Self-Deception In The Screwtape Letters And The Great Divorce

In both The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis writes about how humans separate themselves from God through self-deception; people convince themselves of their virtue while disguising evil goodness. Lewis views this separation from God as tragic and wants his readers to understand that only God leads to happiness (Hill, 202). Lewis first shows the consequences of self-deception through characters who see themselves as superior to others. In The Great Divorce, Lewis introduces one of these characters, the big ghost, who claims to deserve heaven more than Len, the murderer the ghost knew on Earth. The ghost refuses to enter a heaven that puts Len above him. The ghost’s delusion of moral superiority prevents him from recognizing his sins and repenting to achieve salvation. Thus, the big ghost’s delusion keeps him from God and eternal happiness. As the ghost walks away, Lewis describes him as “[…] still grumbling, but whimpering also […]” (The Great Divorce 31), showing that although the ghost thinks he does not need heaven, he still feels miserable for rejecting God (West 337-338). Another of Lewis’ ghosts, the fat ghost, has similar self-righteous attitudes …show more content…
For example, Wormwood encourages his patient to focus on judging other Christians instead of addressing his own sins. In addition, Screwtape provides Wormwood with different methods of emphasizing other’s sins and even says Wormwood does not have to point out any real sins, because “Provided that any of those neighbors [Church members] sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous” (The Screwtape Letters 6); thus, Wormwood only needs to focus the patient’s attention on the annoying habits of others (Hinten and Edwards 123). Nevertheless, Screwtape adds