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Copywork
About This Passage
Here Screwtape states the cold logic behind the whole letter: the devils do not care how big or small a sin is, only which way it points a life. What matters is the 'cumulative effect' — the slow adding-up of tiny choices that edges a man 'away from the Light and out into the Nothing.' Copying this sentence shows a writer how an argument can dismiss the obvious measure (size) and fix attention on the real one (direction).
It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of Screwtape's twelfth letter to Wormwood. How does Screwtape want the man to drift slowly away, and why does he prefer a slow road to a sudden one?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape fears most that the man might 'awaken... to a sense of his real position.' He must believe his choices are 'trivial and revocable,' never suspecting he is 'heading right away from the sun.' Why does the devil's whole plan depend on the man not realizing what is happening to him? Point to how Screwtape's letter to Wormwood describes the man's hidden change of course.
- Screwtape is 'almost glad' the man is 'still a churchgoer,' because keeping the outward 'habits of a Christian' lets him think his 'spiritual state is much the same.' Why is it useful to the devils for the man to keep his old religious habits while drifting inside? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to explain.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Able to be undone or taken back.
Item 2
Real sorrow for wrong that leads to turning back.
Item 3
An unwillingness; a holding back from something.
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Critical Thinking
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