Screwtape Letters Rhetorical Analysis

Lewis's book, The Screwtape Letters, has shown me many challenges in which I go through in my everyday life. These challenge levels range from simple stuff that can just happen at my house to serious stuff outside in the world. One of the more simple challenges that this book provides insight to, occurs in chapter three. That chapter focuses on something as simple as making your mother upset. It goes into depth about how he can talk or act a certain way to make her upset with him. In doing this, Screwtape and Wormwood want the human to become isolated from his mom. One of the more serious challenges that is featured in the book is the continual evaluation of the Church and Christianity. The chapters dealing with these issues are chapters one, two, four, and eight. All of these chapters selected had issues or evaluations dealing with the Church or Christianity in a negative

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his bold novel, The Scarlet Letter tackles a variety of themes that include: sin, guilt, redemption, postfeminism, and organized religion's abuse of power. Hawthorne spoke in a somber and grim tone, designed to arouse a sense of suspense for his readers. The audience in which he was addressing would have been conservative Christians and women suffragettes, all of whom reflected the ideologies during this time period. By instilling clever diction, Hawthorne exposes hypocrisy in Puritanism and objects against the religion's superfluous punishments; which force individuals to endure unnecessary and extreme suffering.

The letters utilize reoccurring literary devices utilized throughout the letters, two of the most prevalent are satire and irony. The Screwtape Letters are infused with Irony, through statements that the readers see and comprehend as see as what is most commonly perceived in human culture. Especially when the two refer to the person whom Wormworth is trying to assimilate to his ways, as his “patient” when conventionally people think of a patient as someone you are trying to help not hinder, in this case, as well as Screwtape referring to God as deceitful and disloyal while he and Wormworth are not even loyal to one another, and followed the teachings of Satan, the leader of deceit. He uses satire throughout the entire format of the 31 letters. experienced devil is helping the younger one become better at what they do.

To begin with, ethos is apparent in the excerpt “The Most Dangerous Job” by Eric Schlosser through his stories about workers and their families’ struggles. In the excerpt “The Most Dangerous Job,” Eric Schlosser states, “Each of their stories was different, yet somehow familiar, linked by common elements-the same struggle to receive proper medical care, the same fear of speaking out, the same underlying corporate indifference” (Schlosser 186). Schlosser shows the audience that he is a credible source through the stories of workers families. The families’ hardships showcase the corruption inside of

Pathos is the writers attempt to appeal to the audience emotions. For instance, “In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. ‘“I’m a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me,”’ the headline said” (Lukianoff and Haidt). The authors appeal to emotion paints a picture in the reader’s mind, further opening their eyes to make them feel how the professor was feeling. Also, naming the article “The Coddling of the American Mind” was a great was to represent how the problem was being addressed. The use of the word “coddling” reflected the way colleges were treating their students like babies. Enforcing trigger warnings to protect the students are not helping them for the future. This appeals to pathos because the audience gets a glimpse of what the after effect of “babying” has on

Ethos is to convince someone of character or credibility of the persuader. It puts author

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

“The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged diversity are excellent campaigning weather.” Screwtape wished to drag out the Christian’s life and turn it into a purposeless, repeating roll-play. He wanted to slowly and despairingly tear the Christian from God and so tear him from the only true hope and life and joy there is in this world. Do not be alarmed, though, because God is stronger that the demons and He, “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.” Screwtape admits that God insures his children a place in his forever home and an everlasting joy. Additionally, Screwtape refers to humans as “mere animals.” God created us in His image, which sets us apart from the animals. Screwtape therefore was trying to degrade humankind, to lower us, and how can any of us, humans, feel sympathy for one who so hates us

Ethos is a rhetorical appeal used to grab the attention of the audience’s morals or ethics.

Ethos is a rhetorical appeal that Eighner establishes automatically and through the text as well. Eighner is a well known writer, his work has appeared in the Washington Post, The New York Times Review, and many others. He was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, his educated mind is displayed through his diction. He uses the word like corrupted, obscure, frankness, and niche. Obviously these are words your average “street rat” would not use. This deems Eighner credibility because he is an educated personnel. Eighner’s

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.

Michael Moore’s documentary is filled with an ample amount of logos, ethos, and pathos which helps get his message through to the audience. In ‘Bowling for Columbine’, Moore talks about the horrific shooting, which occurred on April 20th, 1999 at Columbine high school. Moore explains how Michigan has a disturbingly big tolerance for firearms and actually see it as a necessary item that everyone should have. Guns in Michigan are so easily accessible that it can be obtained at a bank for free if you open up an account with them. Moore demonstrated this to be true as he so easily walked into the bank empty handed and came out with a rifle. ‘Bowling for Columbine’ revealed how America has the worst murder rate when it comes to shootings even though

Krakauer’s argument is, “McCandless wasn’t “stupid, tragic, and inconsiderate,” but instead paints a sympathetic picture of a young man with a profound moral compass seeking a higher truth”. His effective case justifying McCandless’s behavior, which may include potential biases, is effective for most personages. This contretemps is feasible, but there are some personages, like Peter Christian, that see the flip side of Krakauer’s assessment. Peter, who “arrived in Alaska in 1992” with McCandless, said “Alaska is populated with people who are either running away from something or seeking themselves in America’s last frontier” he came to Alaska with the same intentions. In his article he states that he was one of those young man.

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.

The book and the movie also had many examples of ethos in them. One of them would be where it says, “..., but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant.” That shows that it’s ethos because Atticus is saying that the jury needs to be absolutely sure that they are right about Tom Robinson before they sentence him because if they weren’t sure, it wouldn’t be fair or ethical. Another example would be where it says, “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She