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.
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