While reading The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, it is apparent that there is a war between the God and the Devil. The Screwtape Letters is compiled of a series of letters addressed to Screwtape's nephew Wormwood. Screwtape's letters were written as instructions about tempting, seducing and persuading the patient. War diction is used throughout the letters to emphasize the struggle between good and evil. In tracing the diction in C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, we see the emotional unraveling of Screwtape.

In the early letters to Wormwood, Screwtape is indifferent to any progress made by the patient. Screwtape expresses only slight emotion. In the first letter to Wormwood, Screwtape instructs Wormwood to avoid using arguments when tempting the patient. The first war diction is seen when Screwtape says, "The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle on to the Enemy's own ground...