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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Reconstruct Screwtape's eighteenth letter to Wormwood in sequence — the philosophy of Hell, the Enemy's opposite philosophy, the organism and family, and the parody of love taught in marriage's place. Then name the central conviction: that reality at its root is loving communion, which Hell can only deny, parody, or invert.
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape rests the whole 'philosophy of Hell' on the axiom that '"to be" means "to be in competition."' What makes this competitive account of existence sound hard-headed and even scientific, and what does the Enemy's organism, whose parts 'cooperate,' reveal that the account cannot explain? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to defend your reading.
- Screwtape admits the romantic idea of 'being in love' is 'our parody of an idea that came from the Enemy,' the same counterfeiting move by which an earlier letter dressed pride as humility. Why do the devils so often prefer forging a fake of a good thing to attacking it outright, and how does a convincing parody do its work? Use details from this letter and the earlier one to Wormwood to develop your answer.
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Critical Thinking
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