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Heaven and Hell as Present Realities: The Use and Purpose of
Literary Imagery in C.S. Lewisâ The Great Divorce
Sarah Laman
Faculty Sponsor: Lei Zhang, Department of English Studies
ABSTRACT Imagery is important to literature across genres because of the many ways that it engages readers and invites them into the words on the page. Imagery is understood by many scholars to be something which appeals to a readerâs emotions and reason. Imagery also appeals to a readerâs spirituality, and this fact is especially true within the genre of Christian literature. C.S. Lewis, as a Christian author, utilizes imagery in his book, The Great Divorce in order to reach the spirituality of his readers. The imagery in this story accomplishes this goal by painting a vivid picture of both Heaven and Hell, which in turn convinces Lewisâ readers that these two supernatural locations may, in fact, be realities in the present. The imagery is central to Lewisâ goal of transmitting this message to his readers, and it can only be understood fully by considering the impact that it has on the readerâs emotions, reason, and spirituality.
INTRODUCTION Writers across genres employ various literary devices in order to engage their readers in a comprehensive way, inviting them into an experience that goes beyond simply consuming the text before them. In the rich literature both of centuries past and the present-day, some of the simplest concepts and devices have proved to be foundational for the use and understanding of language. Among popular literary devices used in literature, imagery stands out as one of the most foundational devices. Writers employ imagery in order to create a scene in the readerâs mind and to translate words on a page into a reality in our minds. This is especially true in Christian writing, which finds its basis in the Bible. The Bible uses literary imagery throughout its pages, depicting scenes of a great garden ( The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Gen. 1.1-2.25), a bush engulfed in flames ( The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Exod. 3.1-6), and even a man walking on water ( The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Matt. 14.22-33). These images form a foundation for Christian believers and writers alike, inviting them into the extensive reality which imagery creates in a text. Imagery appeals not only to our sense of sight by creating a visual that we can see in our minds, but it likewise appeals to all of our sensesâ sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell. In this way, imagery can literally make readers feel transported to an entirely new situation, where they feel as though they themselves are engaging in and experiencing everything that the narrator is. But what is the purpose of this? Why might it be useful or stylistically appropriate for an author to employ this particular literary device in their writing?
IMAGERY IN CHRISTIAN WRITING Christian writers like Dante Alighieri, John Milton, and J.R.R. Tolkien are well-known within both Christian and secular circles for their uses of imagery. C.S. Lewis was a good friend of J.R.R. Tolkien, and via many conversations with him and other friends, Lewis converted to Christianity (Religions). Lewis himself was a professor of English, so he certainly knew the powerful effects of imagery within literature, especially as a tool to bring writing to life. Through the use of imagery, he âcreated in his fiction some of the most compelling representations of Heaven of any modern writerâ (Hilder 118). And it is this device which âis necessary to make concrete, to visualize, abstractions, which are often, at this point, unintelligibleâ (Kawano 32). Literary imagery, then, is a device which provides a deeper meaning and goes far beyond the basic implications of the text.
What meaning, then, is extracted from imagery? This literary device has long been associated with a very specific purpose. Traditionally, âthe function of [imagery] was to arouse certain states of emotionâ very often the same state of emotion as was felt to possess the poetâs mind which had driven his to compositionâ (92). Ray Brett, in his article titled âThe Function of Literary Imagery in Christian Understanding , â argues that this is not the case any longer. He believes that writers of Christian literature make use of imagery in order to appeal not simply to the readerâs emotions but also to their reason. Brett says that âimagery is not a series of mental pictures, with emotional associations, but a device for increasing our understandingâ (Brett 93). In this way, imagery is employed by authors in order to make their readers understand the concepts better, as well as to make them more apt to accept the message that they intend to communicate. While I would agree that the role of imagery goes beyond a simple appeal to the readerâs emotions, the problem with his argument is that he has failed to consider that, within Christian writing, imagery might, in fact, appeal to a readerâs spiritual side. Boston Universityâs Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation notes that there are eight dimensions of wellness that are central to each personâs life. These eight dimensions are as follows: emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual (âEight Dimensionsâ). These wellness dimensions exist because these eight dimensions are the fundamental aspects of who we are and how we function. It is important, then, to consider these in respect to the way that each person navigates life. Thus, reason (which we can equate to the Intellectual dimension) and emotion cannot be considered exclusively from the spiritual. Just as all eight of these dimensions work together to create a healthy person, the dimensions most relevant to the comprehension of literatureâ emotional, intellectual, and spiritualâ must also be considered as being complementary in their effect on a personâs life. An analysis of literature and the elements at work within any given piece must not simply stop at how they affect a personâs emotions or reasoning, but the analysis must also extend to the spiritual dimension of the person. This is especially true within religious writing, where spiritual messages are woven throughout the text. Christian writing, then, must certainly appeal to each of these three dimensionsâ emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Christian authors like Dante, Milton and Tolkien were certainly skilled in the way they incorporated spiritual truths into their fiction. C.S. Lewis, too, knew the power of using fiction to share his spiritual beliefs. Scholars such as Ray Brett have argued that the role of imagery within C.S. Lewisâ writings is to go beyond emotional appeal to invoke the readerâs reasoning, and therefore effectively convey Lewisâ message. There is, though, as I mentioned above, another dimension that requires addressing. In this paper, I aim to address how C.S. Lewis indeed employs imagery in order to appeal to his readerâs emotions and reason, but its purpose is to go beyond emotion and reason in order to target the spirituality of his reader and communicate the perceived reality of the religious beliefs the story is based off of. In this way, I argue that the intent of Lewisâ imagery, as seen in his book, The Great Divorce , is to address and convince his reader of the spiritual reality of his story, which he does through an appeal to their emotions and reason. Through his vivid and distinctive imagery, Lewis engages his readerâs emotions and reason just as imagery is understood to do in the traditional sense. However, Lewisâ purpose is more profound than one might imagine. His purpose in using such imagery within The Great Divorce is to appeal to the spirituality of his readers. Whether religious or not, there is a spiritual dimension to every personâs life (Eight Dimensions). Lewis knew that in order to communicate the supernatural truths he was convicted of, he had to appeal
reaches the senses and draws a reader into a new world, is the tool through which Heaven and Hell are able to become more than just statements and explanations. As Lewis sees it, though, imagery is not simply a means through which to convey emotions or paint a pretty picture. Lewis rejected the idea âthat imaginative writing expresses emotion in the sense that its purpose is to discharge the writer's feelingsâ (Holyer 220). He did believe, though, that imaginative experiences make us more inclined to accept some beliefs (Holyer 217). The imagination, in a sense, is a tool with which we can wrestle with certain concepts and can test their reality. The purpose of imaginative writing, then, âis to convey an understanding of emotionsâ (Holyer 221). Rather than a reader simply receiving and comprehending the emotions that are expressed by the author, they must be able to put themselves into the described experience if they are to truly understand the emotions that are present. This means going beyond simply transferring emotions from author to reader; the understanding of emotions implies a more complex and profound relation between the two. This complexity of author and reader relationship was important to C.S. Lewis because he knew well the reality of unbelief within mankind. It was important for Lewis to make the messages of his writing real for his readers. It is interesting to note that he believed that âthe burden of unbelief is tied to a failure of the imaginationâ (Hilder 94). For Lewis, if someone could truly imagine what Heaven or Hell might be like, they would not experience unbeliefâ rather, they would be convinced of the validity of these places and the weight of the truth that comes with them. Lewis thus provides his readers with an immersive experience in which he employs their imaginations for the purpose of convicting them of the authenticity of these truths. The effectiveness of Lewisâ imagery is found in the fact that artâs ability âto depict lived emotional experience is a stronger [and] more enduring teacher than cool reasonâ (Hilder 96). In other words, art has the ability to communicate truths on a deeper level than reasoning can, and thus the impact of art is more lasting and more profound. Clearly, then, C.S. Lewis understood the power of artistic communication when it came to sharing the Gospel. In his article titled âC.S. Lewis on the Epistemic Significance of the Imagination,â Robert Holyer analyzes C.S. Lewisâ arguments for Christianity and says that they are âbased accordingly, not on a simple appeal to reason, but on an appeal to the critical imagination in which reason and imagination together make up the organ of truthâ (Holyer 215). Knowing this, it is only fair to approach Lewisâ own writings with this perspective in mind. If Lewis sees that reason and imagination work together and go beyond the surface of what they are communicating in order to inform an individualâs mind, then certainly emotion and reason must work together within an individual reader in order to reach their spiritual side.
A SUMMARY OF THE GREAT DIVORCE The Great Divorce follows a relatively simple plot line. The story opens with the narrator waiting in line to get on a bus bound for Heaven. The bus stop is located in Hell, which is an expansive town comprised of grey buildings, grey skies, and a general lack of friendliness among the inhabitants. In this place, people exist in solitude, physically driven further and further from each other, without end, which is why the city itself seems to never end. Those who have just died find themselves at the bus stop where they are brought to Heaven in order to make their own decision about whether they want Heaven or Hell to be their final destination. When the narrator gets on the bus and it begins to leave, he discovers that the bus actually flies, much like an airplane, high above the rooftops of the town. He observes the gray city expanding as far as he can see.
After some time, the landscape outside of the bus begins to change, and the narrator, along with the other bus passengers, find themselves in Heaven, which is described as a great, bright, and beautiful garden with flowers, a river, a waterfall, and animals. This place may seem like it is a representation of purgatory, the place between Heaven and Hell where souls go in order to be purified before they can enter Heaven. The things of this garden world seem to be temporaryâ everything there is solid and heavy to the ghosts who enter and the purpose of being in this garden is to journey to a far mountain. All of this points to the fact that this place might actually be meant to represent purgatory. However, it might certainly be argued that both of these settingsâ the town and the gardenâ are a kind of âin-betweenâ where a definite choice of Heaven or Hell has not been made by those present. For the purpose of this paper, though, we will call the grey town Hell, while the garden where everything is solid and heavy will be called Heaven. The passengers get off the bus and are allowed to explore. They each have the choice to stay in Heaven, where they must make a hard journey to a far-off mountain in order to become more alive, or to return to Hell where they will be free to continue in their selfish habits, cut off from the beauty of Heaven. The rest of the story follows the narrator as he explores the new world he finds himself in and makes his own decision about Heaven or Hell. He observes the landscape in great detail, converses with many people he meets there, and overhears many conversations between what he calls âghostsââ those who have arrived on the bus, including himselfâ and âspiritsââ those who have completed their journey to Heaven and have returned to help the newcomers on their own journeys. It is within these conversations that the narrator hasâ as well as those that he observesâ that Lewis is able to communicate the reality of Heaven and Hell to his reader. His characters are average people who share life experiences that many of Lewis readers might even be able to relate to. Within these characters and their words, Lewisâ readers are able to differentiate between good and bad, based on the characterâs words and attitude, and the choice they make between Heaven and Hell. In the end, though, the entire story turns out to simply be a dreamâ the worlds crafted within the narratorâs mind after he fell asleep at his desk. And yet the tangible experience of the dream and its visual intensity leaves a reader wondering about how far off his imagination might actually be.
MEDIEVAL DREAM VISION It is important to note that the structure and content of Lewisâ The Great Divorce reflects the genre of the medieval dream vision. A medieval dream vision is essentially medieval literature which was written in the form of a dream. The flexibility of the world of dreams meant that this literature âcould be used for consolation, advisory literature, religious and philosophical explorations, courtly comedy, social critique, mystical experience or feminist polemicâ (Wellesley). These dream visions generally follow this structure: âa first-person narrator falls asleep and meets a guide who reveals some kind of wisdom to him which will either comfort him or give him needed knowledgeâ (Boenig 32). The Great Divorce is, in many ways, a 20th^ century dream vision. The narrator of Lewisâ story finds himself on a journey where he discovers the realities of Heaven and Hell (or at least the realities of these two places which Lewis has created), and at the very end, he wakes up and we discover that it has all been a dream. This is not the only parallel between The Great Divorce and the medieval dream vision, though. Robert Boenig, in his article which addresses the similarities between The Great Divorce and the
understood. From the very beginning of the story, the narrator describes how he finds himself in a dreary sort of town which is caught in perpetual twilight and where it seems to always be raining. He stands in line for the bus and observes how time seems to be suspended in âthat dismal moment when only a few shops have lit up and it is not yet dark enough for their windows to look cheeringâ (Lewis 1). From this description, the reader is immediately drawn into the world in which the narrator stands. As he takes his seat and the bus begins to fly high over the town, the narrator notes that the roofs of the town spread âwithout a break as far as the eye could reachâ (Lewis 5). With these words, Lewis paints the scene of a place that is similar to our world, yet slightly different. When the bus arrives in Heaven, we enter, alongside the narrator, a scene like a great garden. Below the bus lies âa level, grassy country through which there [runs] a wide riverâ (Lewis 19). The narrator enters into this land and throughout the remainder of the story, he reminds us of the grandeur that surrounds him. It is interesting to note the numerous vivid descriptions of this imagined world. Consider the following lines:
Near the place where the fall plunged into the lake there grew a tree. Wet with the spray, half-veiled in foam-bows, flashing with the bright, innumerable birds that flew among its branches, it rose in many shapes of billowy foliage, huge as a fen- land cloud. Form every point apples of gold gleamed through the leaves. (Lewis
It is in descriptions like this one where we recognize the prominence of nature and the images of nature in Lewisâ writing. Certainly, nature held some kind of importance for Lewis personally, as we see that its importance is reflected in his stories. C.S. Lewis did, in fact, address this idea when he said in one of his sermons that âânature is only the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol scripture invites me to use. We are summoned to pass in through Nature, beyond her, into that splendour which she fully reflectsââ (Edwards 117). Within these words, there is no doubt that Lewis made use of nature imagery very intentionally. He felt that scripture itself, the greatest source of Truth for Christians, urged him to use nature as a tool to engage his readers and communicate certain truths to them. For Lewis, though, imagining nature is not the end result. Nature is simply a part of the process; it invites us into a new world, a vivid and life-like world, in order to draw us even deeper into the mysteries which she contains. What are these mysteries though? Within The Great Divorce , the place which we are calling Heaven is described as a garden, whereas the setting of Hell is an entirely man-made town. I would argue that the mysteries intended to be communicated through nature are simply the great mysteries of Heaven. This is why Lewis describes Heaven as a gardenâ because it is only through nature that the realities of the Divine may be communicated fully and accurately. It is likewise through nature that Lewisâ readers are able to understand this invisible and seemingly abstract existences of Heaven and Hell. The imagery which Lewis employs in this story is not only limited to imagery of the natural world. Lewis also depicts this alternate reality through descriptions of the people that are there. An important purpose of the narratorâs descriptions of the people he finds thereâ including himselfâ is to display the differences between the two types of people, the ghosts and the spirits. The spirits, as the narrator notes, are âalmost blindingly whiteâ (Lewis 34) and have such a youthful presence about them that it makes the narrator want to dance (26). The ghosts, on the other hand are âtransparentâ fully transparent⌠smudgy and imperfectly opaqueâ (Lewis 20) and the âgrass [does] not bend underneath their feet: even the dew drops [are not disturbed]â
(21). Here, there is a great contrast between the ghosts and the spirits. The ghosts, who have yet to make a decision between Heaven and Hell, are transparent and do not seem to hold any real weight in this new world they are in, while the spirits are solid, heavy and very clearly a real part of the garden. This, along with the radiating light and joy they so clearly have, suggests that they have a level of permanence in this garden which the ghosts do not have. The ghosts exist in the garden as foreignersâ they are not yet fully accepted into Heaven and therefore they appear transparent and cannot interact with this new world (hence the fact that the ground beneath their feet is not disturbed by their steps). It is only those who have made the journey to the far mountain and fully chosen to enter Heaven who exist in this garden in a permanent way and find themselves to be fully present and fully alive. This implies that Heavenâ the Christian reality accepted by so many believers beyond the pages of Lewisâ bookâ is where Man is fully realized. The ghosts that do not choose Heaven end up getting further and further from the goodness which exists in the garden, and remain simply as ghosts, in the dreary grey town which is Hell. Those who do choose Heaven, on the other hand, become more and more real in the garden. For Lewisâ readers, the suggestion of a human person becoming fully alive in this garden of Heaven is made tangible through the vivid imagery. The way that Lewis draws his readers into the reality of his imagined worlds means that this choice is made to seem like it is real for them, too.
VISUAL IMAGERY AS A MEANS OF ENHANCING DIALOGUE This visual imagery which Lewis uses provides a space in which the dialogue between the various characters may resound and elicit its full meaning. The dialogue, outside of the context of the garden, may certainly be effective to a reader well-versed in Christian beliefs. However, without this vivid depiction of the setting, the messages within the dialogue might fall short of the understanding of the reader. The role of Lewisâ imagery, then, is to create a reality which subtly communicates certain truths to the reader. For example, the images of Hell and Heaven in The Great Divorce communicate to the reader, without explicitly saying so, that Heaven is good and beautiful, while Hell is dreary and lonely. Through Lewisâ employment of imagery, this reality is both understood and accepted by the reader before the messages of the dialogue are even presented. In this way, the images created in the readerâs mind prepare the reader for the truths revealed within the dialogueâ in a way, the imagery is simply a tool in the process of communicating a spiritual reality. Lewis, therefore, considers it important that this new world in the story be not some foreign and unfamiliar place, but rather a reflection of the reality we already know. In fact, his first concern âis to imagine heaven by re-imagining the world 'as it is'; to discover the invisible not behind but within the visibleâ (Edwards 108). Lewis certainly discovered within his own life the reality of Hell as something that can exist in the here and now. Why, then, might Heaven not also exist in the present, in the visible world we are so familiar with? C. S. Lewis more than likely recognized these two spiritual worlds as realities which exist in the every-day, and he used his own experiences to create a world in which he could convey the truths he had come to believe in so deeply. Lewis certainly must have desired not simply to communicate what he believed or felt about the spiritual world, but to create an experience for his readers in which they might even have a personal encounter with these same truths. In order for the writing on the page to become a true personal experience for his reader, Lewis had to intentionally draw them into a world that they could relate to and truly imagine themselves within. A Michael Edwards puts it in his article, âC. S. Lewis: Imagining Heavenâ, C. S. Lewis believed that âthe other world is most vivid when we are fully alive in the here and nowâ (113).
âcrouching as if to conceal itself from something beyond the bush, and⌠it kept on signaling me to duck downâ (Lewis 46-47). This scene is repeated frequently throughout the story as the ghosts, who are not yet accustomed to Heaven, fear every noise and movement around them. The narrator notes, too, that there was a âsense of danger, which had never been entirely absent since [he] left the busâ and that âTerror whispered, âThis is no place for youââ (Lewis 58). The presence of fear in these ghost characters reflects the uncertainty that seems so natural for humans to have in regard to anything unknown. The reality is that Heaven is an unknown place, an unknown existence for anyone who is alive, and therefore it is natural that Lewisâ characters would embody that fear. It is this fear itself which seems to make the ghost characters all the more relatable, and which in turn draws Lewisâ readers even deeper into the reality of the story he creates. Indeed, it is â the gap between Eternal Goodness and fallen humanity [which] is the reason why [Lewis] takes such pains to portray Heaven. Lewis hopes to awaken us to ethical consciousness and thereby to woo us to our eternal destinyâ (Hilder 105). Lewis recognizes and believes in the great gap between Man and God and he desires to discoverâ or createâ a bridge which can span that gap. It is for this very reason that he endeavors to present the verity of Heaven through the images in his stories. Lewis knows, too, that the power of metaphorical language and vivid detail are the keys for communicating these great mysteries and personal convictions. When Lewis speaks of the supernatural and the great mysteries of the divine, âhe almost never speaks in abstractions, which have a brittle and inflexible qualityâ (Kawano 22), but rather in specific and arresting images, which alone are suitable to describe the highest things. Abstractions do not convict readers, and Lewis knew this. He knew that âhis reader and listener need metaphors taken from the common experience of all men even to understand his private experiencesâ (20). Lewis, as we looked at before, experienced Hell as an absolute truth within his own life; we can guess that he likewise experienced Heaven with similar conviction. It is these personal experiences which Lewis ventures to impart on his readersâ not just as a story about some dream or an emotional pull he feels, but as a certainty beyond all doubts, which adjures his readers to consider and believe in their reality, as well.
CONCLUSIONâ THE PRESENT REALITY OF HEAVEN AND HELL C.S. Lewis undoubtedly used literature as a device through which he shared the reality of the spiritual truths he himself was so convicted of. As we looked at previously, imagery is the medium through which these truths are communicated to Lewisâ readers. Imagery is so effective because of its ability to draw a reader into a new world and immerse them in the reality of this other place. It is a more effective and lasting teacher than mere explanation, and because of this, it is an exceptional tool for Christian writers who desire to emphasize and promulgate the key components of their faith. Through the traditional use of imagery, C.S. Lewis appeals to the reason and emotion of his readers. And yet this is not the fully accomplished outcome which this device is capable of producing. The way that imagery is used within C.S. Lewisâ works is that it creates a space that feels both tangible and substantial. Because these spiritual things and locations seem so distant and fictional, Lewisâ immersive imagery prompts his readers to consider the possibility that these things might actually be true. This allows Lewis to reach the spiritual side of his readers, which convinces them of the similarly present reality of their personal role within these supernatural situations. At the beginning of this paper, we looked at the genre of a medieval dream vision and compared the structure of this to C.S. Lewisâ The Great Divorce. The structure of the medieval
dream vision, however, is tied tightly to its purpose. Dreams had important meaning in the lives of medieval people. For them, âa dream could be an encounter with the divine, it could advise you on what course of action to take, or it could be a prophecy. The dream world was a place where truth was revealedâ (Wellesley). This meant that writing which followed the structure of a dream (a medieval dream vision) did so in order to communicate some truth to the reader. If the purpose of the dream vision is inseparable from its form, so too must The Great Divorce mirror both the structure and the purpose of this genre. C.S. Lewisâ apparent mirroring of this genre seems to have been an intentional decision. Lewis worked through his imagery within The Great Divorce to engross his readers, to make an abstract reality come to life, and to convict his readers of the reality of the spiritual world and their individual and ongoing role within its entirety. And Lewis wrapped all of this together as if it were a dream, with the purpose of suggesting that these worlds, these distant and unknown lands, might hold the whole truth of life within them. C.S. Lewis believed in the reality of both Heaven and Hell and used his writing to share these truths which he himself was so convicted of. Lewis, in his stories in general and notably within The Great Divorce , âdepicts a universe that is neither empty nor dark nor cold but one full of life and light and warmth. The universe is not silent but singing. The universe is not a void but teeming with celestial beingsâ (Hilder 99). Lewis draws a picture of a world that is both new and yet comfortable and safe; unknown and yet a present reality; made for every person that has ever existed and yet deeply personal. Thanks to his expert employment of imagery, Lewis aims to engage the spirituality of his readers and invites them to participate in the divine mystery and glory of Heaven. They are drawn into a new world and invited to consider for themselves the verity of the celestial dream world they discover before them.
