Screwtape Proposes a Toast

This letter is from later in time. Screwtape is at the annual dinner for the Tempters' Training College for devils. He is there because the principal, Slubgob, has asked him to give a toast as the guest of honor. In his toast he talks about how the flavor was lost of many great sinners before. Also that that night's meal was more or less for people who went to hell for smaller crimes like corruption. Throughout this book Screwtape has been trying to convert Wormwood's patient away from Christianity. He corrupted him in a sense. I feel like that is an example of how people go to hell for small things like that rather than something larger like a genocide. All in all I felt that the book was a pretty easy read with some interesting characters and plots. 

Screwtape Letter # 31

The letter I chose to do was the last letter of Screwtapes, Letter 31. In this letter WOrmwood realizes that all is lost and want to know if his uncle really loved him or ever really even did. When Screwtape responds to this he does it in a way that is very nasty and mean. He assures WOrmwood that their mutual desire for each other has always been the same, but states that he is the stronger of the 2 in the world of Hell. In this world the strong prey on the weak and it will never change. The man was killed in this letter. Screwtape describes the incident as "the scream of bombs, the fall of houses, the stink and taste of high explosives on the lips and in the lungs, the feet burning with weariness, the heart cold with horror, the brain reeling..." (p. 172). This seemed very descriptive for me and somewhat unnesassary but that is also how Screwtape's actions have been throughout the book. All in all I think that this book has had its ups and downs but was a pretty easy read. I do not know how I feel about it still in terms of recommending it to a friend, but maybe after reading some blogs on it they could tell for themselves.

Letter #25

The letter I chose to do for this week was letter 25. In this letter Screwtape does not like the patient's new friends because they are Christian. He obviously does not approve of this lifestyle and is upset with his decision to be friends with them. He feels that the patient will become fixated in this religion and he wants to distract him, if at all possible from this. Screwtape also talks about how he would be ok with Christianity as long as it was not followed, but casually looked upon like a trend of some sort. He also talks about how the nature of humans is to constantly want change and they are never satisfied with what they have. Although your religion is not supposed to really change once you have your beliefs, this is not the fact with the patient. I think it's interesting that Screwtape began to compare the religion of Christianity to a 'phase' or 'trend' because I do not believe it should be compared in that way by any means. I feel that he is doing this because he feels it is the only way to sway the patient's thoughts and/or feelings towards it.

Screwtape Latter #22

The letter I chose to do was letter 22. In this letter Screwtape seems to be upset with his nephew Wormwood. Wormwood's patient has fallen in love and Screwtape was not informed of any relationship occuring. Not only has Wormwood betrayed his uncle by not telling him about his patient's new love interest, he has also leaked some of their personal information to the police. Although Screwtape has to deal with this as well, he fixes it and focuses on the bigger picutre, the new girl in the patient's life. He is worried about this new relationship because the girl is a devout Christian which is the worst kind of girl for the patient in Screwtape's opinion. It was interesting to see the patient actually meet and fall for someone. It keeps your interest as to what is going to happen in the following letters with this new girl and how Screwtape will deal with it with his nephew.

Screwtape Letter # 20

The letter I chose to write about was letter 20. In this letter the patient is going through a very calm time in his life. He has resisted all temptation but has also learned that it goes away just as quickly as it comes. Screwtape tries to tell Wormwood to find the patient an unsuitable woman to marry without the emotional attachments. He also says a culture's taste in females is manipulated by the devil in the media. I think that this idea is to remove men from the reality of women through the media's manipulation. By doing this men are unable to love because of the unrealistic images they've received from the media and our culture today. Screwtape is fully aware of this manipulation and is using it to his advantage on the patient.

Screwtape #18

In this letter Screwtape talks about the subject of the sexual temptations. He tells the head of the Training College that he did not teach the students very well. Hethinks that they should be taught more on the subject so that they're not fiends. Although his tone is snobby toward the head of the college, Screwtape acts as though he likes him. When he talks about the subject of sexual temptation, he talks about there are only 2 extremes. You're either completely abstinent or extremely sexually active. According to the Bible, when a man and a womand have intercourse they are made into "one flesh" which is a bond that lasts forever. I found it interesting how much Screwtape touched on this one subject throughout the letter. He seems to be taking a lot of sins to elaborate his feelings toward on in each of the letters.

Screwtape Letter #12

In Letter 12, the letter deals with tempting a human away from Heaven in a subtle yet effective way. Although Wormwood is doing okay with it, Screwtape feels that he may be going too quickly for what will work. The patient's Christianity is slowly slipping away from him, but since he is still going to church he is unable to notice and/or even care what is happening before him. His faith begins to deterierate but the patient does not seem to notice. Because his faith is begininning to be lost, he is forgetting to pray and practice his faith which is leading him away from Christianity. The patient is now on his way to Hell and his progress could very well be interupted by a sin or a sudden awakening towards Heaven. Screwtape prefers this particular way to tempt the patient because he feels it is the most effective. Because the temptations are done so subtly the patient is converted without any knowledge of it. This kind of temptation is apparent in our world today. Many day to day ativities can have small, insignificant sins within them. We are not opened to them because of how small they are. This is similar to Screwtape's method with the patient to lure him slowly but surely away from Heaven to Hell.

Letter #7

In this letter,Wormwood begins to ask his uncle, Screwtape, for more insight about what he should do with his patient. He asks his uncle because he feels that he needs advice from an elder about his current situation. He was unsure if he should reveal himself to his patient or not. Screwtape tells his nephew that the 'devils' do not reveal themselves to humans. They have found out that by making people dibelieve is more useful than scaring people away. Screwtape then tries to consider what Wormwood should do in this circumstance. Wormwood must decide if he should make the patient a patriot or a pacisist. He then comes to the realization that it won't really matter. As long as the patient's thoughts about God are nonexistant then he feels his job is complete.

Screwtape Letter #4

After having read the first 3 letters, and the way that Screwtape writes, I feel that these letters were a little easier to comprehend. I still felt a little lost at times, but by reading the letters over again, I was able to pick up on the main points that the letters were trying to convey. The letter I chose to do was Letter #4. I tried to listen to Letter 5, but it didn't really do much help for me. In this letter Screwtape's tone to Wormwood is more angry and seems to speak in a cold sense. Wormwood is criticizing his methods and this does not make Screwtape very happy. The main method that Wormwood seems to be criticizing is Screwtape's method of prayer. Although Screwtape is not happy with Wormwood's criticism, he decides to deal with in a greater sense. He tells Wormwood to just not have his 'patient' prayer at all to solve all problems. Screwtape feels that if the 'patient' prays more freely, than he will not practice ANY concept of prayer. This is what Screwtape would ultimately want because than they would not want to go to heaven but rather to Hell with him. In his whole scheme of things, he is conniving in order to get exactly what he wants. In man y situations today I can see this corruption through authority as well. Just because they are ahead of you in their line of work than you feel that you must follow them, in whatever it may be, to succeed.

Screwtape Letters 1-3

After reading the first three chapters of the Screwtape letters, we are introduced to the 'Devil' Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood. It was a confusing read at first, but after reading it again you understand the way that Screwtape is trying to have his nephew encourage his patient away from Heaven and into Hell. However, when the patient wants to become a Christian Screwtape assures Wormwood that many people have been 'saved' from becoming Christians. He warns his nephew to tell the patient of the faults of being Christian to sway him from Heaven. Wormwood is then told by his uncle to cause conflict between the patient and the patient's mother. He also tries to find any little thing wrong with their relationship to sway him away and closer to the 'perks' of hell. I feel that it is too early in the reading to understand the true underlying conflict that the Devil is trying to convey to his nephew. I feel that Screwtape is so uneasy about the patient wanting to convert to Christianity is because they are able to indulge in the truth. Christians have the clarity of thought to cut through the devil’s ways in a straightforward way that is intimidating to him.