Even though some may consider their beliefs to play a major role in their lives, that isn't the case for me. I have never been a religious person; rather, I find the whole idea of religion to be overwhelming. Growing up, my family seemed, for the most part, apathetic about religion. I think that this apathy was transferred to me. My lack of beliefs has, thus far, posed no problems. Having no beliefs makes it difficult for anybody to challenge them. I've gotten so comfortable with a life without religion that I think it would be very difficult for me to change and see things from a different perspective.

In Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, strong Christian beliefs are urged and upheld for the narrator, Jeanette. She was adopted by a woman who spent every waking moment dwelling on God and his will. Jeanette's mother adopted her with the intention of conditioning her to be a missionary, doing God's work. For a staggering portion of her life, Jeanette is raised in a sheltered world where all she is exposed to is her church and her family. The bubble that Jeanette is placed in evokes an inability to relate to her peers when she is finally forced to attend public school. Jeanette quickly begins to doubt some of the things that she has been conditioned to believe. She begins to suspect that her mother has been withholding information that is potentially monumental, and Jeanette hungers to know what her mother has been hiding for so long. "She thought I was satisfied, but I was wondering about her, and wondering where I could go to find out what I wanted to know." (75) She knows that her mother won't tell her what she wants to know, so, for the first time in her life, she seeks a new source that does not possess the obvious bias that her mother does.