The Great Divorce Summary Paper Ch 7-10 PDF

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The Great Divorce, Chapters 7-10 The narrator feels tired as he watches the Water-Giant, wanting to bathe in the river rather than walking on it. The narrator meets the Hard-Bitten Ghost who says he came to the river to see for himself whether it would please him, just as he traveled the world to see exotic sights. The Hard-Bitten Ghost says that “the same people” control everything, saying that the fact that “They” allow Hell to exist is proof that both sides are run by the same individuals. It appears that the Hard-Bitten Ghost always assumes the worst of things no matter how beautiful they are, revealing how the misery is actually within his own head. Before the Hard-Bitten Ghost leaves, he informs the narrator that it will soon rain and that the rain will fill like strikes of bullets. With this, the narrator is left in a state of despair. The narrator decides to move to the trees to protect himself should the rain come. He sees a ghost talking with a spirit. The ghost says she would be embarrassed to go to the mountains without a solid body, but the spirit insists that she will eventually get one and that she will have no issue entering the mountains. The ghost’s reluctance to go to the mountains serves to emphasize how shame can prevent souls from worshipping God. The narrator begins to hope that the ghost will overcome her shame and go to the mountains. The spirit blows a horn to call a herd of unicorns and in the chaos, the narrator no longer sees the ghost. As the narrator flees from the unicorns, the narrator meets George MacDonald, one of his favorite writers. MacDonald says that those who live in the grey town are in Hell but those who leave it behind would have been in Purgatory, not Hell. This reveals that salvation is a state of mind — a damned soul can achieve salvation by choosing to turn to God. MacDonald also tells the narrator that he won’t be able to understand the intricacies of time and choices until he is

beyond both of them. MacDonald says that the state of being in Hell always starts with complaining, and this complaining continues until they have forgotten to be happy. When the narrator tells MacDonald about the unicorns, MacDonald explains that the spirit was trying to scare the ghost into running toward Heaven. The narrator soon discovers that many of the ghosts he meets have essentially tried to “bring Hell to Heaven.” The narrator recognizes another ghost talking to a spirit referred to as the Artist. The Artist complains that he will be unable to paint in Heaven and eventually decides to return to the bus. The Artist was too focused on earthly fame even though he was eventually forgotten and resents the fact that his work would be unrecognized in Heaven. MacDonald and the narrator eventually come to a female ghost arguing with a spirit named Hilda. The female ghost refuses to forgive a man called Robert and complains that she is miserable in Hell. She becomes larger and brighter as she continues to complain until she suddenly disappears “like a dying candle-flame.” This is symbolic of the fact that the ghost’s soul shrinks until the only thing she has left is her desire to complain about and control others....