After reading the Last Battle, I was tempted to say that Lewis must have put a lot of stock in Platonism. I saw at least two, one subtle one not, allusions to Plato's philosophical doctrine. The first, and most obvious, was when Digory simply stated that Plato must have been right. He was referring to the doctrine of the Forms, where everything that we perceive with the senses, the material world, is but a shadow of the real, more tangible world of the spirit. Furthermore, Digory went on to describe how everything that they had experienced in their life was there, in Heaven, but in a more expressively full manner. He seemed to be insinuating that everything that is good in our lives are retained eternally, where a sifting process, of sorts, is immediately apparent in the Heavenly product of our eternal existence.
Another Platonic reference is in the huddling of the dwarves. THis is similiar to the cave analogy of Plato. Like Plato's model for ignorance, the dwarves refuse to 'see' the truth of reality which is around them. Instead they decide to 'play it safe' with standing in a huddle. Their own fears distort their senses, i.e., when the others try to offer them food from the banquet table and they equate it to refuse. The cave analogy of Plato is somewhat different, in that, the people who are under an illusion of the nature of what is real are shackled, and likewise, their eyes are open although they are looking at shadows from a nearby fire (the real light is of course outside with the sun). But, nevertheless, the similiarity is in the idea of self disillusionment. IN the case of the dwarves, they have their eyes shut, while in the case of the cave dwellers, they are shackled and thus forced to see only shadows. However, even in the latter case, Plato makes it clear that one can free themselves from this bondage, but it is a difficult process of struggling with the chains. But, in the case of the dwarves, although physically speaking it is easier to open one's eyes, the struggle is the same. The dwarves must struggle with the idea of fear (they are afraid of what they may see-a dark shed with an awful creature ready to pounce on them), while the cave dwellers in Plato's vision of self induced ignorance, must struggle with the chains and the fear of ridicule by the others in bondage. After all, fear is a form of bondage. One is chained to their own fear.
I also see this as a picture of Hell. I am not saying that Plato had such an idea in mind, but it could be argued that Plato saw an inevitable rationale to the doctrine of Hell in his pagan, pre-Christian mind. As to the picture of the huddling dwarves, I am not sure if this is what Lewis had in mind or not. I am inclined to think that this is what he had in mind though. The self-disillusionment of thinking that there is no 'better' place. The smallness of Hell, as is we see in the fact that the further they went in to to shed, the bigger it got. IN the Great Divorce, this concept of Hell being a smallness, a crowding of entities into the smallest possible space mirrors the idea that Hell is this choosing of less than what is real, of what is less than what is meant for persons.
Thoughts?