Change and growth are fundamental to the human existence. C.S. Lewis addresses this basic need for change and progression in his short novel, "The Great Divorce." Of course, the premise is based in Christianity as he illustrates his points through a metaphorical tour of hell and heaven. For the religious reader, the novel can provide many spiritual insights into repentance and help further their desire to devote themselves to God. However, when I read this book I didn’t think first of religion. I thought of the main protagonist in the 1967 film "The Graduate." One may wonder, why Benjamin Braddock? He isn’t religious; he has no desire to devote himself to God. However, Benjamin Braddock represents each of us on our own different but equally difficult journeys to change. His scandalous affair with Mrs. Robinson is the basis for his life of stagnancy and difficulty to move forward. "The Great Divorce" provides a framework for both Benjamin and the reader to overcome complacency and progress to something better.
Change is a process and both texts tell of characters on journeys. In "The Graduate", Benjamin is returning home to California after graduating from college. The opening scenes show Benjamin in the airport standing on a moving walkway. He stands and he moves, but he himself is not moving – illustrating this theme of complacency early on. People pass him, seemingly busy and occupied. But they are not real to him nor do they matter. Much like the translucent ghosts in "The Great Divorce," Benjamin looks right through them. His clear feelings of isolation could be perfectly described by Lewis, “In spite of . . . a ‘crowd’, the solitude was so vast that . . . [he] could hardly notice the knot of phantoms in the foreground.”
The narrator in "The Great Divorce" is similarly on a journey. At the beginning of this journey, he is found in a grim city he refers to as the “Grey Town” and he further describes it as a place where the people seem devoid of joy. We later learn that the Grey Town represents hell and few of its inhabitants choose to progress to heaven, remaining stagnant. The narrator wonders, “Do they like this place?” and a fellow passenger responds, “As much as they’d like anything. They’ve got cinemas and fish and chip shops and advertisements and all the sorts of things they want. The appalling lack of any intellectual life doesn’t worry them.” Benjamin Braddock, too, finds himself in his own Grey Town. Upon his return home, and after becoming involved in his affair with Mrs. Robinson, he quickly plateaus to a state of complacency. He becomes satisfied tanning in his swimming pool under the California sun with plenty of margaritas and sex for his pleasure. He likes it as much as he’d like anything.
At this swimming pool, Benjamin and his father have a conversation that is very telling of the situation. His father asks, “Ben, what are you doing?” to which Ben responds, “Well, I would say that I’m just drifting. Here in the pool.” “Why?” “Well, it’s very comfortable just to drift here.” It’s easy to see why a life of complacency is temporarily appealing. Even though going to work or studying will ultimately help people to progress more than watching TV would, the latter is still a more appealing choice. “There is always something they prefer to joy - that is, to reality.” However, it may be easy to be content with complacency and meaningless material possessions, but that further entails ignorance to the happiness awaiting those who choose to progress forward. Benjamin is disillusioned by his affair and doesn’t see how his stagnancy is damaging. To the Apostate in "The Great Divorce" who will not change, Lewis adds, “What is more soul-destroying than stagnation?” A life without change and without progress cannot bring true happiness.
There is always, however, something or someone to hold us back from making changes. In "The Graduate," this is Mrs. Robinson. She has a hold on Benjamin that prevents him from progressing. When he starts to fall for her daughter, Elaine, he finally realizes that he must make a change. Mrs. Robinson, however, attempts to prevent this relationship and threatens “to make his life quite unpleasant.” We all have vices and weaknesses that prevent us from achieving our potential, and could be manifested by anything from ex lovers to alcoholism. In "The Great Divorce," the Ghost with a lizard on his shoulder represents this type of vice. The lizard’s incessant whisperings are seemingly discouraging the Ghost from continuing his journey. Just as Benjamin was disillusioned by his affair and couldn’t see how he could get out, the Ghost couldn’t see beyond the lizard. He quickly succumbs to the temptations and starts to turn around until he is stopped by one of the Spirits. The Spirit politely asks, “May I kill it? I cannot kill it against your will.” The Ghost couldn’t do it alone. Lewis teaches us through this Spirit that we sometimes need a helping hand to get out of these inhibiting situations. It’s hard for the one suffering to see clearly and the task to overcome these vices is daunting. However, another person can see beyond our own capacity and understand our vices for what they truly are.
The ghost becomes a new man. The lizard’s transformation to a stallion represents his weakness becoming his strength. The Spirit teaches the Ghost, “Nothing, not even the best and noblest, can go on as it now is . . . It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. Flesh and blood cannot come to the Mountains. Not because they are too rank, but because they are too weak. What is a lizard compared with a stallion? Lust is a poor, weak, whimpering, whispering thing compared with that richness and energy of desire which will arise when lust has been killed.” Though the Spirit is talking about spiritual rebirth, the universal principle we can learn is that true change must precede progression. Benjamin could have used this perspective. Though it is unclear how long this Ghost had the lizard with him, I can only guess that his journey to overcome the temptation was quickened by the aid of the Spirit. Benjamin was so caught up in his affair that he never sought other’s aid nor allowed people concerned about him to help. An outsider could have helped provide him with more perspective on his need to be reborn.
This process to become new and to change, however, is difficult. There are characters, like the Ghost with the lizard, in "The Great Divorce" that would wish to leave the Grey Town and continue their journey to heaven. In fact, some characters do leave and enter into another realm. They do not, however, anticipate the conditions of the next stage. In their ghost-like state, heaven is much too solid for them. The sharpness of the grass, the difficulty to navigate through the terrain represents the difficulty that comes with change and repentance. At first, it hurts. Who would want to remain in a place so painful to inhabit? The narrator soon sees that “if one stays . . . [there] one would get – well, solider – grow acclimatized.” So these characters must make a choice to either turn back and return to the comfort of complacency or to take the pain and grow.
Benjamin Braddock must also make a difficult decision. He has grown comfortable in his affair with Mrs. Robinson. He knows, however, that he will need to end the affair if he wishes to be with Elaine and soon sees that it could be painful. The choice to end it did indeed come with consequences and Elaine wished to never see Benjamin again. It would have been easy for him to step back from the pain and return to his state of complacency. But his choice to remain there – in the prickly, sticky situation – allowed him to acclimate. He knew he had found something better and was willing to work for it.
“You have seen Hell: you are in sight of Heaven. Will you, even now, repent and believe?” There must be a sacrifice in order to find heaven. It is not easy for Benjamin to finally get himself out of his rut, but when he sees the potential for his life ahead, he is able to repent. In the end he can leave his mistakes behind in Pasadena while he and Elaine move forward on a bus to an unknown future. Benjamin is able to change.
In the conclusion of "The Great Divorce," Lewis teaches that repentance is possible for all who wish to find it. The principle of repentance is much more than abandoning sin and searching for God. This need to overcome complacency and move forward with life is a necessity of humans regardless of their religion. As we reflect on our own lives in comparison to Benjamin and through the framework that "The Great Divorce" illustrates to help us progress, we can see that repentance and progression are universal. Though the future may be uncertain, there is more hope in choosing to progress than there is discouragement. And “if they leave that grey town behind it will not have been Hell”
