Salvation In C. S. Lewis The Great Divorce

Salvation is the overall theme of The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. No matter what was happening to each of the ghosts they were all sinners, in desperate need of a savior. Each time they were told to trust in God and accept his free offer of eternal life. They all had different struggles to overcome though. Some couldn’t get past their own pride and others struggle with the thought of how great God’s love is. Lewis uses the ghosts to represent the many different themes developed to point toward the main goal: salvation. The Hard-Bitten Ghost exemplifies the theme of man's need for redemption. The ghost “traveled around the world in order to see exotic sights... but none of these sights pleased him.” He was obviously searching for something …show more content…
Ikey thought he knew what was right and insisted on taking the apples even though it caused him to “cry out in pain”. After he was told not to take them he continued to just like Adam and Eve did when God told them not to eat the apples from the tree in the garden. The ghost, Pam embodies the theme of God’s love. Pam had a selfish love for her son, Michael and was upset that she could not go see him. She was told that the “only way to truly love another human being is to love God first”. Pam needed to love God above all else so that she could start to fully love her son. Romans 12:9 says, “love must be sincere”, but how can our love be sincere if we have not first developed a relationship with the one who created it? Another representation of love is the ghost, Frank. Frank abused his ability to love. He took advantage of Sarah Smith, who loved him, and pretended that she had hurt his feelings. Frank told Sarah that she “never loved him”, after all the kind things she did for him. He was full of self pity and did not really know what true love was. God wants his people to “...love from a pure heart” 1Peter 1:22, unlike Frank who was only trying to make Sarah feel