Review #12: "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis

Favorite Quotes:

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them." -page IX

"It occurs when lovers have got married and begin the real task of learning to live together. In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing." -page 7

"It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out." -page 16

"There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy." 

-page 25

"One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth." -page 38

"All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be." -page 50

"Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts," -page 61

"We have trained them to think of the Future as a promise land which favoured heroes attain--not as something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is," -page 139

"Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that the he is 'finding his place in it', while really it is finding its place in him." -page 155

"No man who says I'm as good as you believes it. He would not say it if he did." -page 198

"Nowhere do we tempt so successfully as on the very steps of the altar." -page 209

{Please excuse the million quotes...it was just that good!}

About the Main Character:

The subject of Screwtape's letters is known as "the patient." He is a mere mortal man who Wormwood {Screwtape's nephew} has been assigned to turn to the dark ways of the world. The letters narrate his progression from sinner to saint to his great temptation to his eventual end...and no, I won't be telling you if his demon is successful in tempting him :)

"The patient" is arguably not the main character of this book as Screwtape is the narrator, but I identify him as the main character because he is who Lewis wants us to identify with. He is man {or woman} caught in the depths of temptation and deciding what kind of life he would lead. He goes through a broad spectrum of life experiences and in the process Lewis gives his audience the perspective of the demons who try to tempt him at each turn. 

Another Character to Note:

Screwtape is the narrator of the "Letters" and acts as a mentor of sorts to his nephew Wormwood as he attempts to tempt and turn the soul of "the patient" to the ways of who he refers to as "Our Father Below"...or Satan. Screwtape is to be considered a master devil and gives wisdom to Wormwood in the form of letters as he navigates the different settings the life of "the patient" throws him. Lewis is masterful at taking an ordinary occurrence in human life and dissecting it according to how a devil would manipulate it in their favor. It's equal parts enticing and terrifying.

Plot Breakdown:

At the end of my copy of The Screwtape Letters is the addition of "Screwtape Proposes a Toast." There is to the "Toast" that is written by someone who simply signs as J.E.G. In this preface the author states that, "Screwtape's whites are our blacks and whatever he welcomes we should dread" (page 180). This heavy handed irony of the novel is hard to adjust to at first. The devils successes are naturally what the normal human would call failures, but the writing is so convincing and enthralling that it takes a few chapters to adjust. 

Yet, once you're acclimated to the Screwtape setting, the novel doesn't disappoint!

  This book doesn't really lend itself to a list breakdown, but I will attempt it anyway...

1. The Patient Becomes a Christian and the Manipulation of the Mother

2. The Improper Way to Pray and the Effect of War on the Soul

3.  The Hiding of the Demons and the Warning to Not Be Complacent

4. The Influence of Friends and the Slow, Steady Road to Hell

5. Restricting Pleasure and the Vice of Humility

6. Confusion by Many Congregations

7. Love, Chastity, and Sexual Temptation

8. A Woman and the Importance of Attacking Her Soul

9.   The Corruption of Courtship and Love as a Distraction

10. The Outcome of Wormwood's Efforts

11. Screwtape's Toast {Possibly my favorite part!}

Something Interesting to Note:

I think the section of this novel that caught my attention the most was the segment on democracy in the "Toast." Without going too far into it, Lewis addresses how democracy results in mediocrity because of the "togetherness" is demands. There is a vivid metaphor involving some corn that really caused an "Ah-ha" moment for me. I'm not saying these paragraphs changed my political views or anything, but it definitely got me thinking. 

Also, C.S. Lewis dedicated this book to J.R.R. Tolkien. 

Should you read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis?

Yes! This was my first C.S. Lewis and it most certainly will not be the last! This novel made me more conscious of my everyday decisions and what is influencing me. Is my desire to do or have something coming from the right place? For anyone interested in the worth and well-being of a soul...I highly recommend this novel!