The journey through The Great Divorce…
SUMMARY POINTS FROM LAST WEEK’S CLASS ON CHAPTER 2
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER TWO
The Tousle-Headed Poet
–not appreciated by parents nor by five schools he attended, never fit it
–oppressed by Capitalism so his true genius was never recognized
–treated unfairly by stern, bourgeois father who never gave him a large enough allowance
–unappreciated/mistreated by girlfriend interested in monogamy and bourgeois prejudices
–similarities to young Lewis?
–threw himself under a train
THEN
Violent quarrels—stampede, knives, gunshots—seemed somehow normal
THEN
The Intelligent-looking Man
–grey town is endless because of perpetual quarreling and moving on
–time and distance are extreme– the bus stop is thousands of miles from the Civic Centre where newcomers arrive from earth. All the passengers were living near the bus stop: but they took centuries-of our time-to get there
–well-known villains of the past live there, but only on the outer fringes light years away (Tamberlaine, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Henry V); only Napoleon has actually been seen by anyone, alone in a huge Empire-style house and pacing as he muttered ‘It was Soult’s fault. It was Ney’s fault. It was Josephine’s fault. It was the fault of the Russians. It was the fault of the English.’–No one has needs because you can get whatever you want by imagining it. There’s no economic basis for any community life.
–if I can bring back any real commodity to sell from the bus trip, there would be demand for it and that scarcity would help build a society, draw people closer together, and perhaps allow the formation of a police force for safety in numbers.
–houses don’t keep out the rain but they give the feeling of safety
–eventually it is going to get Dark, a frightening prospect, because “They” may appear
THEN
The Cultured Man
–no evidence twilight is ever going to turn to night
–half-light is actually promise of a new dawn of a spiritual city where man will be free from matter
THEN
The Light
–light reveals a beautiful blue and radiant abyss outside the bus, whose brightness stings the eyes, along with fresh and delicious air
–light inside the bus cruelly reveals faces gaunt, distorted, and faded, that seemed they might even be destroyed by the light as it grew stronger
MAJOR THEMES IN CHAPTER TWO
1.The importance of perspective
–“We were now so high that all below us had become featureless. But fields, rivers, or mountains I did not see, and I got the impression that the grey town still filled the whole field of vision.
–“It will be dark presently,” he mouthed. “You mean the evening is really going to turn into a night in the end?” He nodded. “What’s that got to do with it?” said I. “Well … no one wants to be out of doors when that happens.”
–”There is not a shred of evidence that this twilight is ever going to turn into a night. There has been a revolution of opinion on that in educated circles…All the nightmare fantasies of our ancestors are being swept away. What we now see in this subdued and delicate half-light is the promise of the dawn: the slow turning of a whole nation towards the light…But we look on this spiritual city-for with all its faults it is spiritual- as a nursery in which the creative functions of man, now freed from the clogs of matter, begin to try their wings.”
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2) Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Col. 3:2)
2. The danger of blaming others for our misfortunes
–”He appeared to be a singularly ill-used man. His parents had never appreciated him and none of the five schools at which he had been educated seemed to have made any provision for a talent and temperament such as his. To make matters worse he had been exactly the sort of boy in whose case the examination system works out with the maximum unfairness and absurdity. It was not until he reached the university that he began to recognise that all these injustices did not come by chance but were the inevitable results of …Capitalism,which did not merely enslave the workers, it also vitiated taste and vulgarised intellect: hence our educational system and hence the lack of “Recognition” for new genius.”–”It was Soult’s fault. It was Ney’s fault. It was Josephine’s fault. It was the fault of the Russians. It was the fault of the English.’ Like that all the time. Never stopped for a moment. A little, fat man and he looked kind of tired. But he didn’t seem able to stop it.”
Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world as you hold forth the Word of Life (Philippians 2:14-16) Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (Matt. 7:3) When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. (Prov. 19:3) For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, (Rom. 12:3)
3. Constant quarrelsome speech easily leads to casual violence
–“One of the quarrels which were perpetually simmering in the bus had boiled over and for a moment there was a stampede. Knives were drawn: pistols were fired: but it all seemed strangely innocuous and when it was over I found myself unharmed.”
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. (James 4:1) Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. (2Timothy 2:14-16)
4. Light reveals Truth, whether showing Beauty or exposing Evil
–“It began to grow light in the bus. The greyness outside the windows turned from mud-colour to mother of pearl, then to faintest blue, then to a bright blueness that stung the eyes. We seemed to be floating in a pure vacancy. There were no lands, no sun, no stars in sight: only the radiant abyss.”–“the bus was full of light. It was cruel light. I shrank from the faces and forms by which I was surrounded. They were all fixed faces, full not of possibilities but of impossibilities, some gaunt, some bloated, some glaring with idiotic ferocity, some drowned beyond recovery in dreams; but all, in one way or another, distorted and faded. One had a feeling that they might fall to pieces at any moment if the light grew much stronger.”
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (Jn. 3:19) For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6)
(Handel’s opera “Tamerlano” is based on the same despotic Mongol ruler as Christopher Marlowe’s play “Tamburlaine” mentioned in this chapter.)
