Harriet Jacobs and I shouldn"t even be mentioned in the same essay. She was a 19th century slave girl, who for which nothing went right. I am the privileged son of a doctor getting one of the best educations possible four months from the 21st century. We have only one thing in common: a Christian Faith passed down from our families. In fact, Harriet Jacobs and I have an amazingly similar relationship with our faith in the way that we appreciate it and despise it.

             Harriet Jacobs turned to religion because it was something that could help her get through her life and it was part of her heritage. She was a slave with little chance for advancement in life with a little education and a small family. Religion became the driving force in her life in part because she had little else to turn to. Although religion didn"t remove her from slavery or get Dr. Flint to leave her alone, it was what kept this from absolutely killing her spirit. Also, her grandmother, parents, and first mistress inculcated her with it. To deny religion would have been to deny the most important thing in each one of her loved ones" lives. While it is arguable to say that not much would be different if she had never been introduced to religion, it definitely made her more thoughtful and gave her moral goals.

             Despite the influences of religion in Jacobs"s life, she didn"t always attain her moral goals. Until the very end of the book, she couldn"t confess to her grandmother her transgressions. This indicates that she was struggling with these issues herself. Her first problem was not dealing with the Dr. Flint issue by at least asking for her grandmother"s help. What this eventually led to was her attempt to deal with it herself. Jacobs explains, "It seems less degrading to give one"s self, than to submit by compulsion. There is something akin to freedom in having a lover who has no control over you." So she admits that she subjected herself to degradation merely to make herself feel better about her previous encounters.