Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Enthusiastically Pious
Even during her darkest moments, Pamela holds on to her faith in a higher power that will help keep her safe. When she considers drowning herself but ultimately abandons the plan, despite the fact that she remains in Mr. B's clutches, she revels in God's protection:
[T]ho' I should have prais'd God for my Deliverance, had I been freed from my wicked Keepers, and my designing Master; yet I have more abundant Reason to praise God, that I have been deliver'd from a worse Enemy, myself! (55.17)
So, yeah. God isn't doing much about the assault-and-imprisonment, but in Pamela's world, it's enough that he saved her from suicide. Take a look at another except, this one coming way toward the end, after she's locked down Mr. B and things are really looking up:
All that I value myself upon, is, that God has raised me to a Condition to be useful in my Generation, to better Persons than myself. This is my Pride: And I hope this will be all my Pride. For what was I of myself!—All the Good I can do, is but a poor third-hand Good; for my dearest Master himself is but the Second-hand. GOD, the All-gracious, the All-good, the All-bountiful, the All-mighty, the All-merciful GOD, is the First: To HIM, therefore, be all the Glory! (103.2)
Breathe, girl! With all the capitals and exclamation points, she's really working herself up into an enthusiastic fit—and probably working up her readers, too. (Hey, no YouTube; eighteenth-century readers had to get their kicks in print.)