Communicative methods in teaching English

2.2.Literary analysis on Screwtape letters by C.S. Lewis
Literary Analysis: The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis By Agatha Xaris Villa A. Introduction & Rationale It is said that among the major literary genres recognized today, the ‘ novel’ is the most accessible to the majority of the readership. However, in terms of stylistic analysis, novels are the most difficult subjects to analyze. However, a trend that has been observed for the bulk of the twentieth-century is that literary criticism conducted on the genre of narrative texts (i. e. novels) have primarily focused on narrative point of view (Short, 1996, pg. 56) and this is not without cause. Among the literary genres, the novel, prototypically, has the most complex narrative discourse structure. In contrast to the prototypical poem and play, the novel has at least three levels of discourse –the author-reader, character-character level, and the narrator-narratee level (Short, 1996, pg. 256-257). The complexity of the novel’s discourse structure is why it has the most number of viewpoints and why it is believed to be the most ideal literary form in which to study viewpoint.
In light of this premise, I shall be attempting to objectively conduct a literary analysis on an extract taken from The Screwtape Letters, the popular satire written by C. S. Lewis with a focus on point of view. When I first read The Screwtape Letters, one of the aspects which I found most refreshingly original and creative about the text was the way in which this age-old story of “ good VS evil” was presented by the author. While there are certainly other creative aspect in the text, C. S. Lewis’ creative manipulation of viewpoint is whatI believeprovides readers with that distinct sense of creativity and originality.
To support this thesis, I will be exploring viewpoint from both macro-level (describing the general discourse relations in the novel) and micro-level (giving an account of the linguistic indicators of viewpoint that show how the author manipulates viewpoint through smaller-scale linguistic choices). B. Basic Information about the Story The Screwtape Letters is what is known as an epistolary novel –a narrative that is told through a series of documents (usually journal entries or letters) from the pen of one or more characters from the story.
CONCLUSION
C.S. Lewis has had many good ideas, among them ideas concerning creativity and the imagination. If you’re stuck in a rut, perhaps these thoughts of his can help spur your own imagination to greater heights.Lewis believed that we do not really grasp the meaning of words or concepts until we have clear pictures or images we can connect with them. Even in the midst of an apologetic argument, Lewis provided just the right picture, image, or metaphor to help the reader grasp the meaning of an argument.Our creativity stems from being made in the image of God, our Creator. Being made in the image of God also means we have intrinsic worth, value, and dignity. Lewis’s productivity united these two beliefs – that we are creative beings and we have inherent worth. He understood that God created every single individual to be unique and to reflect his image. Lewis lived out this idea that “there are no ordinary people” in the above instance by writing personal, handwritten letters to everyone who wrote to him,Most of all, perhaps, we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion.