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Copywork
About This Passage
Here Screwtape names the exact trick that makes 'gluttony of Delicacy' so hard to catch. Because the old woman asks for less than she is offered, she reads her own demanding as the opposite of greed — and so, copying this, you can watch a fault disguise itself as a virtue. Notice Lewis's sharpest stroke: 'at the very moment of indulging her appetite she believes that she is practising temperance.' Copying these two sentences trains a writer to hold two opposite ideas — indulgence and self-control — in one breath, which is exactly how the deception works.
Because what she wants is smaller and less costly than what has been set before her, she never recognises as gluttony her determination to get what she wants, however troublesome it may be to others. ...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of Screwtape's seventeenth letter to Wormwood. What kind of gluttony does he prize most, and how does the old woman, his prize example, show it without ever noticing?
Discussion Questions
- Lewis could have simply warned against greed. Instead he has Screwtape boast about 'gluttony of Delicacy' — fussiness — which he prizes above plain overeating. What might make people dismiss fussiness as harmless or even refined, and why does Screwtape value it so highly? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to defend your reading.
- The old woman asks for only 'a cup of tea properly made,' yet 'at the very moment of indulging her appetite she believes that she is practising temperance.' What lets her honestly mistake her demanding for self-control, and why is a fault you cannot see more dangerous than one you can? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to develop your answer.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
The fault of being greedy about food and drink.
Item 2
Fussy refinement; being very particular about small pleasures.
Item 3
Self-control, especially about food, drink, and pleasure.
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Critical Thinking
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