In the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Louis created an indirect dialogue between Screwtape; a senior devil, and his protégé nephew; Wormwood. The text is a collection of letters, composed by Screwtape, addressed to Wormwood, which commentate on Wormwood’s efforts to seduce a human. The Screwtape Letters served as the principal inspiration for Concrete Wafers. Louis’ influence is instantly apparent, as the text is narrated by the ‘observer;’ an agent clearly reminiscent of Screwtape, in powers and motive alike.
The observer discusses their motivations in the preamble. Speaking as the human’s pastor, they describe how they ‘tended’ the human, guiding them to the right path. The use of the term ‘tended’ invokes the commonplace metaphor of the child
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Divinity, adieu!
- Pg. 5, Dr. Faustus
The motif is further expanded in the allusion to Paradise Lost by alliteration, where “blissful seat” from Paradise Lost is reinterpreted as “brittle step” (line 5, Paradise Lost). Paradise Lost is a text which analyses man’s fall, therefore, an allusion to this text when discussing a human enveloped in the comfort and pleasure of a garden is highly foreboding. This allusion gives a sense of the ending in the very first sentence, almost as if it were predetermined.
Concrete is revisited in the hospital scene, where the observer ‘guides’ the human by inserting doubts into their mind. The observer includes criticism from Dogma and reflects Screwtape’s views on the church:
All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather in oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto