The prominent theme of The Screwtape Letters concerned a demon in training trying to corrupt his first soul. The story was written from the point of view of the demon's mentor who was also his uncle. As the story progressed the reader was able to appreciate the difficulties a demon might realize in trying to corrupt an individual. Screwtape, the demon’s uncle, throughout the book, constantly needed to reassure Wormwood, the demon trying to capture his first soul, that the best path to corrupting a soul was to do it gradually and not by rushing in by tempting the Patient with every sin at any moment. It shows that it is tough work for demons to corrupt a soul and that they need to require a lot of patience in order to get the job done correctly. A demons primary job is to corrupt souls and have them sent to Hell. If a demon is successful in capturing a soul than they will be rewarded by the devil and promoted. However, if they fail at their assignment and do not bring the soul to the devil than punishment can be severe. Wormwood, who is an amateur tempter, doesn’t focus on the real things that one needs to corrupt a soul. Wormwood’s focus is diverted from his primary job of bringing souls to Hell and instead is distracted by the war. Wormwood falsely assumes that the war will provide easy pickings in finding souls that have been corrupted. His mentor tries to educate Wormwood that war is not the key to corrupting a soul that it is in fact everyday sins that cause the corruption.
One of the themes of the book is that human’s by nature are good, and destined for heaven. God provides humans a free choice in making their life decisions. The devil, on the other hand, must actively control the situation to cause corruption to take place. In the book it is clear that The Enemy, which is God, allows his followers to create their own path and make their own decisions and does not need to coach how his followers should live, while with the demons they constantly need to persuade or push their patients to make, in the demon’s eyes, the decisions required to corrupt their souls. If the demons slack off for just a little while and allow their patients to make their own decisions they will by their nature do good as opposed to evil.
C.S. Lewis writes his story from a Christian point of view. He has a positive view on humanity, and feels when given a choice people will normally do the right thing. Writing this story from a demon’s point of view was extremely interesting, and certainly unusual. A reader could feel sorry for Wormwood, even though he was a demon. At the end of the story the reader was left with the impression that something terrible was going to happen to him because he failed in his assignment. Screwtape is almost joyful in anticipating the punishment that is going to be handed down to Wormwood from the devil. (518 words)
Ashley--I think Lewis's strong Christian faith often comes out in his writing. The Lion in the first Narnia book, for example, has a lot in common with Jesus. And this one is no exception. I especially like what you say about his idealism, the idea that humans can choose to follow the path to goodness, and that he found a really original way to get that idea across. Thanks for a good first entry.
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