Educated

Tara Westover employs various literary devices in Educated, including repetition, imagery, and dialogue. She uses repetition, such as repeating 'BYU' three times, to emphasize its significance to her...

The Ruby Ridge incident profoundly influenced the Westover family's survivalist upbringing by heightening Mr. Westover's paranoia about government intrusion. He believed the government was targeting...

In Educated, Tara Westover recounts two significant car accidents her family suffers. The first occurs when her brother Tyler falls asleep at the wheel, causing their mother, Faye, to sustain a...

Westover's realization in "Fish Eyes" that viewing herself as "unbreakable" and not being affected by Shawn's abuse was actually harmful signifies the internal damage caused by her denial. By...

The relationship between Tara and her mother in Educated is strained and complex. Initially, Tara admired her mother despite her failings. However, as Tara pursued education, tensions arose,...

The mountain serves as a symbol for home in Educated in that it reflects Tara's relationship with her family. Both the mountain terrain and Tara's family pose threats, as Tara suffers abuse from her...

In Educated, Tara Westover receives help first from her brother Tyler in applying to university and then from one of her professors, Dr. Kerry, who encourages her to apply for a program at Cambridge...

Tara Westover faced significant obstacles in pursuing formal education, primarily due to her family's strict, ascetic lifestyle and skepticism of Western medicine. Raised in a small Idaho town, she...

Tara Westover's central idea is that the human spirit can overcome the greatest adversity.

The epigraph by Virginia Woolf suggests that emotions are fully realized only in hindsight, making the past seem more beautiful. Tara Westover likely chose this quote for her memoir to reflect how...

In Educated, what is important about Tara's never having heard of the Holocaust is that it shows how she's been kept in ignorance by her father. Homeschooled by her far-right survivalist father, Tara...

Westover's ignorance of the word "Holocaust" in her first college class is significant because it highlights the extent of her educational gaps due to her isolated upbringing in a survivalist Mormon...

The mountain in rural Idaho symbolizes the insular world created by Tara Westover's father, shaping the family's experience in Educated. As a survivalist, he views the outside world with suspicion...

The purpose of Educated: A Memoir is to shine a spotlight on the importance of education. It creates a stark contrast between the world of traditional Mormonism and a young woman who gets an...

Tara's education is incompatible with maintaining a relationship with her parents because her parents, who are radical Mormons, believe that education is dangerous and leads people away from God,...

Tara decides that she can no longer collude with Shawn's abuse because she realizes her own worth through the process of breaking away from her family. Gen and Faye are determined to cover for Shawn...

Tara persists in returning to Buck's Peak in Educated in order to address her childhood as a newly-independent adult. By revisiting and documenting Shawn's violence against her, Tara is validated and...

Tara Westover's homeschooling consisted of Biblical lessons and conspiracy theories in Educated, but not much else. Tara's parents were fundamentalist Christians and fiercely rejected modern science...

The episode in Chapter 5 highlights Tara's extreme isolation and ignorance of basic hygiene, reflecting her father's influence and neglect. Her lack of awareness about hand-washing underscores her...

Tara Westover's story exemplifies the extent to which religious fundamentalism can distort otherwise well-intentioned people and make them vulnerable to manipulation. Because Tara was not allowed to...

Tara Westover believes that being educated involves more than traditional schooling; it includes lived experiences and self-discovery. Raised without formal education, she learned from helping her...

The accidents in "Educated" blur the line between unfortunate incidents and neglect due to the parents' responses. After a car accident causes Tara's mother's brain injury, her father refuses...

Although Tara’s journey is one of self-discovery, she is not alone. Her brother’s example and her father's injury help to spur her on.

What happens to a person may provide motivation to change that situation, as her parents’ anti-school attitude did for Tara in Educated. Although people have no control over many events in their...

The main themes of Educated: A Memoir include the conflict between reality and delusion, the importance of formal education, and the complex nature of familial love. The memoir explores how Tara...

The central characters in Tara Westover's memoir are her fundamentalist Mormon family, particularly her survivalist father and herbalist mother. The narrative focuses on their isolated life in Idaho,...