Heaven And Hell In C. S. Lewis The Great Divorce

“The Great Divorce” is a tremendous novel written by C.S. Lewis that really has only two, but very important topics which are the visuals of heaven and hell and what it takes to get into heaven. Lewis goes over these topics in various ways. He gives many characters, most of which do not have real names, that have stories as to what they did in their lives on earth to not be eligible for God’s heaven. The narrator starts in hell and makes his way to heaven throughout the book, having the readers of this book learn a lot about his journey. As far as Lewis’s views of heaven and hell go, I do see some legitimacy. Foster’s novel has a lot for any Christian or non believer to learn throughout the book. First and foremost, Lewis’s greatest tribute

Almost every passage in this book has something for the reader to learn about heaven and hell. Obviously the readers learn a lot from the various characters that are brought up throughout the book. However, the biggest thing for us to learn is the difference between heaven and hell. When the narrator starts in hell, it is a massive, seemingly infinite town full of miserable and aggravated people living terrible lives in a brutal setting. What many people think of when hell is mentioned is a huge setting full of fire and brutal living conditions where everything is suffering. In Lewis’s novel, hell is described as a miserable place, but a cold and dark setting where it is forever raining. On the other hand, heaven is the exact opposite like it is supposed to be. Lewis portrays heaven as the absolute perfect, most beautiful setting imaginable. Everyone in heaven is always content and stress and anger are non-existent. Heaven is almost portrayed by Lewis as a land of fantasy, because he gives us imagery of things that cannot be found on earth. For example, “With an appalling certainty I knew that the waterfall itself was speaking: and I saw now (though it did not cease to look like a waterfall) that it was also a bright angel who stood, like one crucified, against the rocks and poured himself perpetually down towards the forest with loud joy” (Lewis 49). Lewis gives us a beyond massive, loud, and beautiful waterfall and then it changes into a massive angel. It sounds like something that simply cannot be found here on earth, but only in heaven. The waterfall is only one example, there are many more throughout the novel to take not