Narrative

2. Bunyan was a Calvinist–evangelist who accepted the doctrine of double-predestination; in simple terms, he told stories of elect Christians finding Heaven and all others descending into Hell. In Part I of Pilgrim’s Progress, the protagonist Christian, burdened by the knowledge of his sin, seeks deliverance; he leaves his wife and children, journeying from his hometown, the City of Destruction, to the Celestial City. He meets characters who direct or attempt to impede his progress, including Evangelist, Obstinate, Pliable, Help, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Mr. Legality, Civility, Good Will, Apollyon, Faithful, Hopeful, Giant Despair, and Ignorance, as he struggles onwards, battling out of the Slough of Despond, over the Hill of Difficulty, through the Valley of Humiliation, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and Vanity Fair, and overcoming Doubting Castle, the Enchanted Ground, and the River of Death before arriving at the top of Mt. Zion.