What Is The Turning Point In The Screwtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters is a book made up of letters sent from one demon named Screwtape to another demon named Wormwood. Wormwood is a tempter trying to coerce a human away from Christianity, and Screwtape, his uncle, is attempting to assist him in his work though letters of advice. The human Wormwood tries to tempt, called The Patient by Screwtape, does end up defeating Wormwood’s attempts to trick him and makes it to heaven. However, it was not an easy process, and it was filled with strife, and in some cases, failure. He converted, relapsed, then returned to Christianity, but his second conversion was very much different from his first. His second conversion marks a major turning point in the book, from the Patient being easily fooled, and

swayed, to becoming much more devout, determined, and grounded, even in an environment where bombs rain from the sky everyday. There are many factors attributing to the Patient’s change, and why it lead him down the path to heaven. His undulation was to strengthen and reaffirm his bonds with Christ, him being true to his self and pleasures was a good thing, and all of this is relevant for the real world, being that despite what comes, one should always remain who they are, and they will come out stronger for it.
The key factor in the Patient’s change and glorious second conversion was undulation. Undulation is, to put it simply, change. It is being passionate about something, then losing interest in it later. Human beings are very much prone to this, ranging from physical stature and size, to ideas, preferences, and dislikes. Despite the fact that human beings are prone to undulation, a human’s spirit is not. Thus, despite how much humans change, humans are still who they are. This permits humans to change, yet still be who they are. For example, a 5 inch tomato plant that grows 5 more inches is still a tomato plant. It is stronger and taller, yet it is still a tomato plant. In the same way, humans can become stronger, or different, yet still be the same. However, change can be positive, and negative. Humans can experience tough times, difficult trials, and times of dullness. Even so, tough times can be very constructive. In the Patient’s case, his first conversion to Christianity was filled with misconceptions and confusion about the nature of the Church and Christ. Thus, his first conversion was, to say the least, rather weak. However, in the end, a rough start is still a start. Through his struggles and failures, he learned what a real relationship with God was truly like. It wasn't a easy ride through life, or a endless pool of misery and struggle. It was full of ups and downs, times of rests and trials. Once the Patient realized this, his over exaggerated expectations of christianity were immediately removed. A good example of this is evident in chapter 14 (pg 69), where Screwtape writes, “No more lavish promises of perpetual virtue, I gather, not even the expectation of an endowment of grace for life, but only a hope for the daily and hourly pittance to meet the daily and hourly temptation!” The Patient learned that even in a spiritual low, he needed to push through, and focus on the now, because he knew that was all he could do, and bad circumstances would not remain that way forever.
Humans were originally created in the image of God, and thus were good. However, since Adam and Eve sinned, man was corrupted. Man is no longer pure, but that does not mean man is fully and intrinsically evil. They were corrupted, but they still hold good within them. Good can exist on it’s own, but evil cannot. This is because evil is a perversion of good. At its core, evil stems from good, and thus, nothing can be purely evil. This means at the core of any human’s being, there is good. That means being one’s true self is good, and activities one enjoys that are free of perversions is also good. These activities, or Positive pleasures are things one enjoys for what they are, and it does not dominate their life or harm them in any way. Their purpose is to allow the participant to enjoy them self. It is not to fit in, or please someone else, but to purely entertain and provide relief. Positive pleasures are powerful, so much so that while the Patient was enjoying them, Wormwood had no influence over his life. Positive pleasures are so powerful that Screwtape warns Wormwood of them, writing that they, “-give a man who feels them a touchstone of reality,” Wormwood and Screwtape work off of misconceptions, half truths, and fake pleasures the entire book. Anything able to threaten those methods could completely remove what chance they have of dragging the Patient to Hell. That threat is having a moment of clarity, or in other words, a “touchstone” of reality. Having a “touchstone” of reality allows a person, or in this case the Patient, to discern what matters in life, and get a perspective on what and actually enjoying one’s self is. Thus, if Patient knows them self, and what they enjoy, then Wormwood could not deceive them that way, and loses power over that part of their life.
The demons in The Screwtape Letters work in many evil ways, but all of them will stem from good intentions.

There is nothing wrong about wanting something, but using theft to get it is not acceptable. In the same way, they corrupt pure intentions and wants by suggesting they be satisfied by forbidden or selfish means. Screwtape writes to Wormwood exactly how he achieves this corruption of pure intentions and pleasures. He writes,”All we can do is encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden.” (pg 44) Thus, these otherwise innocent pleasures and intentions become twisted and wrong through their meddling. All the while, Screwtape tries to fool humans into thinking these are the only pleasures, and that only through those pleasures humans will find happiness. Through this, he fools many and enslaves even more to unfulfilling habits and harmful lifestyles that centralize upon only getting more. Screwtape admits he uses this strategy, writing, “An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.” However, there is a key flaw in Screwtape’s plan. Positive pleasures are superior to corrupted pleasures in every way. They entertain, relax, and refocus the participant. This purity in positive pleasures allow the Patient to see past Wormwood’s lies, and reveal Wormwood’s “pleasures” for what they are,

fake.
In conclusion, Screwtape wishes to draw humans away from who they are and aims to make them something they are not.

This information is relevant despite what time period it is. Far to many times, people change themselves to be the “right” person, to like the “fashionable” things, and to fit in, but this is all wrong. God has given humans wonderful traits, skills and virtues inside of them, yet far too many are deceived into being obsessed with something they do not have. Throughout the entire book, Screwtape tried to coax the Patient into being someone else. If the Patient had fallen for it, his life would only end in disappointment, disillusionment, and failure. For example, if a random person with no acting skill wished to be the Doctor from Doctor Who, they would most likely fail. There would be disappointment from that failure, of course, but extend that analogy to someone’s entire life. It would be nothing but an endless attempt to become something unattainable and unachievable, ending in only despair. That is what Screwtape was aiming for, but that does not only apply to the world of The Screwtape Letters. Satan himself seeks to kill, steal, and destroy, and draining a person’s life of meaning would destroy them. Through the undulations and changes in a person’s life, Satan seeks to pull them away from who they are, and through fake pleasures he ties them to harmful habits and lives. These attempts are visible in 2018, and sadly, they have lead many astray, and more

into Hell. Understanding that changes will occur and can strengthen us, fake pleasures will not lead anywhere but endless desire, and that who humans are, as images of God, are good will allow many souls to see past Satan’s lies and scorn him. After all, the best way to drive out the devil is “to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn”.