One of li
terary works which has ideas of feminism is Escape by Carolyn Jessop (written with help from Laura Palmer), published by Penguin Books in 2007 is Jessop’s true life story. When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn’s heritage. She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church that had settled in small communities along the Arizona Utah border.
Escape is the autobiographical story of Carolyn Jessop who was the fourth of twelve wives to Merrill Jessop, a leader in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. Carolyn was married to Merrill for 17 years and had eight children with him. When she was 35 years old, she took her eight children and escaped from the FLDS community in the dead of night.
Escape is undoubtedly one of the most bizarre memoirs ever likely to read. It is small wonder that it quickly made it as mark on the New York Times list of bestsellers. Written by Carolyn Jessop, a woman who was born into the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the book describes what it is like to live as part of this cult which is distinctive primarily for its beliefs about polygamy. Polygamy is an ancient practice found in religion and found in the annals of history for a diverse spectrum of civilization. Today, this type of marriage is an important issue. It is crucial because of it gives impact on women, socially and psychologically and has stirred much debate by academics concerned with gender issues.
Indeed, by reading this novel we can learn about the woman rights, doctrines, patriarchal system, which basically does not take sides on the woman. Therefore, expected that if after reading this novel, the reader can know, more sensitive, and learn to respect women’s rights.
