Lewis Subtile Deceptions

I feel that C.S. Lewis's book, The Screwtape Letters, has taken a while to pull me in and get me really interested in the book. I am intrigued by the first couple chapters, but those chapters do not pull me in like some of the other chapters after those. The chapter that has pulled me in and really got me interested to read on in the book is chapter four when Screwtape wants Wormwood to get his human to misinterpret prayer. That is a deal breaker for me and got me really interested in how they would attempt to get the human to misinterpret prayer. For example, they want him to take prayer as if it was something he has to do as a Christian rather than something that he gets or wants to do. Also, Screwtape tells Wormwood to try to twist his prayer around to where it sounds like he is talking and looking inward to himself and not looking for God to answer or respond to his prayers.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a book made up of 31 letters of teaching, communication, and familial advice communicated with the only two physical tempters in the book, Screwtape, the mentor, and his young eager to learn “nephew” or mentee, Wormworth. Screwtape uses the letters to aid him in influencing his nephew to do as he does in actions, thoughts, and in his work and convinces him to follow the way of Satan, their “Father” and to follow in both Screwtape and the Devil’s path. Wormworth’s “patient” is a young male who has newly tried to connect with the “Enemy”, God. Screwtape uses very common flaws, some of which are, materialism, physical attraction, and gluttony to try to draw him away from God, and brainwash him into believing all of his thoughts and detesting all outside sources as much as he can.

Have you ever wondered how demons try and lead us away from God and begin to sin? In the Screwtape Letters C.S Lewis shows us how a demon named Screwtape guides his nephew Wormwood on how to make sure their “patient” stays away from Christianity. The Screwtape Letters is an Epistolary novel that was written during World War II. In this novel God is considered “The Enemy” and Satan is “Our Father.” The main characters in this novel are Wormwood, Screwtape, and the patient. Screwtape is a demon who writes his nephew Wormwood from hell. Screwtape teaches his nephew the different steps of keeping his “patient” away from God. Humans are called patients by demons because they are trying to lead humans away from God. In this novel we don’t really

Lewis refers to God, Satan and Hell many different ways. When mentioning God, he uses the term “The Enemy” which in our minds, would normally be in reference to Satan. He also refers to him as “The Father Above,” and to Satan as “Our Father Below” and “High Command.” Hell is referred to as “Our Father’s House.” “Screwtape Letters” is written with this context because it is from the point of view of a demon who goes by the name of Screwtape. This is satirical, it is the opposite of the way we would normally think. In our minds, we think of God as “High Command,” and as Our Father, not as “The

Lewis’s conversion to Christianity was the biggest influence on his literature. As stated before, Lewis was raised a Catholic by his parents, but he eventually turned his back on all of his Catholic beliefs and became an atheist. As time went on, the Holy Spirit kept on softening Lewis’s atheist heart until one day Lewis’s life would change. Lewis would turned away from atheism and turned back to God. This all started in 1929 when Lewis started acknowledging the existence of God again like his Catholic root taught him years ago. This is a big step for any atheist who is on the road of converting to Christianity. He would receive his first test of faith that same year however because that was the year his dad died. This was obviously hard for him to mourn, but he got through it by the grace of God. Lewis officially became a Christian after a long talk with fellow Christian writer J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis helped many other writers establish a discussion group of writers called The Inklings. Lewis’s Christian faith was a major influence on his

In the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis proposes a dialog between an experienced devil and a young inexperienced devil. We only get to read letters from the senior, Screwtape, to the junior, Wormwood. In these letters we overhear how Wormwood’s first assignment is going, what tempting strategies he should try, and what might happen to him if he fails. Screwtape comes across cordial in all his letters, but just beneath his tone he seems to dislike his young mentee. In every letter, Screwtape belittles Wormwood in some way or another, and by the end we hear Screwtape’s outright anger and outrage at Wormwood’s failure when his patient dies a Christian. Lewis’ style of writing equips me to better recognise Satin’s subtle deceptions, and does not make

Could anyone feel sympathy for a groveling, sly demon? The demons did have a hard job, but it was a despicable job of choice. In The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, Screwtape busily instructs his nephew, Wormwood, who scrambles to trip up his “patient,” and bring the man to hell. Throughout the book, everyone should plainly realize that neither Screwtape nor Wormwood deserved pity or sympathy in the least. The first reason for this is that the demons’ malevolence revealed itself plainly in the book. Secondly the demons’ hate for all that is good and innocent reared its ugly head, snarling in the reader’s face. Finally, the pitiable, vile, cruel plans of the demons wiped out any lingering sympathetic feelings in the reader. The demons were purely cruelty.

Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, is an interesting novel containing the interaction between a devil named Screwtape and his young nephew Wormwood. The book is comprised of letters corresponding between the two devils. Screwtape is a senior devil and is tasked as a mentor to his less experienced nephew. Screwtape instructs Wormwood on how to tempt a new Christian, or "patient". He suggest many different intricate ways of using human emotions, thoughts, and weaknesses to tempt their faith, and keep them from the kingdom of heaven. The ultimate goal to attain humans for their master in hell. Wormwood is at first encouraged by his uncle Screwtape, but is later criticized because he can't control his patient, and fails at keeping him from church.

In the Screwtape Letters, it talked a lot about how the devil can distract a Christian. A devil can shift a person’s focus on God with random thoughts and actions. In the book, Wormwood is told by Screwtape to distract his patient from converting to Christianity. Even along the patient's journey of getting into church and being a better follower of God, Wormwood found any little way to make his mind wander. Even today the devil can shift a Christians focus to mundane thoughts. So as we go through Screwtape letters looking at the distractions used by Screwtape lets also think about what mundane things the devil can do to us today.

C. S. Lewis, one of the greatest spiritual writers the world has known, wrote the Screwtape Letters to mock the evil works of the devil and give us an understanding of spiritual warfare that is constantly going on all around us. Many people refuse to believe their lives are being interfered with by spiritual forces, but it is not something that should be ignored. Lewis saw the importance in recognizing spiritual warfare in order to learn how to fight it, and that is one of his inspirations for writing this book. Although we aren’t sure how demons attempt to lead us away from God, Lewis gives a detailed account on what he believes is a way they could go about it.

The room is fill with stuff about Satanism, books and props are everywhere around the storage room and there are even statue of the horned goat which resemble the Satan. Louis is feeling shocked and at the same time happy because he has always been interested in these stuffs. Louis then go around reading those book titles and search if he might find something else but mostly are the stuff for Satanism. Louis then decided to take a few book and read since he is always been interested in Satanism stuff. Reason why Louis is interested is because when he was small, he always get bullied by his schoolmate and he never dares to fight them back because he was not smart and strong and as he grew up he learned from a lot of TV show that Satanism stuff can help him to get the revenge he always wanted, but he has never been able to learn about such thing until today he finally gets his chance to learn more about it. Louis then thought of reading more in order to gain deeper

Screwtape wants to destroy the patient and his mother's relationship all together. They both already had a mutual annoyance for each other despite what screwtape was trying to do. First method he wants to use is keeping the patient's mind on himself. This will cause anger and annoyance towards his mother in doing so. This all relates towards logos by being factual evidence to cause anger. With pathos, C.S. Lewis wants to show emotion that the reader can relate to. He does this by showing tone in the story with the patient and his mother. “I have had patients of my own so well in hand that they could be turned at a moments notice from impassioned prayer for a wife’s or son’s soul to beating or insulting the real wife or son without qualm.” This gives us the sense of how evil devils can be towards

C.S Lewis is clear that his opinion is that the all types of love are branched from the love of Christ. Screwtape and Wormwood devise a plan to strip the patient of his love for people and things of this world in order to turn him away from Christ and hand him over to the devil. God’s love for humanity is incomprehensible to Screwtape, he thinks that the purpose of life is to better oneself and take control of others. In the book, Screwtape explains how they merely want to absorb the patient for their own personal gain and their desires are compared to God’s saying “One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth” (Lewis Part VIII). C.S Lewis describes God as one who does not want to take over and destroy but as a God who wants to give, unite and love his people. Throughout the book, we see Screwtape’s attempts to rid the patient of love but this job is not as easy as he originally believes it to be.

“O Hell!” Satan’s opening exclamation of frustration immediately alerts readers to Satan’s state of mind. As Satan gazes on Adam and Eve, he is struck by their blissful state, which sends him into a spiral of confusion as he slightly reconsiders his plan to destroy them. To himself, Satan addresses the pair; he begins regretful and with pity for Adam and Eve. He later shifts in tone to vengeful, envious, and angry. Further exemplifying Satan’s contrasting attitudes, Milton uses antonymous words of emotion throughout the passage. By the end of passage, Milton solidifies Satan’s hardening of heart and ends the struggle that has been festering inside Satan since his first act of rebellion against God. Milton successfully uses both the shift in tone and the emotional diction to reveal Satan’s stormy internal conflict.

As, perhaps arguably, his most famous novel, from his most famous book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, there has been much debate as to his motives for the implementation of religion in his works, and even some question as to whether religion is an actual existing aspect of the work. This essay will not only outline the unmistakable presence of religious allegory, but also focus on the purpose of it being there. Thus being, that C.S Lewis uses religious allegory to effectively introduce and develop core themes of the novel in a fashion both comprehensible and relatable for a universal audience.