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Nathan Nedley
Cosmin Ritivoiu
English 101
2 March 2015
Literary Analysis on the 6th section of Pilgrims Progress
The book, Pilgrims Progress, written by John Bunyan in the year 1678, is an allegory of
the Christian life. The book follows the protagonist Christian through his pilgrimage to the
Celestial City. The 6th chapter has a particularly significant role in showing the importance to be
faithful to God through whatever trials a person on the spiritual journey of life may experience.
The two main characters of this section, Christian and his friend Faithful, go through the
city of Vanity where a fair is being held. Vanity fair, as it is called, refers to a place that portrays
a lifestyle completely opposite to that of which a Christian would live. The inhabitants of this
city ridicule and persecute christians.
As Christian and Faithful enter through the gates of this city, their eyes are forced to
behold all the worthless vanities. As they traverse through the city and the fair, their holy
characters and Christian peculiarity is showcased to all who behold. The first thing that the
reader may notice is the portrayed face-off of good versus evil. Bunyan, when speaking of the
clothing of the pilgrims, references 1 Corinthians 4:9-10 which says,
For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to
death:for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We
are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are
strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

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Here, Bunyan is showing that Christian and Faithful are willing to be foolish in the eyes of the
world to portray the image of Christ amongst sinners. Bunyan continues with the peculiarity of
theses two pilgrims by mentioning that their speech was characterized from the land of Canaan.
The reference to Canaan is most likely to say that their speech was not of this world as the land
of Canaan in the Bible was the land chosen by God for the Israelites (Exodus 6:4). In the third
example of good versus evil, Bunyan presents Christian and Faithful as wanting to put their
fingers in their ears (Bunyan 53) to stop themselves from having to behold all of the worldliness
around them. They had travelled to far to give up all and allow these useless vanities to corrupt
their morality.
The examples of their obvious affinity for righteousness begins the conflict between good
versus evil. The men of the fair begin to ridicule and mock Christian and Faithful for their
obvious grievances to the vanity surrounding them. Eventually they are brought before the
leaders of the city and put into prison for the disturbances their peculiarity caused to the fair. The
chapter climaxes when the two men are brought to court before the king of the land in. Faithful is
put to death for causing the disturbances to the city, while Christian is allowed to live. The reader
can see that Bunyan is allowing Christian to live on because of his role as the protagonist;
although he too, should have been put to death.
The role Christian plays in the section of the book is to tell all who read its pages that in
this world, wickedness will prevail, but in the scheme of eternity, the righteous will prevail. On
page 52, Bunyan references the Bible again,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they

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were strangers and pilgrims on the earth For they that say such things declare
plainly that they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly:wherefore God is
not ashamed to be called their God:for he hath prepared for them a city. (Hebrews
11:13-16)
The reader can see that Bunyan used these scripture references to summaries and solidify the
main message of the chapter. Bunyan wants to show that although one may be persecuted for
their faith, Heaven is the goal of all who claim the name Christian.
The writing technique Bunyan used is in the form of an allegory; however, he often
references the Bible. The reader may notice that Bunyan is seemingly fitting his storyline around
examples found in the Bible. Throughout this chapter alone, Bunyan references the Bible 18
times. He floats between bible verse to bible verse with a flow that is admirable. Bunyan had a
very extensive knowledge of the Bible due to his profession as a pastor. Yet, the reader may
argue that no human could so convincingly and smoothly reference these Bible texts without
being divinely inspired to do so. This is very possible as Bunyan writes in his own apology for
the book, Which way it pleases God: for who knows how, Better than he that taught us first to
plough, To guide our minds and pens for his designs? And he makes base things usher in
divine (Bunyan 8). Bunyan was not ignorant to Gods role in the minds of those who write on
spiritual matters. He realized that he was inspired by God to write this book for a divine purpose.
The 6th chapter of Pilgrims Progress chapter has a crucial significance to the beauty and
purpose of the book. It encourages all who read the book to not give up on their own spiritual
journey. The Master will comfort His pilgrims through the trials and tribulations they may face.

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Even if they must pass through death, God is still with them. He will be with all who wholeheartedly give themselves to His purposes.

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Works Cited
Bunyan, John. "Pilgrim's Progress." - Christian Classics Ethereal Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar.
2015.
The Holy Bible, King James Version. New York: American Bible Society: 1999; Bartleby.com,
2000.