https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m By Tara Westover en-us 2019-11-12 22:01:53 UTC 2020-01-05 16:10:35 UTC hello@padlet.com lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420561355 For the first time, Tara realizes that she is different from everyone else. She realizes that she doesn't exist to the government; she doesn't have a birth certificate like everyone else. Tara lives near a highway and she observes a school bus chugging along it. Tara also describes the mountains that surround her or as she calls it, the Princess. She refers to Princess often throughout the autobiography as that is a symbol of her home land. "I am only seven, but I understand that it is this fact, more than any other, that makes my family different: we don't go to school." (xiv)]]> 2019-12-06 00:46:54 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420561355 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420564896 Tara begins to show an interest in school. Her grandmother that isn't apart of her father's ideas about the government, invites to take Tara with her back to Arizona so she can begin attending school. Her grandmother would sneak her off in the middle of the night and drive them both down to the grandma's home and by the time that Monday rolled around Tara would be enrolled in school. Her parents might not even have noticed that she had left as she could just be playing in the woods. Unfortunately, Tara ends up not going to school at that time. ]]> 2019-12-06 00:59:32 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420564896 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420566067 Tara's older brother, Luke, has just turned fifteen. He wants to enroll in Driver's Ed so he can begin driving. To do this, he of course needs a valid birth certificate. Seeing as his father would clearly object to this as the father believes that the government is out to get them, Luke instead goes to his mother. His mother never discusses this with her husband (as far as the author knows) so she instead goes out a birth certificate for Luke and all of Tara's other siblings that don't have birth certificates, including Tara herself. "Once she had begun the paperwork for Luke, Mother decided she might as well get birth certificates for all of us." (19)]]> 2019-12-06 01:04:04 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420566067 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420567185 When Tara is ten, her whole family decides to go on a road trip outside the boundaries of the Princess. This is a huge deal for everyone. For Tara, she is for the first time leaving her beloved mountains. Luke (now 17) is driving and he falls asleep at the wheel. A serious car accident occurs in which the mother receives serious brain damage. She is never the same again. Throughout the results of the event, the father contemplates calling 911 and sending for an ambulance. This would go against everything he stands for as a person with believing that they cannot rely on the government or the government is corrupt. The end up receiving treatment as the crash is so disastrous. ]]> 2019-12-06 01:08:13 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420567185 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420861411 Tyler, one of Tara's older brothers, wants to pursue an education at college. Her dad doesn't like this as he believes Tyler is going to side with the Illuminati now. As Tyler prepares to leave, she gets a glimpse into the life of proper education. ]]> 2019-12-06 16:51:14 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/420861411 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/424706525 Tara's brother Luke is caught on fire helping her father. His legs get doused in gasoline, Luke forgets about it and sparks a small flame next to is leg. In moments, the flames are eating their way up his pant leg. As Tara's mother is gone for the day, she is stuck having to treat and extinguish Luke's legs. She doesn't treat his leg according to her mother's standards but she the best she could with in the circumstances. Later on, Tara thinks back that if she were able to, she would have given Luke morphine for his pain later as he was recovering. "That's when I saw that the jeans on his left leg were gone, melted away." (69)]]> 2019-12-16 19:21:11 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/424706525 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/424709106 Tara begins working for as much money as she can manage. She babysits and sorts nuts whenever she is able to. She wants to get away from her father most of the day; the money being an added bonus. Sooner or later, Tara decides to spend her money. She takes lessons for piano, and soon finds her way to a dance studio. While taking her dance lessons, she interacts with other children. However, they all ignore her. Due to her winter recital required clothes attire, her father forbids her from dancing or learning piano. Instead of dancing or playing piano, she instead takes up voice lessons. Tara excels at this and she sings in her church. Her father shows up to ever single performance she takes part in. "However long he'd worked in the junkyard, he was never too tired to drive across the valley to hear me." (82)]]> 2019-12-16 19:25:27 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/424709106 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/424714638 Acquiring fame from her fabulous church performances with singing, Tara is invited to audition for the musical Annie in a town nearby. Her father allows her to take part and Tara gets the lead as Annie. Through her play rehearsals, she imagines what it would be like to be more normal and fit in with everyone else. She meets a girl that is kind of like her, in terms of their lifestyle at home. Tara manages to meet a boy named Charles and she develops what we assume is a crush on him. ]]> 2019-12-16 19:34:18 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/424714638 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/425115946 Tony needs Shawn to drive his semi truck and deliver some supplies for a little while. Shawn takes Tara with him. As they travel across the Northwest, Shawn teaches Tara martial arts and how to defend herself in case she is attacked. Tara and Shawn get along wonderfully throughout the trip. Later, when they return home, Shawn meets a seventeen year old girl named Sadie. He is verbally abusive to her and countinuely demands services from her while then demanding she get him a totally different object instead. This is a drastic change from his typical kind persona towards Tara. Later, Shawn attacks Tara in the bathroom after he demands something from her and she doesn't obey. He almost breaks her arm, but Tara remembers what he taught her about self defence to try to escape. She fails but gets out safe. Tara doesn't tell anyone. ]]> 2019-12-17 17:44:00 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/425115946 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/425241686 Tara is now fifteen. Her body is changing and she feels it attract more attention from outsiders. Her doing anything with herself, such as wearing different clothes or shorter skirts, can be seen as if she were impure. As she takes more interest in Charles, Shawn notices Tara's actions and appearance around him. Shawn dumps his girlfriend Sadie and Tara thinks things will go back to how they were before with Shawn not abusing her physically and verbally. They don't. In the end, Shawn punches Tara to a pulp. She doesn't recover very well, emotionally. Tyler comes back home from college to help save Tara from Shawn. He tells her that she can go to college too if she just gets a good score on the ACT. She sets her mind towards this prospect of hope to get away from her father's lifestyle. "'Just pass the ACT. One lousy test.'" (120)]]> 2019-12-17 21:25:47 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/425241686 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426332441 Tara begins studying for the ACT test. She has her mom and brother Tyler help her learn trigonometry. Eventually it starts to make more sense. Her father has taken up a job building an industrial building and he needs Shawn's help a lot. As Tara spends time studying at her grandmother's house, she is called by her mother to do go down to the hospital. Shawn got into an accident and fell head first onto the concrete below. His head is internally bleeding, but his father doesn't seem to really care right at the moment that it happens. The doctors have to perform several surgeries on Shawn and his medical bill grows higher and higher. Tara takes care of Shawn when he is taken back home. The doctor's tell his family that his mood and personality will likely change drastically. ]]> 2019-12-20 19:32:48 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426332441 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426335892 To get into the only school she believes she has a chance in, BYU, Tara must achieve a score of 27 on the ACT. After a lot of studying in all 4 subjects, Tara receives a score of 22. At this point, Tara realizes that she cannot be stuck with her dad for much longer. If she doesn't escape she will forever be a child. Her father is against her going to BYU, but she continues to work hard to get in and get a good score on the ACT. Tara starts working on a deadly machine, against Shawn's wishes. "I would remain a child, in perpetuity, always, or I would lose him." (133)]]> 2019-12-20 19:44:58 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426335892 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426338413 One day, while Tara is studying again for the ACT, Shawn gets into another accident. His brain is coming out of his head, nearly. Yet, Tara's father wants Shawn back at home, insisting that her mother can fix it. Tara takes him to the hospital instead. Her father is a little pissed with Tara, but in the end he is a little grateful. Tara once more takes the ACT and she gets a 28. She applies for BYU and gets accepted. She will start in the New Year. "I applied to BYU a week later." (148)]]> 2019-12-20 19:59:17 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426338413 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426340268 Tara enrolls in the wrong classes. She accidently makes a joke about the Holocaust, having never learned about it before. Her classes are going really bad as she never had a proper education. Her roommates don't act proper and they don't conform to God's words. All in all, Tara pushes through and tries her best.]]> 2019-12-20 20:09:24 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426340268 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426880867 Tara is failing college. Some of her first final exams are coming up. She tries studying but it doesn't end up well for her. She starts cheating off her Mormon friend Vanessa. Tara asks if she can study with Vanessa. Vanessa points out that Tara could read textbook and not just look at all the pictures. After that day, Vanessa doesn't talk to Tara anymore, but Tara does pass all her classes with flying colors (except for Western Civilization). ]]> 2019-12-27 14:04:01 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426880867 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426881189 Tara arrives back home after the end of the semester at BYU. Back at home, Tara is hired back at the supermarket but ends up quitting to go work for her father again, reluctantly of course. Tara starts hanging out with Charles. They begin dating, although it's unspoken. He attempts to hold her hand and get closer but her upbringing forces her to be very cautious around boys for fear of being accused of something "unholy".]]> 2019-12-27 14:10:27 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426881189 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426924990 As Tara is home for the summer, Shawn continues to abuse her. He attacks her while Charles is over and Tara insists to Charles that this is normal behavior. Tara has her first experience with proper medicine after she suffers from an earache. She struggles in the new semester at college with advanced algebra. She ends up passing through an extremely rigorous schedule. During Thanksgiving, Tara has another abusive encounter with Shawn where she finally realizes that what Shawn is doing to her isn't for her protection but for his own pleasure. "Then a part of me understands, even as I begin to argue against it, that my humiliation was the cause of that pleasure." (196)]]> 2019-12-28 04:30:04 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426924990 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426947117 Tara is called from her sister about her father. She needs to hurry back home from BYU in Utah to their home in Idaho. Her father has been burned, third degree burns covering his entire body nearly. Her mother treats the burns just as she did with Luke's burns years before. Tara's father can hardly move or take in any water. He is extremely dehydrated, but once more he refuses to go to the hospital. "'If you hurry - leave right now - you can say goodbye.'" (215)]]> 2019-12-28 14:58:22 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426947117 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426947871 Westover, Tara. Educated: a Memoir. Random House, 2018.]]> 2019-12-28 15:12:45 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/426947871 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427044458 After talking to one of her history professors about her class choices, the professor suggests applying for a study abroad program at Cambridge organized by her professor. Her professor states that this experience could "broaden her horizons." Tara applies for the position in England. She is rejected, but her professor can make arrangements to let her partake despite the rejection. While Tara is at Cambridge, she excels spectacularly. She can apply for a Gates scholarship to get a full ride scholarship to Cambridge. She gets the scholarship. Tara finally graduates from BYU also. ]]> 2019-12-30 02:29:01 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427044458 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427320485 Tara learns about feminism. As she goes back to visit her family for the holidays, she sees her feminist side come out. Her father has built a gargantuan extension to the house which Tara calls the Chapel. One day, while everyone is in the Chapel, Shawn's wife, Emily, bursts into the room in hysterics. Everyone gathers around her, wondering if Emily's premature son is okay and asking if Emily herself is okay. Emily tells about how Shawn had hurt her. Slowly, over the course of several weeks, stories come out about what Shawn has done to several girls including Tara and her sister. Because of this, Tara and her mother have a heart to heart discussion discussing how her mother should have been there when Shawn was abusing her instead of just standing by. Her mother speaks once more with Tara a week later saying that Shawn is getting help. "'It's being dealt with," she said. "I told your father what you and your sister said. Shawn will get help.'" (272)]]> 2020-01-02 14:56:49 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427320485 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427652847 Tara is studying for her PhD in history at Cambridge. She also returns to Buck's Peak. There she finds that Shawn has no changed and that her mother lied to her. Shawn has received no help and no one believes her when she says that he does. As time passes, her family begins believing that Tara has been possessed by the devil. As she goes on, she will not give up her education so she does not go through with an exorcism that would take place. Tara slowly loses her siblings to her dad as they do not want to be associated with 'the devil'. Her mother states that she will only speak to Tara if Tara also speaks with her father. ]]> 2020-01-04 22:55:19 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427652847 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427653505 In the end, Tara receives her PhD in history. She loses all her family members except Tyler, Richard, and Tony along with her Aunt Angie. She tells about how the only way she is now able to love her father despite his flaws is if she understands that she made decisions that led her where she is, not her dad. Her whole story of growing up could be described as betrayal or false, but she calls it an education. "I call it an education." (329)]]> 2020-01-04 23:06:21 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427653505 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427722912 2020-01-05 15:55:06 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427722912 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427723279 2020-01-05 15:59:26 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427723279 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427723588 2020-01-05 16:02:39 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427723588 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427723770 2020-01-05 16:04:03 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427723770 lardeale000 https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427724049 2020-01-05 16:06:46 UTC https://padlet.com/lardeale000/uvkvei1p0k0m/wish/427724049