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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the people who stop the group as they leave the Gatekeeper’s house threaten?

2. How long does the group stay at the place where they stop for the night after the giant is killed in Part 2?

3. Great Heart points out locations where who had adventures along the journey in Part 2?

4. What does Great Heart do to help the group enter House Beautiful?

5. How does the group react to Honest’s story?

Short Essay Questions

1. What hill did the group climb and what were they shown as they approached House Beautiful?

2. Whom does the group ask to join them and what is that person’s worry?

3. Why does Christiana decide to go on a journey?

4. What does Honest tell the group about Self-Will?

5. Why do they need a doctor and what does the doctor give Christiana?

6. How does the group earn the gratitude of Vanity’s townspeople and what has happened while the group is staying in Vanity?

7. What does Honest tell them about Fearing and how does the group feel after hearing that story?

8. What does the group do when it prepares to leave and what is the consequence of that action?

9. What does the group’s rescuer tell them and where do they go next? What do they see there first?

10. What do the men of the group do? Who marries James? Who marries Matthew?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Christian represents the common man, who is faced with the question of what will happen to him after death. He is disturbed by images of Hell and chooses to leave his home and family to seek salvation. On the journey, he meets Evangelist, who acts as his spiritual guide. Christian shows his weaknesses in often being detoured from his goal by the forces of evil.

1. Christian is a universal, everyman character even today. To be human is to wonder about death. Discuss how Christian’s images of Hell might represent the universal fear of death. Use examples from The Pilgrim’s Progress and your own experience to support your answer.

2. Discuss the weaknesses and strengths that Christian shows on his journey. Present and analyze examples from The Pilgrim’s Progress to support your answer.

3. Do you think that the “lesser sins” such as sloth or dishonesty are as detrimental to a person’s psyche as the more felonious ones? Why or why not? Use examples from The Pilgrim’s Progress to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Many themes are overtly presented in The Pilgrim's Progress through character development, setting, and action. Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of faith in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Consider the following questions as you write: What characters are most concerned with faith? Why? What are some symbols of faith? What characters seem faithful? Which do not? How does faith help drive the plot?

2. Trace and analyze the theme of false appearances in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters seem to be someone other than who they are? How do physical places seem to often represent good or evil and be the opposite?

3. Trace and analyze the theme of the difficulty of salvation in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Why might a reader think the author believes the way to salvation is difficult? How does the author attempt to present this view? What are some of the symbols and metaphors that support this theme?

Essay Topic 3

The journey of Christian's family is intended to show how women and children also reach salvation. The main difference in their pilgrimage is that they are attacked because of their perceived weakness and are cautioned to rely on a guide to protect them on their journey.

1. In the era of John Bunyan, women were thought to have a more difficult time obtaining salvation because they were not as educated or as capable as men. Discuss how this prevailing idea affected the way the author wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress. How are the women in the narrative presented?

2. Discuss the ways in which women are viewed differently in the modern world by most of the Western world. How do these different perspectives relate to the novel?

3. The weakness of women the author implies is one of moral courage. At this time in history, women were thought to tempt men into sin as the original incident of “Adam and Eve.” How does irony apply to this idea presented by John Bunyan?

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