Screwtape Analysis Rough Draft 1

Courtney Muraoka

Honors British Literature

Mrs. Baniaga

31 August 2010

Literary Analysis

     Spiritual warfare played a major part in The Screwtape Letters. Screwtape and Wormwood were constantly tempting the patient to sin and draw further away from God. Many times, Christians do not even realize that this spiritual war is going on, and that it is the little sins that can draw us away from Him. At first, it is a battle of who will have our souls. If a decision of salvation is made, it then becomes a battle of temptation and deceit. Screwtape wrote, “In the long run either Our Father or the Enemy will say ‘Mine’ of each thing that exists, and specially of each man. They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong—certainly not to them, whatever happens” (Lewis 115). In this quote, Screwtape makes it clear that every human’s soul will belong to either God or Satan. Both want to have your soul, and both want to have you do their will as opposed to their enemy’s will.

     Screwtape also wrote, “It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick” (Lewis 60-61) The point that Screwtape makes in this quote is that even the smallest sin can be of great use to them and can bring us a great distance from God. These small sins put us on the “safe” road to Hell. “There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human’s mind against the Enemy” (Lewis 25). Screwtape and Wormwood did whatever they could to deceive the patient and lead him toward ungodly things. The Spiritual war over our souls can greatly influence our relationship with God whether we realize it or not.

Work Cited
Lewis, Clive S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print.

Screwtape XXVI-XXXI

Chapter XXVI- “Avail yourself of the ambiguity in the word ‘Love’: let them think they have solved by Love problems they have in fact only waived or postponed under the influence of the enchantment.”
     Screwtape is saying to make use of the word love because of its vagueness. He wants Wormwood to persuade his patient that he has solved his problems with love, when really he has just put them aside, hidden behind of the effects of enchantment.

Chapter XXVII- “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 granted prayer becomes just as good a proof as a denied one that prayers are ineffective.”
     I think what Screwtape was trying to convince man was that when prayers do not have the desired results, they could be considered ineffective. When they do, they could also be seen as ineffective because the events that led up to the answered prayer would have happened even if there were no prayer at all.

Chapter XXVIII- “Prosperity knits a man to the World.”
     Screwtape is saying that when one experiences success, he becomes more and more attached to the world. You normally do not want to quit or leave something that you are doing well in.

Chapter XXIX- “The point is to keep him feeling that he has something, other than the Enemy and courage the Enemy supplies, to fall back on, so that what was intended to be a total commitment to duty becomes honeycombed all through with little unconscious reservations.”
     Screwtape wants man to believe that he can rely on something other than God. He wants man to expect that the worst will never happen. When it does, he can trick them into an act of cowardice.

Chapter XXX- “Exaggerate the weariness by making him think that it will soon be over; for men usually feel that a strain could have been endured no longer at the very moment when it is ending or when they think it is ending."
     Screwtape is saying that by making situations of suffering to seem like they will be over soon will make it harder for one to endure longer. He explains that the moment it seems to be ending, it is the hardest to carry on.

Chapter XXXI- “One moment it seemed to be all our world; the scream of bombs, the fall of houses, the stink and taste of high explosive on the lips and in the lungs, the feet burning with weariness, the heart cold with horrors, the brain reeling, the legs aching; next moment all this was gone, gone like a bad dream, never again to be of any account. “
     Screwtape is describing the moment that the patient died and went to heaven. In an instant, he was taken out of all the sufferings of the world and brought into the presence of God, never to be reminded of them again.

Lewis, Clive S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print.

Screwtape XVIII-XXI

Chapter XVIII
“Things are to be many, yet somehow also one” (Pg 94).
     I think what Screwtape was trying to say was that some things are both numerous and singular at the same time. An example of this is the trinity. God exists as three distinct persons, yet He is one God. Another example is family. Within a family, there are separate and different members, but they are united in a unique and responsible way.

Chapter XIX
“Like most of the other things which humans are excited about, such as health and sickness, age and youth, or war and peace, it is, from the point of view of the spiritual life mainly raw material” (Pg 103).
     Screwtape is saying that like many things, love is a basic material to the spiritual life. He compares it to health, sickness, age, youth, war, and peace. I would think that such materials are complex and would be very influential to our spiritual lives.

Chapter XX
“For as things are, your man has now discovered the dangerous truth that these attacks don’t last forever; consequently you cannot use again what is, after all, our best weapon—the belief of ignorant humans, that there is no hope of getting rid of us except by yielding” (Pg 105)
     Screwtape is saying that the best weapon for them to use is the human belief that the only way to get rid of them is by giving in to their temptations. Once the patient realizes that these temptations do not last forever, that weapon can no longer be used on him.

Chapter XXI
“In the long run either Our Father or the Enemy will say ‘Mine’ of each thing that exists, and specially of each man” (Pg 114).
     Nothing on earth is really “ours” because in the end all it comes down to is who owns our souls. It will be either God or the Devil.

Lewis, Clive S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print.

Brainstorming for Analysis Ideas

1. Irony

2. Satire

3. Hyperbole

4. Motif

5. Simile- “In the second place, since his ideas about her soul will be very crude and often erroneous, he will, in some degree be praying for an imaginary person, and it will be your task to make that imaginary person daily less and less like the real mother –the sharp-tongued old lady at the breakfast table” ( Pg 12).

6. Point of view

7. Flashback- “I once had a patient, a sound atheist who used to read in the British museum…” (Pg 2-3).

8. Allegory

9. Allusion- The characters in The Screwtape Letters refer to characters in the Bible like God and Satan. "The Enemy's determination to produce such a revolting hybrid was one of the things that determined Our Father to withdraw his support from Him"(Pg 37).
10. Setting

Lewis, Clive S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print.

Chapters IX-XII Questions

Chapter IX: Why do our “trough periods” make us so vulnerable (Lewis, 43)? Is this applicable to you?

     It makes us vulnerable because when we go through low phases in life it becomes much easier to give in to the temptations of the world. This is applicable to me especially when I am upset or annoyed.

Chapter IX: What does beautiful truth about pleasure does Screwtape share? Make a list of pleasures.
     He shared that God created pleasure, and He is the only one who can. Some pleasures are having fun with friends, good food, reading an interesting book, and watching movies.

Chapter X: What are your thoughts regarding “parallel lives” (Lewis, 51)? What does this mean to you?
     I think “parallel lives” is like hypocrisy. To me, when someone lives “parallel lives” they act completely different when in the company of various people. They could accept one thing with one group of people but completely reject it when with another.

Chapter XII: What is the “safest road to Hell” (Lewis, 61)? Do you agree or disagree?
     According to Lewis, the “safest road to Hell” is the gradual one, without any sudden turns or warnings. I would disagree with this because if one were on the road to Hell, the easiest and safest way would be obvious and expected.

Chapter XII: What is the role of “nothing” (Lewis, 60) and “small sins” (Lewis, 60)? What does that mean for you?
     “Nothing” and “small sins” can lead someone further away from God. To me, this means that even the smallest sins are capable of getting in the way of my relationship with God.

Lewis, Clive S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print.

Chapters V-VII Questions

Chapter V: What is Screwtape’s idea on the best way for humans to die? Why?
     Screwtape believed that the best way for humans to die was in the care of doctors and nurses that lied to them by promising them life while they are dying. This is because they would not be concerned or prepared for death.

Chapter VI: How does “...malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary” (Lewis, 28)? How does this apply to your life?
     Malice becomes wholly real, and benevolence becomes largely imaginary when one directs malice to those he knows well and directs benevolence to those he does not. This can apply to my life when I treat nicely those who I do not know very well, but take for granted and treat poorly those that I do.

Chapter VII: How do you picture the devil? What does this chapter challenge you about regarding the spiritual warfare over your soul?
     I picture the devil as someone that looks frightening and evil with horns and a pitchfork. This chapter challenges me to be more aware of my motives and pursuits that affect the spiritual warfare over my soul.

Chapter VIII: What is the “law of Undulation” (Lewis, 37)? Give an example of this in your life.
     The “law of Undulation” is the repeated return to a level from which one repeatedly falls back, a series of troughs and peaks. An example of this in my life is my enthusiasm for driving. In the beginning, I was excited to drive, but later it became a hassle. After I learned more, it became exciting again, and the process continued.

Chapter VIII: “Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys. (Lewis 40). What are your thoughts on this?
     I think that it is interesting. For one to intend to obey God’s will, when He seems to have disappeared, takes a lot of faith and trust in God. I hope to have that level of faith in God, if a situation like that were to happen to me.

Lewis, Clive S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print.

Chapters I-IV Questions

If I were to dedicate a “spiritual” book, I would dedicate it to my sister. She is a great example to me and teaches me so much.


Chapter I: Give an example or two about situations in which you are "...attending to universal issues and withdrawing...attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences" (Lewis, 2).
     One way that I do this is texting my sister when she is in the room right next to me. Another is when I am in a class, and I am concentrating on something completely different.

Chapter II: What kind of clarity do you think Hell provides (Lewis, 7)?
     I think that it provides the clarity that one can only get from being in Hell, which is that your views on earth were wrong, and you have to spend eternity suffering because of it.

Chapter II: What are your thoughts on church? Is it something you “do” every week?
     To me, church is the time that I worship God and fellowship with other Christians. I do this every week.

Chapter III: What are your "daily pinpricks" (Lewis, 11)?
     A “daily pinprick” of mine is when people chew loudly. Another is when people bite their nails.

Chapter IV: What are your thoughts on prayer? Compare your prayer life to this chapter.
    Prayer is important because it is how we can communicate with God our thoughts, thankfulness, and requests. In comparison with this chapter, I am sometimes guilty of parrot-like prayers. I do not talk to God like he was an object in my room, but rather like he was there as a family member or friend.

Lewis, Clive S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print.

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Questions

1. What are your thoughts on writing?
I enjoy writing about things that I find interesting. Most of the writing that I do is for school, and the last piece that I wrote was about an article that I read for Bible class. Outside of school, I write to communicate with friends that have moved away through emails and letters. When I write, I convey what I have learned or want to express to others.

2. What are your thoughts on reading?
I like reading books that are captivating and meaningful. The last book that I read was Faith of our Founding Fathers. My favorite novel is Lock and Key, and my favorite children’s book is The Runaway Bunny. I also took many trips to the library as a child.

3. What are your thoughts on technology?
I think technology is really good because there is so much you can do with it, and it makes information easily available. I am on some social networking sites, but I do not use them very often.

4. What are your thoughts on learning?
I like to learn more about things that I do not know. I am a visual learner, and I think that projects and reports are good because they are different from the usual tests and quizzes.

5. Why do you want to take this course?
I want to take this course because I like English, and I wanted to try it in an online format. I also want to get a better understanding of British literature. I want to learn more about literature to improve my writing abilities because it is an important skill in life. Also, the books on the list for the class seemed really interesting.