What happens in Letter VI – Exploiting Anxiety of The Screwtape Letters?
In Letter VI, the senior demon Screwtape advises his nephew Wormwood on how to take advantage of the anxieties brought on by the war. Instead of pushing Wormwood to tempt the Patient with clear sins like cowardice or hatred, Screwtape suggests a sneakier approach: keep the Patient's thoughts bouncing between fear of what’s to come and resentment of what’s happening now, preventing him from finding the kind of brave acceptance that could actually strengthen his faith. Screwtape points out that people at war are particularly easy to manipulate because their focus shifts away from their personal lives and onto large, uncontrollable forces. He cautions Wormwood that even the fear caused by bombs can lead to spiritual growth if the Enemy (God) is involved, so it’s crucial for the demon to keep the Patient’s fear self-absorbed—centered on his own safety and comfort—rather than allowing it to grow into true selflessness or a sense of connection with others. Screwtape finishes by reminding Wormwood that any intense emotion, whether it’s patriotic enthusiasm or anti-war outrage, can be advantageous for Hell as long as it distracts from quiet prayer and consistent virtue.
Analysis
Lewis employs his trademark inversion in Letter VI with notable efficiency: the reader is tasked with translating Screwtape's gleeful tactical advice into its moral opposite, and the contrast between the demon's enthusiasm and the reader's discomfort fuels the satire. The chapter's key rhetorical move hinges on the word "useful"—Screwtape views every human emotion, no matter how noble its origin, as material for Hell, and this utilitarian perspective on feelings subtly criticizes a modern tendency to assess inner experiences based on their outcomes rather than their intent.
The theme of distraction appears again, this time in a more overtly political context. Screwtape clarifies that war isn't inherently beneficial for Hell; what truly matters is the quality of attention it generates. Lewis presents a theological argument through the lens of demonic reasoning: anxiety is spiritually damaging not just because it causes pain but because it focuses on the future and is self-referential—exactly the opposite of the present-focused, outward-directed attention that prayer and charity demand.
Tonal shifts are handled with care. Screwtape's writing is bureaucratic and almost tender in its condescension toward Wormwood, but moments of genuine threat—particularly when he reflects on the Patient's potential bravery—serve as a reminder that beneath the office-memo tone lurks something predatory. Lewis subtly employs free indirect style: Screwtape's assured claims about human psychology have just enough credibility to draw the reader in, allowing them to recognize their own anxious tendencies mirrored in the Patient's behavior.
Key quotes from Letter VI – Exploiting Anxiety
“There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.”
Screwtape articulates the core strategic principle of the letter, framing anxiety as Hell's preferred weapon precisely because it redirects attention from moral action to self-preservation.
“We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the present.”
Screwtape expands his argument into a broader vision of Hell's long-term project, revealing that temporal anxiety is not a side effect but a deliberate strategy to hollow out present experience.
“If we can keep them asking 'Is it safe?' rather than 'Is it right?', we have them.”
In a characteristically epigrammatic moment, Screwtape distils the moral stakes of the chapter into a single antithesis, exposing how fear colonises the conscience.