Abstract This paper analyzes the multi-faceted story "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan. The paper explains that Bunyan wrote the story while he was in jail and claims it came to him a dream. The author of this paper neither accepts nor rejects that claim, however, he does show how the story itself is written in a dream-like manner. The paper examines "Pilgrim's Progress" from a variety angles, starting with its Christian-based metaphors and religious/spiritual message. Next, the paper critiques the story's characters, who, with names like Obstinate, Atheist, Prejudice, and Ill-Will, are also symbols for Bunyan's story of humanity and Christianity. The paper concludes that while the book is clearly imprinted by Bunyan's Puritan background and life in 17th century England, the modern reader can still appreciate this fantastical story.
From the Paper "The Pilgrim's Progress is written in the "similitude of a dream"; Bunyan recounts a dream in which he views the progress or journey of Christian (and later Christian's wife Christiana) from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Along the way, Christian passes through places bearing names like Vanity, Beulah, Doubting Castle, and Beautiful. He also encounters physical obstacles like the Slough of Despond, the Hill Difficulty, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and the river before the gate to the Celestial City. As the names suggest, the setting of The Pilgrim's Progress consists of places that represent different spiritual and mental states and temptations. The Hill Difficulty may appear as a real hill to be climbed on Christian's journey; just as surely it represents the spiritual obstacles that must be overcome if Christian is to make progress on his journey to the Celestial City. The keeper of the Doubting Castle, Giant Despair, may appear to be a fairy tale monster who keeps his captives under lock and key. He also represents the particular psychological condition one will fall prey to when one's faith begins to slip."
A study of the debate over the interpretation and importance of the Christian message and their protrayal in the novels "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan and "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe.
1,726 words (approx. 6.9 pages), 2 sources, 2002, $ 55.95
Abstract The paper analyzes the three important elements in the discussion of the Christian walk that are worth noting in "Pilgrim's Progress" (John Bunyan) and "Robinson Crusoe" (Daniel Defoe). It shows, firstly, that Christianity leads to salvation. Secondly, that Christianity has its prices and sacrifice must be made. Finally the paper shows that, with an emphasis on persistence and perseverance, a much-needed discipline developes.
From the Paper "The debate over the interpretation and importance of the Christian message capstones the development of a society whether in a Christain or Non-Christian setting. A person can say that the idea of a higher power regulating the mind and deciding right or wrong within the person's psyche is God or some other force, but the fact still remains that the higher power exists. This idea presents important controversy for scientists and writers alike to keep exploring because the development and the evolution of the mind never stops and is always changing."
Abstract This paper takes a look at John Bunyan's novel, "Pilgrim's Progress". This paper details how Christian's faith in God in the helps him overcome various obstacles.
From the Paper "In the first section of the novel, Christian overcomes the temptations of ease offered by Mr. Worldly Wiseman and the paths at Difficulty Hill, and decides to continue the difficult religious journey. Soon after Christian is advised by Evangelist to seek the Celestial City to lift his burdens, Christian enters the town of Carnal-Policy. Christian meets the helpful Mr. Worldly Wiseman who advises Christian to discontinue the risky trip, stating that there is "not a more dangerous and troublesome way in the world" (Bunyan 8). Christian does not mind the perils that lay ahead, though, and tells Mr. Worldly Wiseman, "methinks I care not what I meet with in the way, so be I can also meet with deliverance from my burden" (Bunyan 8). Mr. Worldly Wiseman attempts to convince Christian that he can live happily in the town of Morality where he will find "safety, friendship, and content" (Bunyan 9). He tells Christian to meet with Mr. Legality, a man who can help lift his burdens, and Christian agrees to speak with him. He is stopped when he sees Evangelist, though, who then chastises Christian for considering settling in the town of Morality instead of the Celestial City. While Morality is still a positive place, Evangelist tells Christian his burdens will not be lifted completely until he reaches the Celestial City. Mr. Legality cannot help, either, because Evangelist tells Christian that "by the deeds of the law no man living can be rid of his burden" (Bunyan 12). Christian pleads Evangelist to forgive him for not reaching the goal set for him and trying to find an easy way to lift his burdens. After Christian continues his travels, he reaches Difficulty Hill with two men he has met on the way, Formalist and Hypocrisy. When Formalist and Hypocrisy see how steep and high the hill is, they decide to take the other two routes around the hill called Danger and Destruction. Christian, though, sees the hill's height and says the difficulty will not bother him, for "better, tho difficult, the right way to go, then wrong, though easie, where the end is wo" (Bunyan 26). The path of Danger leads one lost into the woods, and the other path of Destruction leads the other to mountains where he falls to his death. Christian makes it midway to the top of Difficulty Hill where he finds an Arbour to rest, which is a stark difference from what Formalist and Hypocrisy found on their paths. Christian nearly gets persuaded to take the shorter routes to religion, but his strong convictions keep him headed on the right path to the Celestial City."
Tags: path, Christian, Celestial, City, religion, faith
This paper analyzes the use and development of American gothic in John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," Richard Wright's "Native Son" and the Charles Laughton directed film, "The Night of the Hunter."
Abstract The paper looks at the use of American Gothic in three works, John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," Richard Wright's "Native Son" and the Charles Laughton directed film, "The Night of the Hunter". The paper shows how gothic elements such as terror, heightened emotionalism, foreboding, dreamscapes and the supernatural are all used to broaden the reading or viewing experience of the audience. The paper also explains the underlying concept of "inescapability". The paper concludes that these works are all among the finest of the American Gothic tradition.
From the Paper "In Pilgrim's Progress, at least three elements of American Gothic - the use of foreshadowing, emotional tension, and the use of the supernatural ("Typical Elements of American Gothic Fiction," no.5 and no.8) - are immediately apparent. For one thing, the opening scene of the text depicts the narrator in a dream-like state wherein he envisions a man, clothed in rags with a "great burden" upon his shoulders, reading what is (ostensibly) the Bible and weeping with trepidation; it is shortly thereafter that we discover the man's city is about to be destroyed by heavenly fire and that he sees no escape for his family and for himself (Bunyan, "Part I," para.1-2). Not long thereafter, the spectral Evangelist appears to the distraught Pilgrim and tells him to proceed towards a spot of light (the pilgrim is standing in a great field) which will guide him to a wicket-gate at which he will find all the answers he seeks (Bunyan, "Part I," para.8). The dramatic introduction of this inscrutable figure is wholly in keeping with the supernaturalist elements of the gothic tradition ("Typical Elements of American Gothic Fiction," no.6) and it helps also to make Bunyan's protagonist likeable inasmuch as it emphasizes how the pilgrim is at the inescapable mercy of forces beyond his control."
Abstract This paper examines the evolution in English literature through the 18th century in terms of style. The paper first describes how the century started with neo-classicism and ended with romanticism and explains that the latter can be seen as a revolt against the former. Neo-classicism is shown to be influenced by the rise of science, and the liberation in the arts brought about by the Restoration. The paper then charts how there is a gradual breaking away from the shackles of rationalism through the 18th century. The authors studied are Wycherley, Dryden, Pope, Gray, Burns, Blake, Richardson, Fielding and Bunyan.
From the Paper "Even though tending towards popular sentiment, much of the literature accounted for so far remained beyond mass readership. The first widely popular book was John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. The Puritans suffered suppression and imprisonment since the Restoration. Bunyan composed the book in prison, an allegorical account of life's journey, with Biblical significance. It too employed the simplicity of style that characterized the age, even though it stood up against the general trend. To sample the sparse simplicity, the pilgrims encounter the allegorical place of vane worldliness thus: "Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair: it is kept all the year long" (Bunyan, 1965, p. 105). Journalism was the other route to the heart of the people. "
From the Paper "John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the Christian's journey through the temptations and sinfulness of the world toward the promise of the Celestial City. In the course of the quest--which is presented as the narrator's dream--the Pilgrim passes through all the stages of conversion, commitment, and doubt that characterize an individual's spiritual life. At every stage he meets with people and arrives at new places--all of which are identified by names that unambiguously identify the people's predominant moral characteristics and the dilemmas that are embodied in the places. A second part of the allegory documents the progress of the Pilgrim's wife and sons who, after his death and acceptance into the Celestial City, throw off their skepticism and follow his example. Their journey is, however, far less difficult because, the Pilgrim (and many others) have..."
Compares accuracy of protrayal of human condition in John Bunyan's [The Pilgrim's Progress], Samuel Johnson's [The History of Rasselas] & [Sir Gawain & the Green Knight] (Anon.).
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 3 sources, 1996, $ 47.95
From the Paper "This study will compare three works based on quests---John bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Samuel Johnson's The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. The study will argue that Johnson's book most accurately portrays the human condition, that Bunyan's book is fairly good but less accurate, and that the anonymous author of Sir Gawain depicts the human condition most inaccurately of the three.
By "accurate" this reader means not necessarily true, for Bunyan's Christian allegory may, after all, be true. However, the "human condition" includes far more non-Christians than Christians, and surely the majority cannot be considered outside of that condition. By "accurate" picture of the human condition, then, it is meant here a picture which most realistically..."
From the Paper "The opera Paul Bunyan (1941) is an early work by Benjamin Britten that met with little success and was consequently set aside by the composer until, 35 years later, he was persuaded to review and revise it and offer it to the public a second time. In the interval Britten had become one of the major opera composers of the century and W. H. Auden, his librettist and one of the greatest English poets, had written successful librettos for other composers. If for no other reason, then, Paul Bunyan had great value for the retrospective glimpse it provided into its creators' early careers. When the work was revived critics and scholars found, as they had hoped, numerous early indicators of ideas and techniques that were to bear fruit in Britten's later works. Most importantly, however, the opera itself was found to be both more substantial than expected and thoroughly..."
Abstract The paper shows that captivity narratives written by early settlers of America succeeded in conveying unfair stereotypes about Native Americans. These narratives recorded the captives' physical, mental, and spiritual experiences. The paper examines the reasons for these abductions, circumstances and experiences of those who were abducted, with a specific analysis of how the autobiography "Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" perpetuates the conveyance of stereotypes about Native Americans.
From the Paper "Throughout the history of Colonial North America, Native Americans have been portrayed as evil and heathen in many ways. The Native Americans were depicted as evil and soulless; a race beyond any reason that delighted murder of innocent Christians. One such way is through the writing of ?captivity narratives,? whose purpose was to record the captive's physical, mental and spiritual experiences as they journeyed through the unknown. Captivity narratives also served a purpose in that they led to reflection on the meaning of life and helped shaped the expectations of any other unfortunate settlers who might find themselves in captivity at some time (Ebersole 20). These accounts of captivity became stories to be told and retold in order to reflect upon the situation forced upon the captive and, for the Puritans, to reflect in God's grace at having delivered them from the hands of these ?savages.? These narratives were unfortunately never objective or neutral in any way, as they always portrayed Native Americans as creatures with no souls whose sole purpose in life was to distribute pain and suffering to those who were God-fearing; they were thought of as instruments of the devil. In this way, captivity narratives succeeded in conveying unfair stereotypes about Native Americans that have not (until recently) been overcome."
