Screwtape Letters and Lewis

By: Amy Stello

Lewis's stories have always been a part of my "literary" life. Since I was young, my parents always read the Narnia stories to me and my siblings right before bedtime. I always appreciated them, and a certain part of them stayed with me even while I read onto other novels a pre-teen girl reads.
During class, Dr. Redick mentioned Lewis's book The Screwtape Letters. After rereading so many of the Narnia books, I realized that I had forgotten all about this little gem of a book. After reviewing it a bit, I remembered how this book was a work of genius. I can see how The Screwtape Letters takes Lewis's philosophy to a whole new level.

The Narnia series are books filled with little truths on life. If you read quickly over the books, you may not experience the beautiful simplicity and ease with which Lewis presents truth to his readers, young and old. I feel that The Screwtape Letters takes these truths and adds into the story the complexity of human nature and how it relates to the spiritual realm. I do not think that I would have been able to understand the significance of such a book as a young child, only because the experiences which I held were so limited that they could not fully relate to the protagonist's life struggles.

That is the beauty within The Screwtape Letters. These show us the internal battles that each person confronts in day-to-day life. I would personally say that it is one of Lewis's best novels.