Screwtape Letters Book Report

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.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a book of thirty –one letters in which a retired, senior demon named Screwtape coaches his newly educated nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood is quite troubled when it comes to tempting his “patient.” Nevertheless, he need not fear because faithful uncle Screwtape has offered his services. A unique character featured in the letters is, “The Enemy.” This character refers to God, the natural enemy of Satan. Of course Satan is referred to as “Our Lord.” In the letters, and Wormwood and Screwtape try their very best to please Satan and bring him glory. Although the book is written from the demons’ perspective, Lewis naturally uses it to highlight important truths of the Christian faith.

The demons that lurk around each and every one of us, in the darkness and shadows, can use things like reality or bad influences and many other ways to get in their “patient’s” head. The demons can’t even use the same things that God uses, to get to us; the demons just use it in an evil way. In The Screwtape letters, all of these pains plus many more pains are used to lure “Patients” towards the darkness. In the Gospel of Matthew, we are warned about demons and other false teachings, “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15).

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

As people grow up, it is made apparent to them that the Devil is an evil and rather a clever person. The greatest example of the devil in action is when the devil tempts Jesus. As most know, the devil fails to get Jesus to do evil. Jesus is both human and divine while the main character of The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom Walker, is a “meager, miserly fellow”. Unfortunately, Tom Walker is not Jesus so the reader must focus in on Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker to see just exactly how and when the Devil won his game. Irving portrays to the reader that the devil cannot be beaten at his own game through setting, characters, and plot. As people have seen in sports, the setting of a game (where, when, weather, etc.) can have a big impact on the game. The same goes for The Devil and Tom Walker.

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

What comes to mind when the word 'suffering' is mentioned? It usually brings up images of pain, hardship, and unpleasantness. However, C. S. Lewis brings new meaning to suffering in The Screwtape Letters. In one of the letters, Screwtape writes to Wormwood about the paradoxial use that God makes of our suffering. By the end of Chapter 8, the reader is left to see that suffering itself can be more powerful than times of ease and happiness in drawing someone closer to God.

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.

The patient in The Screwtape Letters is an interesting character. He is a struggle for Wormwood who is trying to keep him close to the Devil. I see him as a writer who has been put into the army to do defence work. I see him as a writer who was a professor so his knowledge is very extensive in many things in life.

In the Screwtape Letter, by C.S. Lewis, Srewtape insists that all pleasures are created by the Enemy, meaning God, and that demons have not figured out how to create them. It’s an idea commonly seen in Christian theology. God brought all things into this world to be good, and those things can and have been corrupted by demons and the lot. What Screwtape is saying is that, God wants people to experience pleasure, and that it is a demon’s job to corrupt a person’s sense of that pleasure.

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

In The Screwtape Letters, the topic of love appears continuously throughout the text. In different ways, it is seen that the theme of love is used. Love is commonly understood as a deep feeling for another but C.S describes God’s love as so much more. God’s love is unchanging and no matter what wrong is committed, he will continue to love. Whether it is seen in the patients love of Christ, his love of his mother, or his love for his romantic partner, they all point to one prominent thing, God. Screwtape and Wormwood continuously fight throughout the book to strip the patient of the things that he loves in his life to ultimately lead him away from the true source of love, which they call the enemy, Christ.

I realize that I have remained content in my relationship with God rather than working to enhance it. This is due to my dislike of change and fear of obstacles. In “The Emotions God Gave You” Art and Laraine write, “…a phlegmatic may feel anxious or fearful. These are simply tendencies and do not dictate our actions (Bennett 34). I am disappointed in myself because I have allowed the fear I experience to dictate my actions of avoiding spiritual growth. Every human is called to holiness and in order to achieve it action is required. This fear also explains my internal conflict with laziness because I have allowed the fear to disincline my activity. An insecurity that I am extremely fearful of is talking to adults. This greatly affects my spiritual life because in order to be resolved of my sins I am required to talk to a priest in the sacrament of reconciliation. My fear of talking to a priest has effectively hindered my decision to receive reconciliation for more than three years now. In order to further my relationship with God it is vital that I attend the sacrament. I will no longer allow fear to dominate my actions as I plan to attend reconciliation this coming Saturday at my