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Copywork
About This Passage
Here a devil accidentally tells us something wonderful. Screwtape is complaining, but listen to what his complaint admits: the devils cannot make a single bad thing of their own. Every good thing — food, sleep, play, music, love — was made good, and the devils can only spoil it, bending and 'twisting' it before it is 'any use' to them. That is why he grumbles that they 'fight under cruel disadvantages': nothing in the whole world is naturally on the bad side, because everything was made good first. Copying these two sentences helps a reader remember a hopeful truth — that good came first, and badness is only good things twisted.
Everything has to be twisted before it’s any use to us. We fight under cruel disadvantages.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell the story of Screwtape's twenty-second letter to Wormwood in your own words. Why is Screwtape so angry that the man has fallen in love and that the girl's house is full of love? How does he feel about noise, and about music and silence?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape grumbles that the Enemy 'has filled His world full of pleasures,' so the devils must 'twist' every good thing before they can use it. Why is it good news that the devils cannot make anything bad on their own, but can only spoil things that were first made good? Which detail in the letter to Wormwood helps you decide?
- Screwtape says the devils fill everything with 'Noise' and cries, 'Music and silence—how I detest them both!' Why would the devils want the world to be loud and noisy all the time, and what good things might a person miss when there is never any quiet? Name the detail in the letter to Wormwood that shows how the devils feel about silence.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Loud, harsh, or unwanted sound.
Item 2
Complete quiet; the absence of sound.
Item 3
Pleasant sounds arranged in a beautiful order.
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Critical Thinking
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