Lewis grappled with crisis and struggle, and he came down on the side of faith. It was his honesty and intellectual rigor in describing his trials that help make him so compelling.<\/p>\n
The crises that Lewis faced were substantial\u201d\u201dhis mother\u2019s death when he was 9; being sent to a series of boarding schools that he detested; fighting and being wounded in World War I; living through the Great Depression and World War II; caring for his alcoholic brother; and, finally, the death of his wife, Joy.<\/p>\n
How did he work through those crises? His son-in-law, Douglas Gresham, comments on Lewis\u2019s response to Joy\u2019s death, \u201cHe did what he always did under extreme stress. He sat down at his desk, and looking into himself and carefully observing what was happening deep in his mind where we keep our inmost secrets, he picked up his pen and an old exercise book and began to write.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n