Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
This sentence holds the chapter's central trick: aim unkindness at the real people you meet daily and kindness at strangers far away, so the unkindness is real and the kindness is only pretend. Copying its balanced two-part shape teaches a young writer how a sentence can set 'near' against 'far' to make a point.
The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell someone what Screwtape's sixth letter says, in order. When you reach the part about sending kindness far away and meanness to the people nearby, slow down: what does Screwtape want the man to do, and what do you think about it?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape tells Wormwood to send the man's kindness far away to strangers and aim his meanness at the family and neighbours he sees every day. Why does Screwtape want kindness pointed at faraway people and meanness at the people nearby? Which detail in the letter helps you decide?
- Screwtape tells Wormwood the man's hatred of faraway enemies is 'melodramatic or mythical' and aimed at 'imaginary scapegoats,' but his malice toward the people nearby becomes 'wholly real.' Why is it worse to be unkind to a real person near you than to dislike a faraway stranger you have never met? How do you know, from what Screwtape says in the letter?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
An anxious feeling of not knowing what will happen.
Item 2
A feeling of worry or unease.
Item 3
The ability to wait calmly without getting upset.
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Critical Thinking
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