Conflict in the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Action and reaction are the very threads that make up the fabric of our universe, conflicting forces that wage war against each other in hopes of gaining the upper hand and overcoming the other. Virtue versus desire, faith versus logic, tradition versus change, light versus darkness, (Republicans versus Democrats,) and good versus evil-all opposing facets of their respective fields that switch off control in a never-ending dance of push and pull.

We witness one of these never-ending dances first hand in C.S. Lewis' novel, The Screwtape Letters, as a high-ranked demon named Screwtape advises his naïve and inexperienced nephew on the best methods to use in corrupting his assigned ?Patient? and preventing the ?Enemy? from gaining the ?Patient? for himself. But though it may come from the evil perspective of an expert demon, the piece is really a reflection of the internal struggle in humans between good and evil, Lord and Satan, on a small, subtle, and discreet level. The conflict portrayed in this novel addresses the everyday sins and mindsets that more often than not lead to the downfall of a seemingly good and righteous person (unlike the focus on absolute evils such as outright dishonesty and murder common in other works on morality). The main character?s struggle plays out this idea that it is the little things a person does that have the biggest impact in his or her life, an idea that can be applied not only to the salvation of our spiritual immortality, but also to the value of our mortal lives as well.

We learn from Screwtape?s many letters of advice to his nephew Wormwood (thirty-one letters to be exact) the many strategies that evil spirits and demons employ in order to secure human spiritual morality. Contrary...

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...dentify our mistakes and learn from them in order for us to reap any benefit from those mistakes, unfortunately for us it is the small mistakes that are the most dangerous and the hardest to identify and correct. Lucky for us, Screwtape didn?t do a very good job of hiding his letters to his nephew because it means less work for us and more trouble for all demon-kind. ?It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one?the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,?

Your affectionate uncle

Screwtape (Lewis 60-61).

Cited Sources

?Lewis, Clive S. The Screwtape Letters. San Francisco: HarperCollins, Inc., 2001.