Chapter 26

Love, Love, Love-This letter made me a little upset because it discussed all of the negative aspects about Love. Although I have seen love go wrong throughout my life, I still am a firm believer in the idea of true Love. It is hard to hear that Screwtape uses Love to manipulate us. However, I do understand the concept of selfishness and how that it can affect Love in a very negative manner and cause much confusion in relationships. Love makes you feel good, therefore instead of being in a relationship with someone and yearn to be there for them you only desire the feel good aspects of the connection. Love shoud be about give and take, and if selfishness is apart of your relationship there is bound to be probelms. There we must surrend our love to God and allow him to guide us in our humanly relationships.

Chapter 22

I am so happy to hear that the patient has found a girl that he likes in Chapter 22! I believe companionship is very important in our life. The fact that Screwtape is so angry about him finding this type of girl makes it obvious that she must be a good person, and he realizes what this relationship could do for the patient. I also find it very humorous the way in which Screwtape describes her, he says “who looks as if she’d faint at the sight of blood and then dies with a smile.” I really like this quote because it sounds amazing to die with a smile, and it is obvious this is the type of thing that revokes Screwtape or the devil.
After discussing this new girl, Screwtape begins to criticize God calling him a fake. Screwtape is able to see that God’s people are still able to have pleasures, but he doesn’t understand. He does realize that everything has to be twisted for it to be any use to him. This is so true; to obtain pleasure from the devil things must be twisted and ruined. With God people are able to be happy with what they have and who they are, for they don’t have to change anything. Screwtape is fully aware of this problem, and his solution is noise. He knows the only way to steer people away from God is by distracting them with noise or unnecessary things. This is a very unique way of thinking about the devil and his works.

Wow! Chapter 20 nailed our society completely! When screwtape discusses how they trick men into falling in love with a certain type of women really seems to reflect men in society today. A lot of men seem to be attracted to this boyish figure that Screwtape describes- a figure that is almost completely unnatural for a woman's body to look like. Then Screwtape describes how women get caught up in this look too. Women today are trying to look like the Super Models on TV, but it is just not healthy or natural. Screwtape explains how photos of women in this perfect image are not real; they are tweaked. I never thought about this being the work of the devil, but now I see that it only could be him. The yearn for a perfect body or style tears people up inside, for they are trying to reach an impossible goal. If everyone just understood that this was merely the devil trying to trick us maybe both women and men would not fall for this trap.

Then Screwtape discusses mariage as a means of turning the patient away from God. This is so sad because God created marriage as a holy bond between a man and a woman, and the fact that the devil is using this against God is awful! However, I can see where men get tricked into falling in "love" with someone who is not right for them. Screwtape describes two types of love men yearn for with a woman- one being the natural love beween a husband and a wife with the perfect woman and the other being a brutal love. Screwtape explains that there can be problems with both types of love. The first could cause the man to not feel worthy of his own wife, and the other could cause a man to want power over his wife. I could see how both of these are dangerous; however I believe there is a happy medium between the two. Both men and women need to be fully aware of the type of person they are falling in love with and the type of relationship they are forming. I think love and marriage is a very serious matter, and if people do not know what they are getting into it could lead them to the hating themselves and their significant other.