Preview
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Reconstruct Screwtape's seventeenth letter to Wormwood in sequence — his defense of gluttony, the kind he prizes, the old woman who embodies it, the male version, and his deepest counsel. Then name the central conviction: that gluttony's danger is a self-will masquerading as restraint, which the devils conceal by attaching it to a flattering self-image.
Discussion Questions
- Lewis could have simply condemned greed. Instead he has Screwtape prize 'gluttony of Delicacy' — fussiness — above 'gluttony of Excess.' What makes fussiness easy to excuse as harmless or even refined, and why does Screwtape value it more highly than plain overeating? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to defend your reading.
- The old woman is certain she 'is practising temperance' at the very moment she indulges her appetite. What allows a person to honestly mistake a vice for the opposite virtue, and why does that disguise make the fault nearly impossible to repent of? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to develop your answer.
+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 7 more questions in the complete study guide
Get the complete study guide — free
Sign up and get your first book with every chapter included. Copywork, discussion questions, vocabulary, and critical thinking.
Sign up free