Two Writings Of C. S. Lewis Between 1943-1946

“Abolition” and “Divorce”: Two Writings Of C. S. Lewis Between 1943-1946
By Duncan Rize

Other than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Pilgrim’s Regress, and Out Of The Silent Planet, Lewis has has a great many literary works attributed to him. Other popular works by C. S. Lewis include The Abolition Of Man and The Great Divorce.

The Abolition Of Man (1943)
This book was published in January of 1943 by Oxford Press. The main theme within this work deals with Lewis’s views on the educational system of that time. Further, within this novel, C. S. Lewis writes about his belief that children are no longer being taught normal values. Lewis further develops his main thesis by stating that the normal laws are derived by a supernatural power. Finally, the book ends almost on a cautionary note stating that eventually a time will be reached with a small group of elite humans will determine the normal values for the rest of the majority.

The Great Divorce (1946)
Lewis wrote, The Great Divorce in response to William Blake’s work The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The story centers around Lewis taking a trip on a bus with a group of people who are actually ghosts from a really bad town that is suppose to represent Hell. However, on arriving to the next town which is beautiful, the people or ghosts on the bus come up with every reason as to why they were prefer to go back to their old town. People from Heaven come to meet the busload of visitors from Hell and try to persuade them to turn away from evil and repent. However the people from Hell are reluctant to do so, because they do not know that their old town is actually Hell.

It really is interesting how Lewis presents the common themes of repentance within this novel The Great Divorce. This theme is common in Christianity, and Lewis uses the novel to illustrate that a person cannot exist in both Heaven and Hell. This is also stated in the Bible, where it says that it is not possible to ‘have two masters’.

What was also interesting, and more of a contemporary Christian viewpoint, is that Lewis wrote that the busload of people from Hell, did not know that they had been living there and a slave to their sins. However, when they even encountered a better place, they still want to go back to the only way they know.

Duncan Rize loves the writings of C.S. Lewis and works with the marketing group at www.LearningByGrace.org. Learning by Grace manages of a number of internationally known online K-12 academies including www.TheGraceAcademy.org, www.TheJubileeAcademy.org, www.TheMorningStarAcademy.org and www.TheNarniaAcademy.org . This article is © 2005 ELRN, Inc. and may be quoted in whole or part as long as the author (Duncan Rize) and source (www.TheNarniaAcademy.org) are credited.

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