The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Here's one of the most famous first lines in literature: "As I walk'd through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a Dream."

Now, a good first line should tell us something about what's to follow, and here's a classic example. We learn here that not only is the coming story supposed to be a dream – so that when we quickly learn that the tale is an allegory in which the people and things represent concepts and ideas, it's not a surprise – we also learn that this dream will likely have some spiritual application. It's presented, after all, as a break from the "wilderness of this world." And sure enough, "The Pilgrim's Progress" is the allegorical story of a man making use of his Christian faith to get to Heaven, when he might otherwise expect to go to Hell. Not bad for a mere 37 words, especially when you consider that the author wrote it while in jail.

You probably know the basics of the story, at least. A man named Christian (obvious enough?) lives in the City of Destruction, and has a heavy weight on his back that he can't seem to get rid of. He has a book that he reads constantly, which tells him that he and his entire town will in fact be destroyed soon (you'd think the people who live in the City of Destruction would already know that, but never mind). In his desperation to escape he has a conversation with a man named Evangelist who tells him that he's right about the fate of his city and that, to escape it, he should leave his home, head across a nearby field to a gate, knock on it, and follow the instructions of the person who answers. All of this he does – first unsuccessfully inviting his wife and children, and a few of his neighbors, to go with him - and the rest of Part 1 describes his journey to the City of Zion, where his king waits for him.

I was not aware before I read "The Pilgrim's Progress" that in its second half, Christian's wife Christiana (obvious enough?) feels guilty at having let her husband go on his journey alone, so she packs up their four sons and follows. Being a weak woman, accompanied by weak children, she shortly picks up a guide named Great-Heart who goes with her and defeats the enemies that get in her way.

Since I'm not a Christian myself, I hesitate a little to comment on this work at all. It's not aimed at me, and what's worse, I've had just about enough Jewish education to go through this piece mentally objecting to many of its assertions. With that in mind, and bearing in mind too that "The Pilgrim's Progress" is one of the most popular books ever written (it's never been out of print), I can say a few things about it strictly as a work of fiction.

One of the most noticeable things here is the treatment of time. Christian and later Christiana find a few houses set up for pilgrims like them and spend the night there, so it seems at first as though their journey only takes a few days, but it's clear later on that they spend years traveling – Christiana starts off when her sons are still children, and when they reach the City of Zion the boys are all grown and married, and have children of their own. I don't know how deliberate that telescoping was, but it's pretty effective when it comes to communicating how little time Bunyan must have thought humans have to reach for salvation during a normal life span.

We've already covered the fact that this story is presented as a dream of the narrator's. There are many such books, of course – unlike most of them, this narrator occasionally reminds us of this, saying "Then I dreamed" and so on. What's more, he sometimes speaks directly to the characters in his dream. I found that helps to maintain interest in the story, if for no other reason than the simple question the reader has to bear in mind as to how real it's supposed to be. It's a little inconsistent in its style, but Bunyan was obviously less interested in his fictional technique than in presenting a teaching tool.

I mentioned before how popular this work is. Even people who haven't read it are probably familiar with some of its set pieces, or at least some of its better known phrases, like "the Slough of Despond," "Vanity Fair," and "Beulah Land". If Bunyan had known about that, and how popular his work remains to this day, he'd probably be delighted – he was in jail, after all, because he preached and conducted services outside of the authority of the Church Of England, which was illegal at the time. There was even a name for churches like his. They were called "nonconformist," which probably tells you everything you need to know. And he was under no illusions about the risks he was running; while in jail, he's quoted as saying "Release me today and I will preach tomorrow."

So never mind my uneasiness about Christian allegory. "The Pilgrim's Progress" is a good read by a very courageous man. You might as well object to Martin Luther King's work because of his Christianity, which God knows I'm not about to do.

Benshlomo says, Go ahead and enjoy the content, but there are other things you might read good books for.