Use Of Wormwood In C. S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters

According to an article by Larry D. Harwood , “Lewis’s Screwtape Letters: the Ascetic Devil and Aesthetic God”, he states The Screwtape Letters portrays Lewis’s evil character and the principles of the “realism, dignity, and austerity of Hell” (2004). “In The Screwtape Letters Lewis portrays God as a lavish materialist affirming delight in a sensual as a part of being human. Lewis depicts the pleasures of sense...To Screwtape it appears that God took a gamble that not only makes little sense, but also appears to have come with costs to himself.” (Harwood, 2004). According to the article “Lewis's Screwtape Letters: the Ascetic Devil and the Aesthetic God” the mood of The Screwtape Letters is dusty, gritty as Lewis depicts Hell, due to the tone

“ Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees.”

A certain convocation/of politic worms are e’en at him. Your worm is your only emperor/for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for/maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service,/tow dishes, but to one table; that’s the end.” (4.3.19-23)

In chapter nine, Lewis begins his expedition journal writing. The Lewis journals were described as “America’s literary treasures” (108). The journals own this title because they were actual recordings of real American history. Containing great and precise details, Lewis’s writings had the ability to put readers in the in the mist of discovery. In addition, “He was a faithful recorder of flora and fauna, weather, the difficulties of getting down the river, unusual occurrences, people encountered.”

The patient would also think of himself better than his friends because he himself goes to church. For a while, the tactics of Wormwood seemed to be effective until the hike where the patient would reconnect himself to the Lord. The third and final reason why The ScrewTape Letters does in fact give good applicable insight into the tactics of the devil is because of how it displays the lies and fear in his everyday life that affects the patient. Through the story, we can see how Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood used the greatest tactic of fear to manipulate the patient for their own interest. We can see that they used fear to manipulate the patient through the draft of World War Two.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a set of letters written by the demon Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood is relatively new at being a demon and throughout the letters, Screwtape both responds to the letters that Wormwood sends him and provides Wormwood with advice about how best to tempt the man Wormwood is in charge of away from the Enemy, God. Although Lewis only gives the reader one side of this correspondence between uncle and nephew, Screwtape’s response at the beginning of each letter is usually enough to understand what Wormwood’s letter contained. It appears as if Wormwood had only recently become a Tempter as opposed to his uncle, Screwtape, who had surpassed the role of Tempter and now occupied an administrative role.

Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, is about a missionary family, the Prices, who move from Bethlehem, Georgia to a small village in the Congo. They choose to move during a time when there is great upheaval about to happen in the region. The reader learns about their trials and tribulations of life in the Congo through the five Price females, who talk about the events from their own the points of view. In the beginning, I thought I would not like this book; however I found that I had a hard time putting it down and ended up finishing the book quickly. There were many things Kingsolver did to make this book so appealing. From her use of dialogue and imagery, with such different character personalities, set in a historical time which gave this piece of fiction a hint of authenticity, to her underlying theme of human nature, both good and bad. It is all of these things combined which make The Poisonwood Bible a highly recommended book to read.

In The Poisonwood Bible, the novel opens with a narrative instruction, and it has an effect on the reader in one main way. The directive is meant to make the reader put him/herself in the setting of the story, and read it as if you are in the novel. In the opening paragraph, it tells us, “I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees,” which is telling the reader to read the novel as if you are there (Kingsolver 5). This suggests about the novel that the Price family is going to do missionary work in Africa, and there are going to be events that occur to show what happens when they go to Africa. When Orleanna continues her narration, the “you” that she is speaking to appears to be the God that she believes in. Orleanna states, “Your bright eyes bear down on me without cease,” which shows that she is talking to someone from above (Kingsolver 7). The great disasters that Orleanna alludes is when her and her family do missionary work in Africa. The reason why she is telling the story looking back on Africa and the girls tell it as if it is happening is because they both have different perspectives on the whole situation. Orleanna is talking about something that she has experienced while she was in Africa, and the girls talk about stuff that happens in their everyday lives. Orleanna is talking about the whole trip at one time, while the girls take it step by step.

Love is a very impactful thing. The fact that the Patient has great love for his mother stands out as a problem for Wormwood and Screwtape. These two accomplices believe that if they strip the patient of all sources of love that he will turn away from God. Wormwood is provided with a list filled with details on how he can turn the patient’s love into anger and annoyance towards his mother. One way that they attempt to do this is by distorting the patient’s prayers into prayers

Wormwood is when someone is in a state of bitterness or grief. Someone who is wormwood usually gets offended quickly to anything and holds onto it for awhile. Wormwood is also a type of herb that has a bitter, aromatic taste. In the Bible, Wormwood is a star mentioned in the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelations, God gave the seven angels that stood before Him trumpets to blow their mighty blasts unto the earth, “The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned.Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the water in the sea became blood, one-third of all things living in the sea died, and one-third of all the ships on the sea were destroyed.” (Revelations 8:7-9). These verses show that the angels only targeted one-third of the earth. In the next verse the third angel sent a star towards one-third of the earth’s water.

Biblical allusion during the Romantic Age was not uncommon. Because Biblical images and references were in the minds of most Romantic readers, a poet would often use this strategy to contextualize an assertion being made. Wordsworth is no different. However, the level to which he uses this technique within his poetry fluctuates. The Ruined Cottage only contains two obvious examples, while Michael is rich with Biblical imagery and allusion. Because of this difference, the Biblical allusion within the two poems will be discussed within three categories—those which are concerned with a connection to nature, those which inspire the hope of salvation, and those which deal with the creation and deterioration of covenants.

As a simile, Frost compares the birds singing “(thrush music…)” to the invitation, per say, “to the dark and lament” (16), in which he refers to death.

In a desperate attempt to kill Gandalf, Wormtongue through a stone out of the tower, but it fails to hit its mark. The stone, proving to be one of the seeing stones, lures Pippin to look into it revealing himself and forcing the company to

William Blake was a painter, engraver and poet of the Romantic era, who lived and worked in London. Many of Blake’s famous poems reside in his published collection of poems titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience. This collection portrays the two different states of the human soul, good and evil. Many poems in the Songs of Innocence have a counterpart poem in the Songs of Experience. The poem “A Poison Tree” is found in the Songs of Experience and it delves into the mind of man tainted with sin and corruption that comes with experience. In a simple and creative style, the religious theology of the Fall of Man is brought to life. The poem tells the story of how man fell from a state of innocence to impurity, focusing on the harmful repercussions of suppressed anger. Blake utilities many literary devices to successfully characterizes anger as an antagonist with taunting power.

        Next comes the threat of punishment if she happens to continue down her dark path of stubborn unwillingness to engage with him. Suddenly the desert is before them and beauty is gone forever.  The life giving and symbolic water is gone.  She's dead and the worms are her only company.  These worms are symbolic of two different ideas. First they are phallic in shape and do stand as phallic symbols.  They are also another cyclical representation of time, in that they are part of the cycle that will break her body down into soil, feed the trees, feed an animal, etc.  So he tries scare her and to force her into the decision to seize the day.