Preview: Section 1
Reading boundary
Start: As I walked through the wilderness of this world,
Stop after: gave him one smile, and bid him God-speed.
Bunyan opens with a dream in which a man’s reading changes how he sees his home, his danger, and the burden he carries. Names such as Christian, Evangelist, Obstinate, and Pliable openly suggest character, while dialogue tests different responses to an urgent warning.
The first stage of the journey includes confused advice as well as direct opposition. Christian’s choices of whom to trust set a route promising easier relief against one grounded in the book he has read.