How we cite our quotes: Paragraph (P#) or Line (Line #)
Quote #10
"Then Atheist fell into a very great Laughter." (P699)
This laughter precedes the much longer speech Atheist launches into about religion, but the action of laughing describes his attitude perfectly. His ridicule for the pilgrims' journey to the Celestial City is based equally on the irrationality of any faith, but also on the appearance of such irrationality to the world. In this way, Bunyan is really associating skepticism with worldly interests. In other words, according to Bunyan, an atheist may think he is simply following his reason, but he is actually more interested in appearing reasonable and rational to the world.