In the Valley of the Shadow of Life, the Narrator sees a large, beautiful tree, from which golden apples hang. The image of the tree evokes the Biblical story of Adam of Eve, in which fruits symbolize humanity’s inherently sinful nature. (The golden fruits may also symbolize the Greek myth of the Judgment of Paris. In this myth, the young, handsome Paris was asked to offer a golden apple to the most beautiful of three goddesses. Paris’s decision to offer the golden apple to the goddess Aphrodite led to the long, bloody Trojan War.) In the novel, Ikey tries to carry some of the golden apples back to the grey town with him—an apt symbol for the way that human beings cause themselves great pain and misery for the sake of supposed material gain. The symbol of the tree and the apple becomes more complicated when an angel invites Ikey to stay in the Valley of the Shadow of Life to eat the apples (suggesting that the true evil lies in Ikey’s desire to sell the apples, not the physical pieces of fruit). Ultimately, the apple tree symbolizes humanity’s wickedness and their ability to find evil and corruption in the most innocent things.
The Apple Tree Quotes in The Great Divorce
I could hardly help admiring this unhappy creature when I saw him rise staggering to his feet actually holding the smallest of the apples in his hands. He was lame from his hurts, and the weight bent him double. Yet even so, inch by inch, still availing himself of every scrap of cover, he set out on his via dolorosa to the bus, carrying his torture.
“Fool,” he said, “put it down. You cannot take it back. There is not room for it in Hell. Stay here and learn to eat such apples. The very leaves and the blades of grass in the wood will delight to teach you.”
Whether the Ghost heard or not, I don't know. At any rate, after pausing for a few minutes, it braced itself anew for its agonies and continued with even greater caution till I lost sight of it.