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Copywork
About This Passage
These two sentences model how a skilled writer builds a feeling and then releases it. The drumbeat of no... no... no piles up the dread of a slow death, then sheer, instantaneous liberation breaks it; the long list of horrors in the second sentence is swept away by next moment all this was gone. Copying it teaches anaphora, the semicolon, and the power of a sudden turn.
He got through so easily! No gradual misgivings, no doctor’s sentence, no nursing home, no operating theatre, no false hopes of life; sheer, instantaneous liberation. One moment it seemed to be all ou...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of this last letter: the man's death during the bombing, his sudden freedom, his meeting with the shining ones and the moment he beholds Heaven, and Screwtape turning on Wormwood. What were the most important moments, and how do you know they mattered most?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape is furious that the man 'got through so easily,' with 'no false hopes of life; sheer, instantaneous liberation.' Why do you think a sudden death made Screwtape angrier than a slow one would have? Use details from the letter to Wormwood to explain.
- All through these letters Screwtape has tried to pull the man away from the Enemy. How does this last letter change what we understand about that long struggle? Compare this ending with one earlier moment when Screwtape thought he still had the advantage, and explain what is clearer now. Use details from the letter to Wormwood.
+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
The act of being set completely free.
Item 2
An idea or picture in the mind of what something is like.
Item 3
The fact of being real and actually there.
+ 7 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 5 more questions in the complete study guide
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