Almost every ghost in The Great Divorce is undone by some form of pride or self-deception, which makes these themes a natural subject for argumentative essays. A student might argue that the ghosts are less villains than people who have mistaken a comfortable story about themselves for the truth. The challenge for teachers is deciding when an argument is well supported and when it is merely emphatic.

Argumentative essays need a debatable claim, and students sometimes choose claims nobody would dispute, such as that pride is bad. A stronger claim might state that Lewis presents self-pity as more damaging than arrogance, because it disguises itself as virtue. Your feedback should help students sharpen their claims until they say something a reader could reasonably question.

A useful rubric separates the quality of the argument from the quality of the writing. A student with an excellent idea but clumsy prose deserves credit for the thinking, and a polished essay with no real claim should not score highly. Scoring these dimensions separately gives students a fairer picture and clearer directions for revision.

Look for Counterargument and Nuance

The mark of a mature argumentative essay is that it engages an opposing view honestly. A student arguing that the ghosts choose their fate freely should still acknowledge scenes where habit seems to hold them like a chain, and explain why the claim survives that evidence. Grading counterargument explicitly encourages students to take it seriously.

• States a claim that a thoughtful reader could challenge
• Supports the claim with several distinct scenes, not just one
• Addresses at least one counterargument fairly and responds to it
• Explains how the evidence proves the claim step by step
• Ends by considering what the argument implies about the book as a whole

Common Problems in These Essays

Students often slip into moralizing, using the essay to advise readers to be humble instead of analyzing how Lewis portrays humility. The tone becomes sermon-like, with few specifics. Feedback should redirect them by asking what a particular scene shows rather than what people ought to do.

Another problem is overgeneralization, where a student claims that all the ghosts behave a certain way after examining only two. Ask for the evidence that supports the word "all" or encourage more precise language. This teaches careful reasoning that will serve students well beyond this assignment.

Efficient Feedback at Scale

Argument essays reward feedback on structure, so build comments around claim, evidence, reasoning, and counterargument. Teachers with large classes can use an AI grading tool to check for each of these components and produce a starting set of comments. Reading the tool's output alongside the essay makes it easier to catch missing pieces quickly.

Reserve your own detailed attention for the quality of reasoning, which requires human judgment. A tool can note that a counterargument is present, but you decide whether it is treated fairly. This balance saves time without weakening the evaluation of the skill you care about most.

Encourage Revision Toward Stronger Arguments

Argument writing improves through revision more than through any single lesson. Build in a draft and revise cycle where students respond to your comments with specific changes. A short cover note explaining what they changed and why helps them reflect on their reasoning.

Consider having students trade thesis statements and try to counter them before drafting. This exercise builds the habit of anticipating objections and produces better counterargument sections. It also makes the grading of that section more meaningful, since students have already practiced it.