Screwtape Analysis (Revision)

The Inadequacy of Humans 

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis uses a unique perspective in order to show readers just how weak and limited humans are. First, Lewis uses a unique demonic perspective in order to reveal how demons can use fleshly habits in an effort to tempt humans. In chapter one, Screwtape says that he desires for people to be, “attending to universal issues and withdrawing attention from the steam of immediate sense experiences” (Lewis 2). Here, Screwtape tells Wormwood how to use something as small and simple as an everyday distraction to keep his patient from more important things like God. In chapter three, Screwtape shares about “daily pinpricks” or daily annoyances and how they can be used to build an aggravating tension that demons can in turn use to cause man to fall to different temptations (11). Screwtape also explains how pleasures such as sex and alcohol can be used as a temptation in chapter nine. He tells of “being in love” and “pressing drinks as an anodyne when he is dull and weary” and how these can easily develop into something more and lead to easy temptations (44). Second, Lewis uses a unique demonic perspective in order to reveal how demons can use originally moral conduct and twist it into something unmoral. In chapter two, Screwtape shows Wormwood how he can twist the act of going to church. Screwtape teaches Wormwood that he can get his patient to be extra critical about the church and those who attend church with him. Through his patient being critical, Wormwood can easily cause him to be distracted from the true purpose and intent of church. In chapter four, Screwtape addresses prayer and tells Wormwood of how “…whatever their bodies do affects their souls” and how Wormword can apply this even to his patient’s prayer to keep him from wholesome prayers (16). In chapter six, Screwtape informs Wormwood on how he can cause his patient to sin through him using up any benevolence he may have in areas that are unseen by those around him; therefore leaving any malice within him to be more likely exerted upon those he knows. Finally, Lewis uses a unique demonic perspective in order to reveal how demons can use human emotion in an effort to tempt humans. In chapter five, Screwtape tells Wormwood how he can use fear as a means of tempting his patient. When a person is fearful of the effects of war or death, if properly used, demons can use this fear to cause various sins in their patients’ lives. In chapters eight and nine, Screwtape tells Wormwood of how he can use the various uses of the constant ups and downs of his patient’s life to his advantage. Through learning how to best tempt his patient during both the peaks and troughs, and causing his patient to either forget about God or deny Him, Wormwood learns he can effectively control his patient at any given time. In chapter eighteen, Screwtape shows Wormwood how to use the emotion of love to cause both lust and things such as polygamy or unfaithfulness. Throughout the book, Lewis effectively shows readers the different techniques and areas that Satan uses on a daily basis to tempt humans. By writing from a demonic perspective, Lewis allows his readers an especially unique view into the mind of Satan and the spiritual realm.

Works Cited

Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: Harper Collins, 2001. Print.

Screwtape Analysis

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis uses a unique perspective, through the use of epistolary form, to grant readers a distinct view into the minds of demons. First, Lewis uses a unique demonic perspective in order to reveal how demons can use fleshly habits in an effort to tempt humans. In chapter one, Screwtape says that he desires for people to be, “attending to universal issues and withdrawing attention from the steam of immediate sense experiences” (Lewis 2). Here, Screwtape tells Wormwood how to use something as small and simple as an everyday distraction to keep his patient from more important things like God. In chapter three, Screwtape shares about “daily pinpricks” or daily annoyances and how they can be used to build an aggravating tension that demons can in turn use to cause man to fall to different temptations (11). Screwtape also explains how pleasures such as sex and alcohol can be used as a temptation in chapter nine. He tells of “being in love” and “pressing drinks as an anodyne when he is dull and weary” and how these can easily develop into something more and lead to easy temptations (44). Second, Lewis uses a unique demonic perspective in order to reveal how demons can use originally moral conduct and twist it into something unmoral. In chapter two, Screwtape shows Wormwood how he can twist the act of going to church. Screwtape teaches Wormwood that he can get his patient to be extra critical about the church and those who attend church with him. Through his patient being critical, Wormwood can easily cause him to be distracted from the true purpose and intent of church. In chapter four, Screwtape addresses prayer and tells Wormwood of how “…whatever their bodies do affects their souls” and how Wormword can apply this even to his patient’s prayer to keep him from wholesome prayers (16). In chapter six, Screwtape informs Wormwood on how he can cause his patient to sin through him using up any benevolence he may have in areas that are unseen by those around him; therefore leaving any malice within him to be more likely exerted upon those he knows. Finally, Lewis uses a unique demonic perspective in order to reveal how demons can use human emotion in an effort to tempt humans. In chapter five, Screwtape tells Wormwood how he can use fear as a means of tempting his patient. When a person is fearful of the effects of war or death, if properly used, demons can use this fear to cause various sins in their patients’ lives. In chapters eight and nine, Screwtape tells Wormwood of how he can use the various uses of the constant ups and downs of his patient’s life to his advantage. Through learning how to best tempt his patient during both the peaks and troughs, and causing his patient to either forget about God or deny Him, Wormwood learns he can effectively control his patient at any given time. In chapter eighteen, Screwtape shows Wormwood how to use the emotion of love to cause both lust and things such as polygamy or unfaithfulness. Throughout the book, Lewis effectively shows readers the different techniques and areas that Satan uses on a daily basis to tempt us. By writing from a demonic perspective, Lewis allows his readers an especially unique view into the mind of Satan and the spiritual realm.

Works Cited
Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: Harper Collins, 2001. Print.

Screwtape Conclusion

Screwtape 26-28

Chapter 26
If each side had been frankly contending for its own real wish, they would all have kept within the bounds of reason and courtesy; but just because the contention is reversed and each side is fighting the other side’s battle, all the bitterness which really flows from thwarted self-righteousness and obstinacy and the accumulated grudges of the last ten years is concealed from them by the nominal or official ‘Unselfishness’ of what they are doing or, at least, held to be excused by it.


Chapter 27
Don’t forget to use the ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ argument. If the thing he prays for doesn’t happen, then that is one more proof that petitionary prayers don’t work; if it does happen, he will, of course, be able to see some of the physical causes which led up to it, and ‘therefore it would have happened anyway’, and thus a granted prayer becomes just as good a proof as a denied one that prayers are ineffective.


Chapter 28
The truth is that the Enemy, having oddly destined these mere animals to life in His own eternal world, has guarded them pretty effectively from the danger of feeling at home anywhere else. That is why we must often wish long life to our patients; seventy years is not a day too much for the difficult task of unraveling their souls from Heaven and building up a firm attachment to the earth.
 

Screwtape 22-25

Chapter 22
The whole place wreaks of that deadly odour. The very gardener, though he has only been there five years, is beginning to acquire it. Even guests, after a weekend visit, carry some of the smell away with them. The dog and the cat are tainted with it.

Chapter 23
For a long time it will be impossible to remove spirituality from his life. Very well then; we must corrupt it.

Chapter 24
He must be made to feel (he’d better not put it into words) ‘how different we Christians are’; and by ‘we Christians’ he must really, but unknowingly, mean ‘my set’; and by ‘my set’ he must mean not ‘The people who, in their charity and humility, have accepted me’, but ‘The people with whom I associate by right’.

Chapter 25
The horror of the Same Old Thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart---an endless source of heresies in religion, folly in counsel, infidelity in marriage, and inconstancy in friendship

Chapters XVI-XVIII Questions

Chapter XVI
Church brings “...people of different classes and psychology together in the kind of unity the Enemy desires” (81)
I think that this statement is very true. Church is a place of gathering, and it can bring all types of different people together under one roof as brothers and sisters in Christ. Every person is created differently, and God has granted different people with unique abilities that makes everyone distinct. He desires to use everyone to their fullest extent and utilize their unique abilities. I find it so amazing how special every person in church is and how God creating each person with a different purpose in mind.

Chapter XVII
“...she never recognises as gluttony her determination to get what she wants, however troublesome it may be to others” (88)
I used to be very similar to this lady when I was younger. I used to be guilty of leaving “certain” foods on my plate and pass the excuse that I wasn’t hungry or it should go to someone else who was hungrier or liked the food more. It was indeed just me being selfish and being a picky eater. Unfortunately, I can now see how much of a nuisance I was to my grandma who always used to work hard to serve me only the foods I finished eating and seemed to enjoy.

“...all I want...” (Lewis, 88).  What are your reactions to this sin?
This sin of an inward focus really hits me hard this year as a society leader as I am trying to learn to become more servant-like. I find it so easy for me to always focus on what I want or on what would be best for me, and it’s a sin that I can overlook much of the time. It’s a sin that I really want to eliminate from my life this year, and I hope that I can eventually reach the point where I am subconsciously putting God and others before me.

Chapter XVIII
Why would God want “complete abstinence or unmitigated monogamy” for us?
I believe that God wants this for us in order to not only protect us, but also in order to prepare us for our future spouse. The act of sex forms a new and irreversible bond between two people and joins them together. God wants for us to abstain and practice monogamy in order for us to be able to enjoy a wholesome and loving relationship with the partner that he has provided for us. It is a show of devotion, especially to a future spouse, and I know that is what I would desire of my future husband and what I want to provide him with.

Define “being in love.”
Being in love is to be in a faithful, lasting, and trusting relationship with a person. It is much more than just a simple feeling or desire, and I think that it can entail much more than just one’s relationship with a spouse or potential partner. Being in love is much more than a just a bond, and I think that it also requires a person to first have and continue to have a love of God, authorities, peers, and others.

Chapters XII-XV Questions

Chapter XII
What is the “safest road to Hell” (61)? Do you agree or disagree?
Screwtape says the gradual road to hell is the safest one. I agree with Screwtape. I find it very easy in my life to simply fall into a life that’s very uniform and tiresome, and just that kind of lifestyle can put me on a path that is going away from God. Small sins that occur frequently in my life are enough to keep me on that path for long periods of time. I believe that if I were to commit a “big” sin, it may even prove to help me go back to God.

What is the role of “nothing” (60) and “small sins” (60)?
What does that mean for you? I believe that keeping Christians on a path of becoming numbed to the gospel and the Holy Spirit is the role of “nothing” and “small sins”. Much of the time, I can find just being tired and wanting to lie in bed or sit in a chair watching TV can be a distraction from time that I should be devoting to God. This is exactly what the devil wants to use to keep Christians from growing closer to God and developing a relationship with Him.
I think that “nothing” is something that I can see during a lot of my life. When I think back on the years of my life, I can now see the many times in my life where I wasted away and did meaningless things. I know that working on spending my time wisely and constantly looking towards God is something that I need to improve upon and continue improving upon for the rest of my life.
I believe that, in God’s eyes, sin is sin no matter how big or small it may seem in our world. Even though certain sins like murder can have serious consequences in our world, God still views it just like any other sin. Just because a person commits one big sin, it doesn't mean that another person would have to commit many smaller sins to reach the same level as the person who committed the bigger sin. Sometimes I think that I’m better than someone else because I don’t lie as much or curse out loud, but, in reality, I’m the same sinner in God’s eyes.

Chapter XIII
What does the following section mean to you? “Remember always, that He really likes the little vermin, and sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of them. When He talks of their losing their selves, He only means abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever. Hence, while He is delighted to see them sacrificing even their innocent wills to His, He hates to see them drifting away from their own nature for any other reason.” This section means a lot to me. Through reading this section, I can really see how much God cares for me as an individual. Even though He wants my entire being and devotion, that doesn’t mean that, once I decide to give myself to Him, He’ll turn me into some robotic Christian that chants the Bible all day. When I give myself to Him, He wants to use me as an individual. He wants to use the special gifts and talents that He’s given me to perform certain tasks that He has given to me as an individual.

What is one simple thing that you truly enjoy? “The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring twopence what other people say about it, is by that very fact fore-armed against some of our subtlest modes of attack.”
I love the ocean. I think that the ocean in one of the beauties that God has blessed me with. Whenever I think of or am able to look at the ocean, I truly think of how amazing it is. It connects the entire world together. I always think of the people on the other side who might be enjoying a nice summer day at the beach or even trying to survive. It makes me so grateful for the life that I have been given and the many comforts that God has allowed me to have. It is also just something that is just extremely beautiful to look at. Especially on a nice day with clear blue skies, I love simply relishing in the movements of the waves and the beautiful sounds of them crashing on the sand.

Chapter XIV
“...the most repellent and inexplicable trait in our Enemy; He really loves the hairless bipeds He has created....” (72). How does this make you feel?
This quote really makes me feel humbled to be loved and cared for so dearly by such a superior and magnificent God. I often find myself forgetting the very God who created me and the rest of the universe as I move about my daily life, but I know that He is always there and always loving me even if I don’t always have Him in mind.

Chapter XV
What does it mean to have “...nearly all vices are rooted in the future” (76)?
The quote, “nearly all vices are rooted in the future”, is referring to the fact that most sin comes from dwelling on future. For so many people, including myself, it’s easy to place all your hopes, dreams, and happiness on what’s to come. I find it so easy to focus on trying to place all my efforts into my future happiness that I often forget how happy and thankful I should be in the present. Our future is never guaranteed and I often find myself forgetting that fact. I can become so wound up in the future that I end up forgetting God and His will in my life and just immersing myself in that sort of sinful lifestyle.