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Copywork
About This Passage
In one balanced sentence Screwtape draws the whole difference between the two sides. The devils want 'cattle' to consume; the Enemy wants 'sons' who grow up free. Copying it shows how a writer can set two opposite goals side by side, using the same shape ('We want... He wants...') to make the contrast land.
We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of Screwtape's eighth letter to Wormwood. What is the 'law of Undulation,' and how can you tell Screwtape is worried, not pleased, by the man's dull period?
Discussion Questions
- Screwtape scolds Wormwood for not knowing 'the law of Undulation,' explaining that humans are 'amphibians—half spirit and half animal' whose moods rise and fall in 'troughs and peaks.' Why does Screwtape insist the man's 'dryness and dullness' is 'a natural phenomenon' and not Wormwood's 'workmanship'? Point to how Screwtape describes the cause of the ups and downs.
- Screwtape reveals that the Enemy 'relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks,' and that 'some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else.' Why would the Enemy value a person's hard, dry times more than their happy ones? Use Screwtape's words to Wormwood to explain.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Creatures that belong to two worlds at once.
Item 2
Lasting forever; outside of time.
Item 3
Staying steady and unchanging.
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Critical Thinking
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