Screwtape Letters

I just finished my literature book, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Great book- READ IT! Anyway, the premise is that a devil is giving advice to his nephew, a "tempter" devil whose job it is to keep his "patient" from Heaven. It takes a bit to read, not because it is difficult (and C.S. Lewis writes brilliantly, just as if he were sitting down next to you and telling you a story while drinking hot chocolate) but because you have to turn everything around in your mind because it is told from the demons' point of view. Which is very fragile. One of my favorite bits of the book is when Screwtape, the one writing the letters, tells Wormwood, his nephew, that he should not try to reason with the patient. "The trouble about argument," he says, "is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy's ground". By the "Enemy", he means God. I am a big fan of fides et ratio which is Latin for faith and reason. I specially love it when religious books are written so that they make sense and are not just telling you stuff without saying why. C.S.Lewis is great at that (especially in Mere Christianity), and so is G.K Chesterton and probably hundreds and hundreds of others. Speaking of Latin phrases, I also really like two others: Miles Christi sum (I am a soldier of Christ) and Perecundum est Catholicum esse (It's cool to be Catholic). Oh, and I also like "Draco dormiens nunquam titiliandus"- Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon. It's the motto of Hogwarts. Right now I am finishing the Space Trilogy By C.S. Lewis. I started That Hideous Strength two days ago, and am about halfways through it.
And, for those few of you who would read it, here is my rather dull book report on The Screwtape Letters, but it hasn't been proofread or anything yet, so pardon me if it's not so great.

Literature, Screwtape Letters Book Report

Title: The Screwtape Letters (with “Screwtape Proposes a Toast”)

Author: C.S. Lewis

Publisher: Harper One A Division of HarperCollins Publishers

Setting: Letters between a devil and his nephew devil, who is on Earth

Number of pages: 133

Screwtape is a devil who works at the Tempters’ Training College for young Devils. He keeps a correspondence with his nephew Wormwood. Wormwood is the Tempter of a young man, who they refer to as “the patient”. It is Wormwood’s job to bring “the patient” to Hell, but he is so inept at it that Screwtape must constantly tell him what to do to tempt the man into sin.

Reading this book can sometimes be a little scary; for you hear everything from the devil’s point of view. You must always think the opposite of Screwtape says, for his main goal is to send humans to Hell where he and the other fallen angels feast on their sufferings. Yet the message is very clear- Screwtape tells everything to Wormwood so plainly that many of the devils’ attacks are revealed. One of the greatest attacks that the devils make is to muddle up and confuse a person’s thoughts and feelings (all the while, of course, having them think that this is perfectly normal) so that they are blind to the true words of God. Screwtape constantly tells his nephew that humans must never “use argument and logic” against his attacks, for “the Enemy” (God) can always outreason them. This means quite a lot for me, because it tells you that the devils cannot be right. By faith and reason, we can come to the core of the whole matter. Reason puts us on God’s territory, for He made our minds and He created reason. We must simply shut our minds and hearts to the purposefully misleading whispers of evil and listen to His word.

Another one of the devils’ greatest attacks is the use of pride. Screwtape explains that Wormwood can use pride so that the “patient” feels himself above learning from others. The man could come to take pride in anything- his newfound Christian faith, his talents, even his acquaintances. But, Screwtape says, the man must come to look down at everyone else and consider him above them and what they have to teach him.

Another interesting fact that the letters reveal is that the devils encourage the opposite of Charity, what Screwtape pens as “Unselfishness”. This “Unselfishness” is really the sort of “self-righteousness” in which one seeks to make themselves feel more important by doing the opposite of what they really want. However, they not only do the opposite of what they really want, they do the opposite of what everyone (excepting the devil) wants. They are really practicing a self-righteous resentfulness.

This book opens up many of the tricks that the devil is up to and leaves you with a better knowledge of how to defend yourself. Our ultimate goal, quite unlike Screwtape’s, is to overcome these temptations and to send away the devil in defeat. And we do that by conquering little things: a bit of pride, irritability, purposeful ignorance, etc. With each little battle we win a larger part of the larger battle, and in this way we can escape the clutches of the devil and enter into the Heavenly Kingdom where all is good, pure, and true.