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The Screwtape Letters

I recently had the opportunity to read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and I am delighted to have done so. Lewis has a particular way of writing that immerses one into his world and allows you to see your own from a new perspective by introducing you to a collection of interesting characters. There is a particular scene that Lewis paints within his story that I believe will stay with me for years to come. The scene goes along the line of this “Two men are walking down the street, one has dozens of demons snapping at his heels, trying to pull him in different directions, while the other man has one or two demons trailing him. Which man do you think is good? The man with the dozens of demons trailing him of course, the demons want fresh prey, they are attracted to the light of the good man.” This idea resonated with me because it provided a glance into the difficult life of good men. Men have many temptations with which to fall prey, yet very few are capable of persevering through it all unscathed. Enough of my rambling here is the review, The Screwtape Letters seem to be a jab at society by Lewis himself. He uses the correspondence between two demons who make their living by corrupting the human soul through various introductions of secular values. Throughout the back and forth conversation Lewis deftly targets society and their many downfalls which he attributes to the endless wiles of demons who attempt to drag their poor human victims along the path of damnation. The letters, are between an elder demon referred to as Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood. Screwtape throughout the story attempts to guide Wormwood in his endeavors to corrupt his first human. Screwtape and Wormwood discuss in detail the seven deadly sins and which one would be best to exploit at which time, during my reading this caused me to pause and contemplate my own shortcomings and luckily for me Lewis had solutions. These solutions, these personifications of the good in humanity are represented as obstacles for our protagonist Wormwood whom Screwtape manages to navigate the hopeless demon through. Yet for all their malignant ways, cunning, and experience they are unable to defeat the Enemy and his unexpected methods of coercion or as the demons would say manipulation. The end of the book is a speech given by Screwtape to the graduating class of the Tempters training college for young devils. In it he describes some of his exploits, the necessity of what these new graduates will be doing and most importantly it is Lewis’s way of showing how easily it is for the common man to fall prey when under the assault of such malignant beings. The Screwtape Letters are a magnificently constructed argument against what is wrong with society from the eyes of a Christian and still has relevancy in today's’ world. I don’t recommend this book for everyone, because books like The Screwtape Letters cause subjective examination and various other personal psychological assessments that may prove to be life changing. There is a saying “Ignorance is bliss.” And I believe it is true statement, this book will make one aware of their faults and if you are a person who wants to keep living a flawed existence then by all means refuse to read this book, but if you are an individual who wishes to grow intellectually, morally, and spiritually then this book should be on your list.

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