Analysis Of A Grief Observed

“A Grief Observed” tells us about the experiences of its author, C. S. Lewis, during his time of darkness, of grief, anger, confusion, and doubt. It tells us about Lewis struggle in life, especially after he loses his most loving wife Joy Davidson due to cancer. Reading the book, one will see how a believer of God journeys through negative moments of belief, reflecting on his faith, then realizing the fault in it which enables Lewis to purify his faith.
In the first chapter of this book, Lewis faces grief, doubt, and fear. He describes his experiences of sadness, self-pity, isolation, restlessness, foggy mind, fluttering stomach, and even uncertainties, especially with where God is. He says that in times of happiness, if the person turns to God for gratitude and praise, He welcomes the person with open arms. …show more content…
The people around Lewis tells him that his wife is at peace. But how can they know that she really is at peace? And they reply saying that “…because she is in God’s hands. (27)” But aren’t we all in God’s hands all the time? If this is the case, whatever his wife has experiences shouldn’t have happened if one believes that he or she is “at peace in God’s hands.” Or is it that only when one is dead that he or she experiences peace? Thus, Lewis’ disbelief in God’s benevolence worsens, to the point where he compares human beings as rats in a laboratory being vivisected by God. He refers God to a Cosmic Sadist or an Eternal Vivisector. But later on, Lewis rebukes himself saying that: “Is it rational to believe in a bad God?...The Cosmic Sadist, the spiteful imbecile? (30)” He answers saying that this is not at all rational. He believed that if God really is the Cosmic Sadist, He would have never created nor governed anything and could have never thought of “love, or laughter, or daffodils, or a frosty sunset. (31)” He says that God’s standards of “goodness” are different from our