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Analysis of The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Essay

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Analysis of The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress is an allegorical story about the Christian religion. It allegorizes the journey of a Christian into "the Celestial City, which represents heaven. Although Pilgrim's Progress may seem simple and straightforward, there are many deeper meanings throughout the whole story. Bunyan uses the names of his characters to signify whom the character represents in the story, for example, the character Hopeful represents hopefulness, Help represents people who are willing to help others in need of assistance, Faithful represents people who are faithful to whatever they are associated with, and the main character, Christian, represents all young …show more content…

Christian cries out for Faithful to stop and wait so they can be companions along their travel, but Faithful replies, "No, I am upon my life, and the avenger of blood is behind me" (60). In the story, the life he is trying to save is his real, tangible life. But his running away from the avenger of blood to save his "life" actually symbolizes saving Faithful's spiritual life. Because he has sinned and broken the Ten Commandment, "You shall not kill," he is now being chased by death and if caught, he will kill Faithful; this death characterizes the death of eternal life and therefore not being able to enter heaven (Deuteronomy 5:17). In the bible there is a passage that talks about the avenger of blood and who is he. "This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having been at enmity with him in time past…he may flee to one of these cities and save his life; lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him" (Deuteronomy 19:4-6). Jesus Christ was born without sin, and never sinned throughout his lifetime. Faithful, however, who although did not try to kill his neighbor, killed him unintentionally and therefore, sinned. Jesus would never have caused pain to any living creatures, neither accidentally nor deliberately. This is one example of how Faithful differs from Christ.
Faith is a large part in a

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