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Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
What are the pseudonyms C. S. Lewis gives to the authors of the textbook he is evaluating? (pg. 1)
What are the two different stated opinions about the waterfall? (pg. 2)
What are the two “propositions” a schoolboy will believe if they take the message of the Green Book to heart? (pg. 4)
What kind of advertisement does the Green Book choose to “debunk” for their example of bad literature? (pg. 6)
What are the “two ways” Lewis says a person is immune to certain kinds of advertisement? (pg. 9)
Logic Questions: (The Interpretation/Comparison of the Text)
Why did Coleridge deem it more appropriate to call the waterfall “sublime” rather than “pretty”? (pg. 2)
Why does Lewis say it is impossible for value judgments to be merely a projection of our own feelings? (pg. 3-4)
What is it that makes the original advertisement poorly written while the examples Lewis gives are much better? (pg. 6-8)
Lewis speaks of the value of comparing badly written literature with literature that is written well. In that section he states that such a lesson would have “the trees of knowledge and of life growing together.” (pg. 7) What does he mean by this?
Why does Lewis call the person a “trousered ape” who is not able to “conceive the Atlantic as anything more than so many million tons of cold saltwater”? (pg. 9)
Why is the coward not affected by an article on “patriotism and honor”? (pg. 9)
Why is the honorable and patriotic man also not affected by the same article? (pg. 9)
What does Lewis mean when he says the authors of the Green Book “have cut out of his soul…the possibility of having certain experiences which thinkers of more authority than they have held to be generous, fruitful, and humane”? (Pg. 9)
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
What is more important, that which is taught in College or that which is taught in elementary (grammar school) classrooms? Explain your answer.
What makes correct value judgments (claims about truth, goodness, and beauty) possible?
Can something be factually false, in one sense, but absolutely true in another? What role does metaphor, symbolism, and other figurative types of language play in communicating truth?
Can fictional stories be true?
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Does the Bible teach that objective beauty exists? “Objective” means something which is true for all people, in all places, and at all times. Consider Genesis 2:9 in your answer. You might also use a bible concordance and search the words “beauty” and “beautiful” to get a sense of what the Bible says about this.
During the “last supper” Jesus institutes the sacrament of the Eucharist (i.e. communion, the Lord’s Supper, etc.). How can this be related to what C. S. Lewis talked about concerning the use of non-literal language and truth? C.f. Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-23.