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Copywork
About This Passage
Here Screwtape gives away what humility is really for: not to make a person miserable about himself, but to 'turn the man's attention away from self' — toward the Enemy and toward the people around him. Copying this sentence shows how one clear line can capture the whole point of a virtue: humility is a turning of attention, not a gloomy opinion of yourself.
By this virtue, as by all the others, our Enemy wants to turn the man’s attention away from self to Him, and to the man’s neighbours.
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell the story of Screwtape's fourteenth letter to Wormwood in your own words. What is real humility, and what tricks does Screwtape use to twist it or fake it?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape says the Enemy wants humility to make a man look 'away from self' toward others, but Screwtape also wants the man to keep noticing how humble he is. Which of these two — looking away from yourself, or watching your own humility — seems safer for the man, and why? Which detail in the letter to Wormwood helps you decide?
- Screwtape wants Wormwood to make the man notice — 'By jove! I'm being humble' — so that 'pride at his own humility' will appear. Why does noticing your own goodness, and feeling proud of it, spoil it? How do you know, from what Screwtape says in the letter to Wormwood?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Not proud; not thinking too much of yourself.
Item 2
A good quality or right way of acting.
Item 3
A high opinion of yourself; thinking you are better.
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Critical Thinking
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