Beginning of Essay
was born and raised in a conventional New England home in the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Her entire family was Christian, but she alone abandoned their religion and opposed the Church. She, like many of her peers, had rejected the rigid traditional views in favor ....

Middle of Essay
.... and practiced this philosophy. Dickinson was brought up by a stern, authoritarian father. In her childhood she was shy and already different from other children. After attending Amherst Academy with other scrupulous thinkers she began to develop into a free-willed person. Many of Dickinson’s friends had continued with their Christianity and her family put an enormous amount of pressure on her to convert. No longer the submissive youngster, she would not compromise her own will on issues such as religion, literature, and personal friendships. Though she cast aside the institutional religion of the Church, she never did reject or accept God. ....