Line #1 YMMV/TheGreatDivorce


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** It's easy to see [[GodIsEvil God as evil]], when there's no logical reason for the creator to offer to take those Hell ghosts to Heaven ''he knows beforehand'' can't ever be saved. Rather, the arguing, the pain and bitterness the damned feel, appears more like the trip was all orchestrated to give the Bright Ones closure for those who wronged them in life.
3	** The Bright Ones' own joyous dismissal of those who remain in hell can easily come off as simply cold and ruthless, and indeed the narrator ''is'' briefly given a justification for this mindset, but how well that justification actually works probably depends on how accepting the viewer is towards Christianity.
4	* CryForTheDevil: The description of [[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair Napoleon in Hell]], stumbling around in a huge empty mansions [[NeverMyFault desperately blaming his problems on everyone in his life but himself]], can be quite a TearJerker.
5	-->A little, fat man and he looked kind of tired.
6	* FridgeBrilliance:
7	** In the beginning of the story, there's a bus, which drives damned from Hell to Heaven if they wish. The bus is operated by unnamed driver. Later, in Heaven, George [=McDonald=] notes that [[GodWasMyCoPilot only God]] can go to Hell to save sinners.
8	** Ikey manages to lift a heavenly apple and even carry it, while even the narrator can't lift a leaf. On rereading, one can see there are early hints that Ikey is better than many of the Ghosts: he mentions being actually friendly with "the chap with a telescope" in the town, while most other Ghosts quarrel with their nearest neighbors within the first twenty-four hours, as Ikey says himself. Moreover, while other Ghosts are purely concerned about themselves, Ikey takes the bus because he wants to improve the others' lives, even if it's twisted through his own negative impulses.
9	** According to [=MacDonald=], the possessive mother isn't beyond redemption, since her love for her son hasn't ''completely'' turned into selfishness. On RewatchBonus, one can see an additional hint of that: her first question about her son is a MamaBear-like "He ''is'' here, of course?" Compare this to Robert's Wife's comment about her husband: "How he comes to be here... but that is your affair."
10	* GeniusBonus: Trajan is mentioned as a ghost the narrator might've heard made it into Heaven eventually. This is actually a famous piece of Catholic lore; that Pope Gregory the Great miraculously raised Trajan from the dead and converted him to Christianity. That's why Dante puts Trajan in Paradise rather than Limbo.
11	* HarsherInHindsight: When discussing the [[MyBelovedSmother ghost of the controlling mother]] the Narrator tells [=MacDonald=] he couldn't bear to talk to a grieving woman intellectually when he hasn't lost someone himself, and [=MacDonald=] says he shouldn't... yet. Sixteen years later, after losing the love of his life to cancer, he would indeed write ''A Grief Observed''.
12	-->''"But could one dare--could one have the face--to go to a bereaved mother, in her misery--when one's not bereaved oneself? . . ."''
13	-->''"No, no. Son, that's no office of yours. You're not a good enough man for that. When your own heart's been broken it will be time for you to think of talking."''
14	* NightmareFuel:
15	** While on the bus to heaven, one of the ghosts the narrator converses with nervously reveals that there is talk in hell that when the sun finally sets, "they" will come out.
16	** The ending of the conversation between Sarah and Frank Smith, which ends with Frank's ghost being swallowed by the spirit of his own denial.
17	* SpiritualSuccessor:
18	** ''The Great Divorce'' can be seen as a modern(ish), less unsubtle counterpart to John Bunyan's classic ''Literature/ThePilgrimsProgress''. Both works are allegories for the Christian faith where almost every character represents an ideology or a personal vice, and they both [[spoiler:turn out to be dreams at the end]]. Lewis also wrote ''The Pilgrim's Regress'', which was more blatantly inspired by Bunyan's work right down to the title.
19	** This one is also a fairly obvious Spiritual Successor to ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''. It's a dream-vision of a journey from Hell to Heaven via something not unlike Purgatory; Lewis appears as the everyman narrator of his own book; and he has a SpiritAdvisor: Creator/GeorgeMacDonald represents a combination of both Virgil in Inferno and Purgatorio, and Beatrice in Paradiso (when Lewis first meets Creator/GeorgeMacDonald, he claims that reading Creator/GeorgeMacDonald's books as a teenager was for him 'like Dante's first sight of Beatrice'). Sarah Smith is always portrayed in very Beatrice-like terms, and her failed reunion with her husband is a portrayal of how Beatrice's reunion with Dante could have gone horribly wrong if Dante hadn't had the humility to accept her rebukes, and accept happiness without needing to be right.
20	* ValuesDissonance:
21	** May be unintended, but the overly materialistic (or mercantile) ghost is named "Ikey"-- a common and not entirely kindly nickname for a [[GreedyJew Jewish man.]]
22	** As with most of Lewis's work, this is an unapologetic AuthorTract. As such, if you believe in Christianity, this is a heartwarming account of God's unconditional love and how even the worst person can find salvation. If you're ''not'' a Christian, then the book will likely come off very differently.
23	* {{Wangst}}:
24	** Pretty much endemic to the residents of Hell because it's the (main) reason why so many Ghosts get stuck there--they can't see past their own egos long enough to admit that they even need help, much less that it would take God to transform them in any eternally meaningful or beneficial manner.

Context YMMV / TheGreatDivorce