Student Question
What purpose does the town of Vanity Fair serve in The Pilgrim's Progress? Also, what is the book's central theme?
Quick answer:
The town of Vanity Fair in The Pilgrim's Progress represents the worldly temptations and distractions that can lead Christians astray from their spiritual path. It serves as an obstacle for the protagonist, Christian, highlighting the theme that material wealth and earthly pleasures are insignificant compared to the eternal rewards of reaching Heaven. The central theme of the book is the journey of faith and perseverance required to attain salvation and enter the Celestial City.
John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress is an extended allegory for a Christian's journey through the world to Heaven. The protagonist is aptly named Christian, and along his journey he faces various difficulties and obstacles that threaten to make him stray from his path to the Celestial City. One of these obstacles is the town of Vanity and the town's fair, which serves, like other places in the story such as the Hill of Difficulty and the Valley of the Shadow of Death, simply to lie in the pilgrim's path; so, that would be the answer to your first question. The message that Christian learns in Vanity Fair relates to the message of The Pilgrim's Progress as a whole, which is that material wealth (like Christian could have obtained at Vanity Fair) does not compare to the glory of entering Heaven.
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