Preview
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Reconstruct Screwtape's thirteenth letter in sequence, then identify the single conviction about reality and the self toward which it builds. How can you tell that the man's contact with the real, not merely his good mood, is what alarms Screwtape?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape calls the man's recovery 'a second conversion—and probably on a deeper level than the first,' a 'defeat of the first order.' Is the repentance dangerous to the devils chiefly because it reverses his direction or because it goes 'deeper than the first' — and why does Lewis stress one of these? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to defend your reading.
- Screwtape explains that Pains and Pleasures are 'unmistakably real' and so give 'a touchstone of reality,' which is why a real pleasure 'kills by contrast all the trumpery' of the World. Why does Lewis make direct contact with the real, rather than argument, the thing that exposes the World's counterfeits? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to develop your answer.
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Critical Thinking
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