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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 are the group of pilgrims told they did wrong when they left the gatekeeper’s house?

2. With whom did Self-Will justify his own sins?

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

4. Who saves the group when they are threatened outside the Gatekeeper's house??

5. What is the relationship between Christian and Christiana?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Why is Mercy worried about the journey?

5. What does the Interpreter show the group that he did not show Christian?

6. What happens when the group gets to the Wicket Gate?

7. What does the group see as they come to House Beautiful and how did Christian deal with it? How does Great Heart deal with it?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Titles often play a vital role in making a person decide to read a particular book. Discuss the following:

1. Fully explain why you think The Pilgrim’s Progress is titled as such. Do you think it is the best title for the book? Why or why not? Can you think of a better title? Why would you choose it?

2. Do you think a title needs to have direct relevance to a book's content? Does the title of The Pilgrim's Progress directly relate to its contents? If so, how? If not, how might the title change to reflect its content?

3. Why do you think the author of The Pilgrim's Progress has chosen not to delineate chapters by title names in this novel? If you were to title the chapters of the book, how would you do so?

Essay Topic 3

Narrative structure refers to a novel's structural framework and the order and manner in which a story is presented to a reader. Answer and discuss the following regarding the narrative structure of The Pilgrim's Progress.

1. Write a brief synopsis of the plot of The Pilgrim’s Progress, identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution or denouement). Do you find it difficult or easy to identify the plot elements of this novel? Why?

2. Identify and discuss the major sub-plots and their elements in The Pilgrim’s Progress. (The subplots may not contain every element of a major plot.) Do the sub-plots contribute to the main plot? Are the sub-plots interesting in and of themselves? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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