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?

Chapters 9 and 10 Discussion Questions

1. What do you think of the idea that both good and evil are retrospective? Have you ever had an experience where something good in the present changed the character or meaning of something that seemed bad in the past--or vise versa?

2. What kinds of statements does George MacDonald say will be heard in the "actual language of the lost," and what does this tell us about the nature of Hell?

3. What do you think of Lewis' point on our ability to understand whether or not people will have an opportunity to surrender to God after death?

4. What do you think of Lewis' point that "Those who hate goodness are sometimes nearer than those that know nothing at all about it and think they have it already."?

5. What is the problem with the artist?

6. What's one word that describes the lady in chapter 10?

Chapters 7 and 8 Discussion Questions

1. What does the skeptical ghost get out of being so skeptical?

2. In light of the paragraph that begins, "There you go!" near the end of chapter 7, what does the skeptical ghost think is the main reason for all his disappointments (in his travels, his experiences in school, war, marriage)?--Where does he think the core of the problem lies?

3. In light of the last sentence the skeptical ghost says inchapter 7, what emotion do you think largely motivates his skepticism?

4. What is the Ghost's problem in chapter 8?

5. What do you think about the bright Spirit's comment on shame in chapter 8?--in the paragraph that begins, "An hour hence..."

The Great Divorce--Ch. 5 and 6 Discussion Questions

Chapter 5:

1. The Spirit asks the intelligent ghost, "Do you really think there are no sins of intellect?" How can ideas or beliefs we hold in our minds be sinful? What would be a good example of a "sin of intellect"?

2. What does the spirit say is the one question "on which all turns," and why isn't the ghost willing to honesty deal with this question? Why is this question so important?

3. What do you think of the spirit's statement: "We know nothing of religion here: We think only of Christ?

4. What is the sin Lewis is bringing to our attention in the following Lines:

"I'm not sure that I've got the exact point you are trying to make," said the Ghost.
"I am not trying to make any point," said the Spirit. "I am telling you to repent and believe."

5. When it comes to questions about God, why would some people rather "travel hopefully" than to arrive?

6. Have you ever witnessed a situation like that described in chapter 6 where someone is offered a remedy for suffering, but cannot receive it because the person has given her attention so completely to the suffering? Why do people do this?

The Great Divorce Discussion Questions

Discussion questions on Chapters 1 and 2 of The Great Divorce:

1. What point is Lewis making by describing the town in Hell as empty of people? (The narrator is alone until he gets to the bus station.)

2. What is the problem of the “tousle-headed” youth who first sits next to the narrator on the bus?

3. What is the significance of the apparently teenage couple being included in the bus queue?—(Remember, they walk off because they desire each other’s company over their place in line).

4. What is behind the one ghost asking, resentfully, why the bus driver can’t behave “naturally”?

5. What’s important about the riot on the bus being “innocuous”, even though the ghosts knives and pistols?

6. The intellectual man who sits next to the narrator after the riot, still disbelieves in Hell (dismisses it as an ancient superstition), and in fact, thinks it’s becoming brighter and brighter. Why is this so? What are some examples of this type of deluded thinking in our culture today?




The Great Divorce Chapters 3 and 4

1. Consider this statement from the beginning of ch. 3: "It is the impossibility of communicating that feeling [of exposure and danger], or even of inducing you to remember it as I proceed, which makes me despair of conveying the real quality of what I saw and heard."

What about being in Heaven could give someone a feeling of "exposure" and "danger"?

2. Why is the see-through nature of the bus passengers only noticeable once they get to Heaven and not before?

3. Do you think we'll be surprised at people we'll meet in Heaven? If this is possible, how should this shape the way we think of people who are difficult to understand (or just plain difficult) here and now?

4. What does the spirit in ch. 4 mean when he says his murdering of another man on earth was the point at which everything began? And what does he mean in saying he had "given up himself"?

5. In response to the ghost's argument about staying out of his "private affairs," the spirit says "There are no private affairs."

How does this relate to the way we think about people we observe who are involved in scandalous behavior? (maybe political leaders and celebrities are examples)

6. Why does the ghost show a sense of "triumph" in the end as he refuses the spirit's invitation and goes back to the bus?