Escape By Carolyn Jessop Summary

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The book Escape told by Carolyn Jessop is a look into the scary reality of a polygamist family. Born into the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, (FLDS) Jessop describes the life in a cult and her adventure of escaping the FLDS. The FLDS emerged in the 1930s as a fundamentalist offshoot of the Mormon church. They believe that God has ordained polygamy and it is a requirement for anyone who wishes to reach the highest level of heaven. In this religion most men have three wives on average but some have had as many as 100 wives. However Jessop was born into a family that had two wives. When she was 18 she was sent to marry a 50 year old man. Jessop was married to him for 15 years and had eight children with him. After a portion of her life passed …show more content…

She and her siblings were beaten everyday by their mother so much that is was a routine. The children knew that every morning they were going to be hit by their mother and prepared for the whipping so they could get it over with for the day. Another health connection is the beliefs of the FLDS. It was believed that a man had several wives and many children with each wife to reach the highest level of heaven. Woman at the age of 18 were sent off to marry a man they didn’t know. Polygamy is said to be illegal in the United States but people especially in Utah find a way around the law and continue practicing polygamy and child abuse every day. Jessop was emotionally and physically mistreated throughout her childhood and adulthood. She was frightened as a child when witnessing children at school being physically harmed that she walked home from school instead of taking the bus. Children were well behaved in the FLDS because of the information that was drilled into them from a very young age. I think that the book Escape was a good read and interesting story about the life of the people of the FLDS. I would recommend this book for people to read because of the positive message. Escape touches on very sensitive subjects and mature topics that may not be suitable for younger kids, but has a positive overall message to keep

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