Friday, November 28, 2008

Last Chapter: Great Divorce

When I was reading the last chapter of The Great Divorce a few things caught my eye. The first one was how similar the dream/vision of the dreaming narrator is to the men in the Bible who experienced visions of Heaven ). "Then vertigo and terror seized me" (PG. 143). John and Daniel had very similar responses to their visions/dreams. I also thought it was interesting how the Teacher instructs the narrator to explain to people that it was a dream so that he wouldn't be a fool who claimed to know what no mortal knows. I noticed how the men in the Bible also make a point to explain that what they saw was not from them but from a higher knowledge who gave this knowledge to man through dreams and visions. In the chapter the Teacher says that God has forbid that anyone claim this knowledge for themselves and I remember that Angel commanded John and Daniel to seal up their visions. I know these examples might sound simple but I thought they had a strong connection to some characters of the Bible and I couldnt help but wonder if Lewis used these men as examples from which to write this chapter?

I also appreciated the description that Lewis gave for this place. The trees grew bright, birds are singing, there was music of hounds and horns, sound of music from ten thousand tongues of men and woodland angels. It sounds quite merry! I imagine someplace better than earth being like that. I also felt like the language Lewis used to describe this places sounded Tolkienish...woodland angels=woodland elves? Maybe? Trees being alive?

I was also caught by the line "he too must once have known that no people find each other more absurd than lovers". I would have to say thats probably very true. The more you are intimate with someone the more they find out your little quirks the more absurd things get. I thought it was funny and also connected with what Lewis was saying about it being able to joke about sex and things like that.

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