Page "The Great Divorce" Paragraph 6

The narrator is met by the writer George MacDonald, whom he hails as his mentor, just as Dante did when encountering Virgil in the Divine Comedy ; and MacDonald becomes the narrator's guide in his journey, just as Virgil became Dante's.

MacDonald explains that it is possible for a soul to choose to remain in heaven despite having been in the grey town ; for such souls, the goodness of heaven will work backwards into their lives, turning even their worst sorrows into joy, and changing their experience on earth to an extension of heaven.

Conversely, the evil of hell works so that if a soul remains in, or returns to, the grey town, even its happiness on earth will lose its meaning, and its experience on earth would have been hell.

None of the ghosts realize that the grey town is, in fact, hell.

Indeed it is not that much different from the life they led on earth: joyless, friendless, and uncomfortable.

It just goes on forever, and gets worse and worse, with some characters whispering their fear of the " night " that is eventually to come.