playing along with the tragedian gratifying to him?

Questions on Chapter 11 of The Great Divorce

1. Why does the spirit tell the ghost (actually his sister) that it's not a question of her being "allowed" to see her son, but of it being "possible"?

2. Consider the following statement from the ghost:

"Oh, you mean religion and all that sort of thing...I'll do whatever's necessary. What do you want me to do? Come on. The sooner I begin it, the sooner they'll let me see my boy. I'm quite ready."

Where do you see this same way of thinking in people's attitudes about church and God today?

3. What do you think of the spirit's statement, "Human beings can't make one another really happy for long?"

4. The Spirit says when we reach Heaven, we find out that we've all been wrong, and that after we realize this, we really start living. If that's the case, why are the people who get back on the bus condemned since those in Heaven were wrong about a lot of things too?

5. What are the implications of the following exchange:

"What? Not my own son, born out of my own body?"
"And where is your body now? Didn't you know that Nature draws to an end?"

6. Why is the ghost more bothered by the spirit saying "you can't hurt anyone in this country" than by anything else?

7. What specifically is the problem in the following statement from the lizard?:

"I know there are no real pleasures now, only dreams. But aren't they better than nothing?"

8. What is the point of the lizard resurrecting into a stallion?

9. What do you think of the contrast made at the end of chapter 11 between the man with the lizard and the mother of Michael?