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Copywork
About This Passage
Screwtape lets slip a tender picture of the Enemy: like a parent teaching a child to walk, He lets go of the hand on purpose, so the person can take real steps alone. Copying this gentle sentence shows how one homely image can explain why hard, lonely days might be good for us.
He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell the story of Screwtape's eighth letter to Wormwood in your own words. What does Screwtape say about people's up days and down days, and why is he worried instead of happy about the man's dull, dry feeling?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape tells Wormwood that people naturally have up times and down times, which he calls 'troughs and peaks,' so the man's dull feeling is normal and not Wormwood's doing. Why does Screwtape remind Wormwood that the man's 'dryness and dullness' is just a natural thing? Which detail in the letter to Wormwood helps you decide?
- Screwtape is annoyed that the Enemy actually likes the down times, the 'troughs,' even more than the happy 'peaks.' Why would the Enemy be glad when a person keeps trying to be good even on a hard, dry day? How do you know, from what Screwtape says in the letter to Wormwood?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
The part of a person that is not the body; the soul.
Item 2
A living creature with a body, like the body part of a person.
Item 3
To become different over time.
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Critical Thinking
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