The target audience
In the second letter, Screwtape urges Wormwood to make it so that the patient only sees ugly and old people when he goes to Church. Through this, Screwtape wanted to create an image that would transmit the idea of incompetence and would make the patient unwilling to go to Church and trust religion. The image transmitted through this scene is that only old people and uneducated people would willingly go to Church. Thus, is Wormwood were to successfully transmit this idea, then the patient would be less inclined to trust in the Church.
Pacifists
In the seventh letter, Screwtape talks about the pacifist who existed during the Second World War. He offers a description about them and he portrays them as a marginalized group, hated by everyone especially during the time of war. The way the pacifists are portrayed is important because Wormwood tries to make the patient become a pacifist himself.
Half spiritual and half carnal
In the eight chapter, Screwtape expresses his anger at Wormwood when he writes to Screwtape telling him about the patient’s distain of religion. Screwtape then tells Wormwood to not be so quick to judge and then describes humans as being half spiritual beings and half carnal beings. The description has the purpose of highlighting the idea that humans are not so simple as one would believe and that humans are more than often more complex than someone could imagine.
Benevolent God
While Screwtape tries to portray God in a negative light, he portrays him as a negative character for the normal reader. For example, in the 8th chapter, Screwtape mentions how God created life for the simple reason that he wanted to share his power and the beauty of the world with creatures that could enjoy and be happy. In a contrasting manner, the Devil wants to suck all the happiness in the world and wants to keep the power only to himself.
Sinful person
In the ninth letter, Screwtape writes to Wormwood about the people who go through tough times for an extended period of time. Screwtape tells Wormwood that those people are more susceptible to sin and stray away from God. The main reason why they are vulnerable is because they are more tempted than the normal happy person to seek happiness through other means, such as sexual relationships that are frowned upon and by acquiring material goods. All this makes a person drift from religion and thus they acquire a behavior not accepted by God. Because of this, a sinful person is more than often described as being a person who went through a thought time and who felt into a questionable behavior as a coping mechanism.
