History Literature / TheGreatDivorce

* EarnYourHappyEnding: One of the main points of the book is to avert ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, and stress that Heaven ''can't'' be earned - only received [[KarmaHoudini as a gift]]. This fact is a severe stumbing block for most of the ghosts (and it's hard not to [[UnintentionallySympathetic sympathise]] with them).

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: The only famous ghost we see (metaphorically, it's just a passed-down story) is UsefulNotes/{{Napoleon|Bonaparte}}: as a "sad, fat little man [who] looked kind of tired", doing nothing but pacing back and forth for eternity, muttering and [[NeverMyFault blaming everyone but himself for his failings]] in a huge empty house millions of miles from anyone who might hear him.

Each ghost is met by a "Bright One" who is a native: someone who either was close to them in life or else is a kindred spirit in some way. This also includes the narrator, who is taken under his wing by George [=MacDonald=], an author like him whom he greatly admired. The Bright Ones literally give off light. Some of them are naked, some clothed -- it doesn't make much difference. The Bright Ones try to encourage those they are meeting to come with them to the mountains, acting as [[SpiritAdvisor sprit advisors]] and psychopomps. Most of them fail.

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: The only famous ghost we see is UsefulNotes/{{Napoleon|Bonaparte}}: as a "sad, fat little man [who] looked kind of tired", doing nothing but pace back and forth for eternity, muttering about his failings in an empty house millions of miles from anyone who might hear him.

* IgnoredEpiphany: The Ghosts in Hell all meet someone in Heaven who directly points out what problems are keeping them from entering Heaven, but despite it being in the Ghosts' best interest, many of them plead ignorance or accuse Heaven of self-deception and retreat back to the bus from Hell.
* IronicHell. The ghosts of Hell were all selfish souls obsessed with themselves, so in Hell they're allowed to go out on their own and build their own houses. Of course, this leaves them totally alone in buildings that are as tiny and false as they are. So tiny, in fact, that the entirety of Hell is smaller than a blade of grass in Heaven, torturing the damned with the knowledge of how little they are.

* LackOfEmpathy: A rare positive example. While they seek to help out of compassion, the Bright Ones feel no actual sympathy for the Ghosts, and their eternal bliss is diminished not one bit if they remain damned. The narrator is briefly horrified by this, but is informed that if this wasn't the case the damned could hold heaven hostage, [[PlayingTheVictimCard exploiting the grief and pity of the Blessed to force their way into paradise]]. Better to make one last attempt to help and, if they choose to remain in hell, wash your hands of the whole thing.

** The blessed former apostate finally gives up on trying to reason with his damned apostate friend not very long after the damned soul has gone so far off the deep end in his pseudo-intellectual diatribe that he ends up complaining about how the blessed man is talking "as if there some hard, fixed reality where things are, so to speak, 'there'."
** Painting as a way to depict particular subject matters or for its own sake is also discussed between a damned artist (who wants to paint) and his more heavenly-minded friend (who is trying to get him to focus on a much worthier Subject).

* NonAnswer: When asked whether all the Ghosts would eventually find redemption, MacDonald gives an intentionally vague answer: maybe, maybe not, but that's not something humans can knows. It's not our place to ask about eternal fates.

* ReallyGetsAround: One of the Ghosts appears to have grown so obsessed with sex that she is unable to conceive of any purpose for interaction other than seduction. She actually tries to seduce the Bright Ones who are trying to talk to her into entering Heaven.

* AnythingThatMoves: One of the Ghosts appears to have grown so obsessed with sex that she is unable to conceive of any purpose for interaction other than seduction. She actually tries to seduce the Bright Ones who are trying to talk to her into entering Heaven.

* SelfInflictedHell: Arguably one of the two main points of the book: The only reason the Ghosts end up in Hell is because of their own petty issues, when the chance to go to Heaven is right in front of them. Hell very much runs on "[[Theatre/NoExit Hell is Other People]]". On its own, it's just a rainy, depressing town, with nothing really nice there. What makes it hellish is the fact that everyone there is a jerk, and no one can stand each other's company. In fact, the town is mostly empty because quarrels bad enough that the participants decide to move away happen very frequently.

* PurgatoryAndLimbo: The destination of the Ghosts, who still have the time and freedom to choose for Heaven if they wish, is not so much Hell proper as the intermediate state of Purgatory, in which a soul may learn lessons and still have the grace to go to Heaven. But the last pages of this book add a touch of horror: ''a day will come when this offer of redemption no longer exists''. The sunrise of the Second Coming is also a shrieking horror to the Ghosts, as "They" arrive to claim their souls.

* BadassBaritone: PlayedForLaughs; the Tragedian, an illusion of a man created by one of the damned, tries to assert his dominance over his heavenly wife by periodically lowering the pitch of his voice. Considering he's a projection chained to a transparent dwarf and it's uncertain if she, who's as good as an angel, can even ''see it'', it comes off as quite pathetic.

* AmbivalentAnglican: There's a discussion between the spirits of two former clergymen, one who made it into Heaven for his faith and one (a bishop) who turned down the invitation because his broad-mindedness made it impossible for him to grasp that there was any truth to its existence.

* AmbivalentAnglican: One of the lost souls encountered on the outskirts of Heaven is of an apostate bishop whose broad-mindedness led him to reject all the doctrines of Christianity, to the point that he doesn't believe in a literal Heaven and Hell even though he's currently ''in'' Heaven. His former colleague calls him out on this, saying the bishop in life was not taking a bold stance on honest opinions but riding trends that ultimately made him more popular. In the end, the bishop turns down the invitation to see the face of {{God}}, saying "Ah, but we must all interpret those beautiful words in our own way!". He has a prior commitment to present a paper at a theological society in the other place, presenting on how the significance of the Crucifixion is the tragedy that [[ComicallyMissingThePoint we never got to hear Jesus develop more mature views as an older man]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding:
** [=MacDonald=] states that this applies to everyone who makes it to Heaven. The destination retroactively makes all the prior suffering of Earth and the Grey Town worthwhile.
** Robert is a specific example, though he isn't directly shown. He suffered his whole adult life miserable, with an abusive wife who drove away his friends and wouldn't let him feel content for a moment. He eventually suffered a nervous breakdown from all of this. Yet, in the end, he got to Heaven.