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Copywork
About This Passage
Here Screwtape gives away one of Hell's quietest tricks. The fashions everyone is told to admire do not just happen on their own — the devils choose them on purpose, working through a small group of 'popular artists, dressmakers, actresses and advertisers.' Copying this sentence helps a reader notice something important: the styles we are shown are made by someone, for a reason, so we do not have to follow them. We can stop and ask whether we truly like a thing, or whether we have only been told to.
This they do by working through the small circle of popular artists, dressmakers, actresses and advertisers who determine the fashionable type.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell the story of Screwtape's twentieth letter to Wormwood in your own words. How do the devils try to control what people think is beautiful, and why do they keep changing the fashion?
Discussion Questions
- The devils use 'popular artists' and advertisers to decide the fashion everyone is told to admire. Why might people be tempted to follow whatever fashion they are shown, and what is lost when you stop trusting your own real likings? Which detail in the letter to Wormwood helps you decide?
- Screwtape says the popular pictures are 'all a fake' and 'falsely drawn,' yet people are told this is being 'frank' and 'healthy.' Is it better to admire what is real, or to chase a fake that only looks good — and why? Name the detail in the letter to Wormwood that shows the pictures are fake.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
The style that is popular right now, which keeps changing.
Item 2
Too much pride in how you look or what others think of you.
Item 3
Not real; made to look like something it is not.
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Critical Thinking
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