| John Bunyan is a famous Britain writer and preacher, noted for his masterpiece The Pilgrim's Progress. In his life time, he read the Bible many times, the most classical book of Christianity. Owing to his familiarity with the Bible, Bunyan gets the inspiration to write the classical work The Pilgrim's Progress which has influenced numerous people. This book, in fact, vividly explains the doctrines of the Bible in the form of allegory, and it tells a story of a man named Christian, who steps on the road to seek redemption in order to get rid of the heavy burden filled with sin. Khaled Hosseini, born in Afghanistan, a country with Islamic religious background, is a bestselling author in the contemporary era. His best-seller The Kite Runner is based on his own life experience in Afghanistan. Since its publication, this novel has caught the eyeball of the people from all over the world, making its author known to the whole world overnight. It tells the story of the main character Amir, who betrays his loyal friend in his childhood, and finally steps on the road "to be good again" for the purpose of atoning for his sin when he is an adult.Although Bunyan and Hosseini live in the totally different environment with different religious and cultural background, and belong to different times, both of them worry about the future of mankind. Therefore, with compassionate feelings, they try to find a way out for human beings. All these discrepancies and similarities are reflected in their works—The Pilgrim's Progress and The Kite Runner.Both works have strong religious flavor, and these different religions are presented through the two protagonists. In The Pilgrim's Progress, the doctrine of justification by faith in Christianity is thoroughly demonstrated through the main character Christian, while in The Kite Runner, we can see that Islam pays special attention to good deeds through the experiences of its protagonist Amir. These two religions have the essential difference. Nevertheless, both of them share the same humanist spirit:they care about the inner hearts of human beings, especially for those who have committed sins and have been tortured by their own conscience. Such people live a very painful life, and they can not forgive themselves. Only though redemption can they find peace and freedom in their hearts. The suffering of Christian and Amir in both books is a case in point. They are tortured deeply by their sins, become the slaves of sins, and can not get released. Therefore, they have to step on their road to seek redemption. In spite of the difficulties and sufferings, they finally succeed in finding a way out and getting relieved from their sins. In the end, both of them get peace and renewed lives.Although these two works are written in different ages, they share a common awareness of crisis, which is obviously influenced by eschatological views. In The Pilgrim s Progress, Christian enters into the eternal kingdom in the end, which demonstrates the hopeful viewpoint on eschatology, that is, the end of the world is not really the end of all things, but the Day of Judgment and the beginning of the eternal kingdom of God. As for this point, Islam holds the similar perspective, which is also illustrated in The Kite Runner. Facing this crisis, how do mankinds find a way out? How can their souls be saved? As for the answer, these two books, however, hold different attitudes towards the future of human beings. In The Pilgrim's Progress, Christian's success of arriving in the Celestial City clearly indicates that human beings can have a bright future if they return to faith, while in The Kite Runner, there is no clear ending, and the story just ends with "I run", which seems to suggest that the future of human beings is in the air, just like the flying kite.
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