Idolatry In C. S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters

Decent Essays
WORK AS THE ULITMATE: MILLENNIALS, IDOLATRY & THE TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

Although written in 1942, the Screwtape Letters presents an eerily topical description of idolatry in the workplace today. C.S Lewis illustrates the internal struggle of his patient when choosing a vocation and “calling” in life. From the tempter it is prescribed to, “let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part”. Furthermore, Lewis encourages the tempter to suggest that when the patient sees, “the world [as] an end, and faith [as] a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing.” Caught up in the desire and idealistic notion to “do good in the world” millennials

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    C.S. Lewis’s book, An Experiment in Criticism is about the quality of the book depends on how it is read since a book does not have a goal of being “good” or “bad”. Lewis achieves this by defining the differences between a “good” and “bad” reader within each chapter of the book. Lewis claims that “bad work never is nor can be enjoyed by anyone” (Page 21). This contradiction undermines Lewis by stating that there are such things as “good and bad art”. Lewis is logical with his syllogism and arguments.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “Corn-Pone Opinions,” “The Creation Myths of Cooperstown,” and “Graven Images,” by Twain, Gould, and Bellow, respectively, each author explores the fallibility of human perception. While the main purposes of these three essays differ, each one still implements the theme of trending to illustrate how and why people naturally conform-- even if a movement involves believing in a falsehood. In the first essay, “Corn-Pone Opinions,” Twain analyzes how most people shape their beliefs based on what is popular. Twain specifically makes three points to explain why people merely follow the masses to formulate their point of view, with the first one being that trends always start with an individual with power.…

    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Screwtape Letters Literary Analysis The Screwtape letters is a satire written by C.S. Lewis is a classic British literature novel in which many of the themes present are still used today. The letters are about two devils named Screwtape and Wormwood who are trying to steer a man whom they call “The Patient” away from believing in Christianity. Wormwood uses techniques to sway the beliefs of the patient like pointing out hypocrisy in the church.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What are the new generations of society going to be like in the near future? In the articles, “Millennials: The Next Greatest Generation?” presented in TIME magazine by Josh Sanburn, “David McCullough Jr.’s Commencement Address: You’re Not Special” by English teacher David McCullough Jr., and “We Used To Revere Accomplished People. Now Look at Us.”…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Establishing oneself as superior over others is crucial in modern day society where the caliber of candidates for any position is highly competitive. In the essays the “Project Classroom Makeover” and “Biographies of Hegemony” by Cathy Davidson and Karen Ho, both discuss the faulty system in which hierarchies in school and elites in Wall Street place on the selection process of individuals. They discuss the heavy bias and lack of depth utilized by both systems when analyzing individuals for selection into their firms and institutions. The overly simplistic system used by investment banking companies in the selection process is generic and fails to survey the vast population of candidates. This backwards system trickles down to the hierarchies…

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn, many symbols are present. The largest and most know of the symbols is the scarlet letter A. The scarlet letter A was prominent thought out the whole story and was surrounded by other smaller symbols. The first third of "The Scarlet Letter" is when the scarlet letter is introduced along with the explanation surrounding it.…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Steve Olson My Turn

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Often jobs such as plumber, mechanic, construction worker is portrayed as a menial jobs, a job for a season, or unimportant. Except with out these jobs life would flow as simply. Steve Olson explains the importance of hard working men and women in his essay “My Turn”. Olson shows his perceiving by the use of contradicting thoughts, relating experiences, and metabasis. Mr Olson tries persuade that blue-collar guys(BCG) are important and need to be recognized for the important work that they do.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower the reader sees a society whose commons has been destroyed by large-scale forces such as an alternative-right wing President controlling an inadequate, neoliberal economy, a capitalist civilization which fails to maximize the ‘good’ of all citizens, and a national ideology that is built upon a rigid, outdated set of values. The large-scale failure of the commons coincides with the theory proposed by Hardin about what makes an unsuccessful or successful commons. Butler takes their theory a step further in her novel by showing how these large-scale elements lead to small-scale community effects such as isolation and willful ignorance. This successive fragmentation of society and its impact on individual communities and citizens presented by Butler can be analyzed through Garret Hardin’s political theory on the tragedy of the commons. Butler introduces her readers into a society that suffers from large-scale flaws resulting in a failed commons.…

    • 1680 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    MacLeod’s Finding’s: Norms, Values and Ideologies in Ain’t No Makin’ It In the study, Ain’t No Makin’ It, Jay MacLeod introduces us to two extremely distinct groups of male youth, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. The Hallway Hangers are a dominant group of teenagers who constantly rebel and openly resist the American ideology of education.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many view Satan as an abstract concept, but what is not realized is that Satan is real and that he wants our human souls. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a novel of thirty-one letters, written from an experienced devil, Screwtape, to his inexperienced nephew, Wormwood. In these letters, Screwtape suggests various ways Wormwood can distract his “patient”, specifically a middle aged male, from his faith in God. Screwtape's instructions include tempting the patient to rely on realistic materials in hopes of turning him against God, who cannot be seen. Wormwood tries to tempt his patient following Screwtape's advice, but fails to do so.…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A symbol is a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract. In the book The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbols to play a major role to get a deeper understanding for the characters. In the book, Pearl is the symbol of negative and positive in Hester’s life; an extension of Hester herself. Pearl has different personalities corresponding to the setting or suspense in the story.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Society has had class systems for many years, and they have been a cause for much suffering for many. In Franz Kafkas “The Metamorphosis” Gergor’s social out-casting was the result of a society that viewed value of a person by the work they have done. The results of societies castigation of Gregor bring his unfortunate situation to light. Gregor’s interactions before his transformation, his interactions with his family after the transformation, and the disconnection of Gregor’s body and mind show the devastating effect on him. Societies view on values and work was shown in Grergor’s interactions with his peers, before the transformation, and that is shown in his interactions within his job and peers.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A cold and bitter feeling is in the atmosphere on this night. Darkness consumed the small, but promising colony of Massachusetts. A type of night where only those who lurk in the shadows resurface to meet with the black man. Or maybe even a person who has something sinful bearing on their mind, is lurking around as well. This exact depiction of night is the setting for chapter 12, The Ministers Vigil; and the man responsible for the creation of The Scarlet Letter is, “the most significant fiction writer of the antebellum period”(Baym603), Nathaniel Hawthorne.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The choices made by today’s media, such as “news reports” and television shows flaunting celebrities famous for being celebrities, might show that the world is solely populated by materialists. But, pondering the situation, one must come to see that at least a portion of those watching these “news reports” of fashion and celebrity icons must be romanticists. They pine for a better life for themselves or their family, but do not have the good fortune to be one of the rich or famous. Another completely separate faction are realists when it comes to such “news” programs and the misplaced attention on the rich and famous. This group may take a short moment to assess the situation and then do what is called for: change the channel.…

    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Symbols can be used in any type of literary text. Whether it is a short poem, or a novel or an epic, symbol can be used throughout to show a deeper meaning within the text. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, is no different. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses a multitude of various symbol to allow the reader to interpret many different aspects of the novel in different ways. Hawthorne’s brilliance in the use of symbol even extends into the names of his characters, such as Dimmesdale and Chillingworth.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays