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Copywork
About This Passage
Screwtape's bitter irony names a real kindness a 'pernicious habit of charity' and lists exactly where it grows: 'his mother, his employer, and the man he meets in the train.' The contrast between loud, distant hatred and quiet, near goodness teaches a young writer how a sentence can weigh the abstract against the concrete, and how naming ordinary people makes a point land.
There is no good at all in inflaming his hatred of Germans if, at the same time, a pernicious habit of charity is growing up between him and his mother, his employer, and the man he meets in the train...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of Screwtape's sixth letter. What are the most important moves he makes to misdirect the man's feelings, and how do you know they are the ones that matter most?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape tells Wormwood that the Enemy 'wants men to be concerned with what they do,' while the devils' business 'is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.' Why is the difference between doing and worrying so important to Screwtape, and what does it reveal about where real life is lived? Point to how he describes the difference.
- Screwtape wants the man's malice aimed at his real neighbours and his kindness 'thrust out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know.' Why is it a defeat for the devils when a person is kind to the difficult people right in front of them? Use evidence from Screwtape's letter to Wormwood to defend your answer.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Courage and strength to face pain or trouble.
Item 2
To accept or yield to a power or authority.
Item 3
Eager to get revenge; spiteful.
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Critical Thinking
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