Throughout Bunyan's great allegories his prime concern was that people would be able to discern the way to heaven. The 'Footman' is an athlete dogged in the pursuit of 'winning' the race.
Bunyan wants us to be able run the race of the Christian life and finish the course so that we might all meet in Heaven. As he states in this book: - 'Farewell, I wish our souls may meet with comfort at the journey's end.'
Based on the text 'so run that ye may obtain' (1 Cor. 9:24), Bunyan's terse and racy style gives us vital guidance on how to complete the journey. This is regarded as one of the classic texts to have come from the Puritan era on Christian living. Bunyan is well known for his perceptiveness in describing human motivation and thought processes with discernment as he gives us the 'description of the man who gets to heaven.'
