Introduction
Educated is a memoir written by Tara Westover in order to describe her life in a religious family and how it was changed by her decision to receive an education. Raised with an extremist mindset installed by parents, Tara faces other knowledge and worldviews that gradually affect her identity. In this work, the main issues of the book, along with its reflection in modern society, are analyzed.
Issues Raised in the Book
The book raises several essential issues, and one of them is the impact of parents’ beliefs and lifestyles on their children’s well-being, perceptions, self-assessment, and identities in general. Since early childhood, parents have influenced a child’s basic cultural, moral, and religious values and future-related choices. Mother and father serve as role models, and children tend to seek their guidance and consider their opinions, especially in the case of strong family bonds. It goes without saying that people with strong moral principles and respect for others’ individual peculiarities try to raise their children in accordance with ethical norms considering their special needs and wishes at the same time. However, parents’ beliefs based on blindness and intolerance may be detrimental to their children’s identities.
The negative impact of parents’ influence on children is vividly depicted in Educated. Tara is from an abusive and radicalized Mormon family of survivalists who lives in the mountains of Idaho (Westover, 2018). Guided by paranoid fears related to the federal government’s interference in his life, her father refuses to receive birth certificates, medical attention, and any other help from local services. In addition, he does not allow his children to attend school, believing that “public school was a ploy by the Government to lead children away from God” (Westover, 2018, p. 14). All in all, in his family, he created an environment based on religious norms, radical self-sufficiency, and hard work, which substantially influenced Tara’s perceptions of the world and identity. In other words, she views her family’s existence as the right one, and only the readiness of Tyler, her elder brother, to estrange himself from the family for education sparks her interest in other opportunities in life.
Another important issue raised in the book is the process of maturity within the framework of a conflict between well-established personal beliefs and the outside world’s ideas. When Tara lives with her family, her parents’ beliefs considerably impact her own ones, however, her study at Brigham Young University demonstrates how little her father and mother know about the world and how little they explained to her about it (Westover, 2018). In particular, she is impressed by the lessons dedicated to human history, human rights, and the civil rights movement. She perceives the significance of inequality, its role in people’s lives, the necessity to confront it, and the inner power of people who dare to do it.
At the same time, by receiving more and more knowledge, Tara starts to realize its power and the detrimental effect of her family’s offensive ignorance. For instance, when once she comes home, her brother Shawn starts to humiliate her by calling her Nigger all day long (Westover, 2018). Reflecting on “a thousand times I had been called Nigger, and laughed, and now I could not laugh,” Tara realized that education had changed her and her personal values and beliefs (Westover, 2018, p. 189). It goes without saying that the author’s story reflects knowledge power, but it is also about finding the strength to change life and admit that significant people’s perceptions may be wrong. Thus, the title of the book refers to this issue – Tara is not educated only due to studying in several universities but due to the understanding of a conflict between her personal beliefs installed by parents and the outside world’s ideas and its resolution.
Finally, the last essential issue raised in the novel but indirectly connected with its subject is the role of women in a patriarchal society. Tara’s family and religious environment support the belief that women are emotionally, mentally, and physically inferior in comparison with men. Her father teaches children that women’s place is in the kitchen, and their morality-related behavior is unstable – thus, women should be monitored and controlled by their male relatives (Westover, 2018). In general, women’s nature is regarded as sinful, and this belief is reflected in Tara’s thoughts: “I evolved a new understanding of the word “whore,” one that was less about actions and more about essence. It was not that I had done something wrong so much as that I existed in the wrong way. There was something impure in the fact of my being” (Westover, 2018, p. 207). Unfortunately, the attitude of her religious community toward women affects Tara as well – living with her family, she perceives herself as sinful and immoral. She feels shame for her maturing body and accept Shawn’s physical and emotional abuse as a given.
At the same time, through education, Tara starts to realize that women are equal to men, religious doctrines are not always right, and all types of abuse are not normal. That is why she decides to confront her parents protecting her younger sister, Audrey, from Shawn’s humiliating activities toward her. However, when she sees that her parents are at their son’s side and justify his actions, she understands that she has nothing in common with them, and staying at home is detrimental to her emotional and physical well-being.
Application of the Book to the Media and Society
In general, Educated reflects multiple issues that exist in modern society, including the inaccessibility of education for rural children, intolerance toward pluralism, and gender inequality. As Tara’s perceptions are affected by her parents’ beliefs, children’s knowledge in rural areas may be limited by the inaccessibility of education due to its price and remoteness as well. As a result, they cannot function properly in a modern globalized world characterized by diversity. Moreover, people frequently face conflicts due to differences in opinions and worldviews, along with the inability to communicate efficiently and reach an agreement. While in the present day, a considerable number of students perceive education as a burden, in reality, it allows to understand one’s own identity and others better. Finally, as reflected by the media, women’s human rights are continuously violated in multiple spheres of life on the basis of stereotypes related to their seeming inferiority that still exist in modern communities, especially religious ones.
Personal Reflection and Conclusion
Educated is a novel written by Tara Westover, in which she describes her life in an abusive religious family that refuses education, health care, and communication with the outside world. It is the story of maturing and personal growth through education. From a personal perspective, Educated is a story magnificent in its honesty. It demonstrates the significance of education not as a burden but as a privilege and a unique present for every person. At the end of the book, the author expresses concerns related to the possibility of further communication with her family. I think that she will not meet them again, and the novel is a way to express her feelings about the past for starting a new life. Parents’ beliefs may be different, and their impact on children may be different as well, however, it is education, with its endless opportunities and perspectives, that allows to evaluate the righteousness of adults’ values.
Reference
Westover, T. (2018). Educated: A memoir. Random House.