Saturday, July 13, 2019

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Publish your posts here about Educated.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

1. Tara Wessover's writing style can be described as calming and detailed ; when she recalls and describes a moment where danger was present , she puts no emotion and pass it off as if the danger was nothing to her but the norm , and since it is a memoir , a reader would expect a plethora amount of details to further grasp what is happening in the section. For example, when describing her brothers destructive ways , Wessover nonchalantly mentions how they had a TV at one point , but "Shawn had put Tyler's head through it" ( Wessover 94 ). Notice the lack of emotion in her words ; she's treating the action like if she already knew it was going to happen or that it had the potential of happening , and this is the trend for majority of the events she mentions that the average person would consider dangerous or out of the norm. Besides how she displays a consistent amount of calmness , her diction also reflects the family's isolation and their lack of knowledge of the real world. Wessover compares her brothers reckless behavior when they were young and how they decide to grow up and follow their own path as one of a "pack of wolves" (Wessover 94) ; this comparison is very significant as it is not only a unique pattern for the family, but of how it reflects the idea of being alone and away from society. Animals , such as the wolf , usually have to adapt to their environment alone in order to survive. This ongoing theme of self reliance and isolationism are scattered throughout Wessover descriptions of her family's moments and in turn , it is a big part of Wessover personality and controls how she tells her story. Based on Wessover overall writing style and her choice of diction , she seems to tell her story filled with issues and destruction in a very calm tone , suggesting that she is used to her family functioning the way it does. Her style oozes the feeling of isolation, which is a ongoing theme in her novel.

-David Benavides

Yairani Benavides said...

1) Tara Westover’s memoir, Educated, writing style is characterized as narrative since Educated is divided into three parts explaining Tara’s journey as she struggled against her family's devout and fights for an education. Which was something inevitable in her father's eyes as she was going against her religious beliefs. As he believed that the U.S government was corrupting it's citizens by not giving them a religious education. Yet throughout the novel Tara uses a pacify tone as this was her actual life growing up and by putting this tone she wants to smooth her life out as everything she wrote was real. Westover uses italics to portray her own thoughts into her writing. For example, it says “ I can go to school , I had written in my journal that very afternoon” (Westover 243). This moment is significant as the itatics prove Westover’s writing style different than other author's. As Tara had a personal journal where she wrote all of these thoughts growing up and she included them into her memoir by writing them in italics to make it her own. Also, to imply that she was feeling isolated in the moment as her journal was a way of coping with her feelings. Which creates her writing style really meaningful to her. As this is what she had to go through in order to pursue her dream of achieving an education. In this section Westover's diction is used to create a unaccepting tone as she assured that she can buy new clothes “But I am still Tara Westover” (Westover 243). Westover builds a reassuring and regretful tone as she feels like she does not belong in Cambridge not only because they don't dress the same even if they did she says “clothes could not fix what was wrong with me” (Westover 243). Westover thinks she has something “rotten in the inside” (Westover 243). This diction expresses a hypercritical tone of herself as she doubts her value and her knowledge since she feels like she is disobeying her religion, yet she needs to leave that rotten behind and start living the life she deserves in order to shine as the star she is. Furthermore, Tara’s diction makes us conclude that what is keeping her from leaving her pass behind is her dysfunctional parents not approving her education as they are Mormons. In conclusion, Westover’s diction creates a disparaging and disapproving tone in her writing style as she struggles to leave her past behind and live the life she deserves as the intelligent and brave woman she became over the years.
-Yairani Benavides

Unknown said...

In Educated, the authors writing style is a descriptive writing style. Tara is always trying to give the most details when talking about someone. She often gives details about their appearance or how they express themselves in that moment. In a part where she describes her mom she uses very detailed words to show how she is feeling at that time. Words like "her face was illuminated… and it appeared ghostly white".pg(21) The author uses a descriptive diction to make a reflective tone. She describes her mom at this point to reflect on how she looked like and what she was thinking about.

Jesus Castillo said...

Jesus Castillo
In Tara Westover’s memoir Educated, Westover’s style of writing is seen as descriptive because she goes in depth to her early life in a religion ruled household limiting her opportunities in life; ultimately, Tara grows into an independent woman whom is able to make her own decisions. The assertive diction in the beginning of the autobiography expressed by the grandma’a actions towards her son erupts a amusing tone. After Tara’s father discovers milk is “bad” from God he preaches “against milk” triggering his mother to “jammed her fridge full of it”(Westover 5). This section of the third paragraph in the fifth page of the memoir serves the purpose of showing that the reader can be amused by simple story telling that can be missed because of the lack of emotion if the reader reads too fast.

Raul Sandoval said...

Tara Westover meticulously and brilliantly delivers an overwhelming message to the audience just within the first few pages. To begin, Westover proposes rich, juicy ideas to the audience, hooking the reader further into the narrative, but also closes the initial idea with a bang. For instance, in the first paragraph of the memoir, Westover introduces a wild, questionable dream: "The baby doesn't make sense...none of this happened" (Westover 1). However, after some additional context of her family, Westover makes sense of the dream and her role within it: "I leapt to catch the baby" (Westover 11). Westover does this a number of times within the first chapter, wisely utilizing a sense of mystery to captivate the reader.

Yairani Benavides said...

2) Westover’s exigency for writing Educated is to bring her personal life to a bigger audience and bring the theme that everything is possible no matter what faith you believe in, as her family were Mormons and they did not believe in giving their children an education. Although, Tara did not let her parents overrule and brainwash her,and followed her dream of achieving an education. With that said she took the ACT which was the first step she took towards her education. Tara had always a different mindset than her siblings as even her mother knew that she had a future ahead of her as she said “Don’t let anything stop you from going” (134). Even after Tara took the ACT she still doubted herself as she felt that she was disobeying her parents and was scared to lose them. Later, on Tara realized that her family was toxic and it was better for her to escape and isolate herself from all the abuse. This was a turning point where she realized that her education was not her destination it was her journey, and she was going to do whatever it took to achieve her journey even leaving her family behind. The main argument that Tara is building is to not give up on what you believe and do not let others design your journey as you are the only one that can mark the world not others. Tara had many turning points were she just wanted to give up as she felt she did not belong in Brigham University nor in Cambridge, she was ashamed of her past which was keeping her from shining as the beautiful star she was becoming. Tara was a very intelligent woman all that she needed to do was to believe and accept herself just as her true self in order to live the life she deserved. Furthermore, everything Tara passed through made her become the strong woman she became over the years and made her realize that she cannot do anything about her past, she can only learn from it and keep going. My takeaway from this memoir are that if a person really wants to achieve an education or whatever they want to achieve they just have to set their mind to it and really work for it. Yes you will pass through obstacles, but your eagerness and dedication for reaching your goals will be bigger and will push you towards success. -Yairani Benavides.

Unknown said...

Tara Westover motivation for writing "Educated" comes from how out of the norm and unusual her origin story is ; her story is an example of overcoming the obstacles , except that it is hard to relate to someone who has been through the same struggle and faced the same dangers as her. Westover writing this memoir paved the way for other people to come out and share their unusual backstory to further prove the real meaning of "anything is possible". Her motivation is not blatant and is hard to find seeing that is just a memoir about her wild past , however people will recognize her more for having the courage to release the book and share it with the world because releasing a book of this caliber to people who live their lives based on society standards is tough; the public is not familiar with her crazy , isolated lifestyle. So if shedding light on building up the courage to talk about your unusual life was her motivation , then the main argument she was trying to build was that despite the obstacles , such as having an abusive brother like Shawn or facing torment in the junkyard , she was still able to go out and do what seemed helpful for her and the family at the time and go to college , despite her dad not wanting her to go because of the corruption of public school systems and the government ; she wanted to show her readers that although it is difficult living a strict survivalist lifestyle that you are still allowed to seize the same opportunities as someone who lives a normal life , and Westover proved that by attending school and standing up to her family. Westover ignoring her family's ideals opens up another argument of how far Westover moves towards the mainstream and away from her family. As the memoir advances you start to see how Westover adapts to the environment made by society, like when she tried to take pencilin to cure herself from the strep instead of using her mom's oils , or how Westover finally learned about the Holocaust and all the major past events instead of staying isolated from the school just like how her father wanted. As a reader , it seemed clear the direction Westover wanted to take with the memoir. What readers should take away from the memoir is how they are people in the world living like Westover, and to be more considerate about their own status both economically and socially ; being exposed to society, be it good or bad , it's still a luxury because it fills your life with a variety of paths you want to take and or challenges you want to conquer. In other words , it makes your life interesting because there is always something new to experience and learn when partaking in our society, and Westover did not have that for the majority part of her life as it is shown with her lack of knowledge on major events. At the same time however , readers also have to accept that they're people who are wanting to live the way Westover used to live and hide from the government, which makes it difficult for your average reader to take that part of reality in because they've lived their life being a member of society and are already adapted to a more mainstream culture.

- David Benavides

Unknown said...

Tara Westover’s exigency for writing Educated was to have her voice heard. Towards the end of the novel Westover realizes that maybe her “voice is just as strong as theirs”(197), them being people who have been dictating who and what she is like her family. In page 197, Tara states that her “life was narrated for [her] by others”. Here she references how her family has been dictating how her life was like. Tara never was able to tell her own story with her own voice until this memoir. This memoir showcases how Tara finally got to tell her story from what she remembered not by what others told her she remembered. Westover wrote this memoir to show the audience that we all have a story to tell that is uniquely ours. Though her story might seem completely different to how normal ours may sound we can still relate to her story because of how Westover describes her struggles. Though the story is different the message is the same. Some people have faced some way of opposition for wanting something. People have also experienced what having siblings is like. Westover shows that everyone will have an opinion about you and what you will do. Tara had her parents and siblings never allowing her to form an opinion of herself without having the input of her family. Tara grew up believing what her family said about her because that’s all she knew. Tara identified herself as a “whore” because that’s what Shawn has classified her as. But it wasn’t just Shawn’s opinion that rooted this identity of herself in Tara but also the her parents silence and inability to stop Shawn from saying this to her. Because her parents never said anything she believed that they agreed with Shawn calling her a “whore”. Though this is extreme compared to some people’s story of not knowing who they truly are because of parents or someone else’s opinion we can still relate that we haven’t had our own opinion sometimes because of someone else overshadowing our voice and opinions. Westover’s Educated shows how Tara was able to overcome that and speak about who she really is and what she really experienced.

-Edna Moreno

Unknown said...

2) Tara Westover’s motivation for writing Educated was to shed light on her childhood and growing up in an isolationist household led by her delusion father, Gene; Ultimately, Tara proves that it is possible to come out of the conformity set in your surroundings with the support of like minded people. Her memoir highlights the highs, the lows, and the traumatic events that lead her to break away from the toxic environment that is set in her home. Furthermore, Shawn’s abuse towards Audrey and Tara is the key reason for Tara’s departure from her family as they fail to acknowledge Shawn’s horrible acts against his sisters. Westover pursuing her education was a huge step for herself as she was always held in a bubble by her father limiting their learning outside their home. Tara’s brother, Tyler, motivated her in achieving great things in her education while her family was not there to support her. Tara wants to bring her unique life story to share that you are never alone; although your family might disown you for decision you take out of their norms, there will always be peers and family that will be there for you in the lowest moments. As a reader I learned that ignorance can break up families or strong bonds if it greatly affects them. It is important to take risks and if you feel discomfort or alarming potential growth it is best to take action for your own greater good. Guilt can be present when making these choices but I believe it is part of the process; Tara’s education transformed her to be seen as a traitor in her family’s eyes but she is aware of the knowledge she carries and the knowledge she’ll continue to gain from her pursuits. In all, Educated by Tara Westover can be motivating to readers who are not accepted by their families because they do not fit in their conformity.
-Jesus Castillo

Raul Sandoval said...

From questionable paradigms derived from her father’s eyes, laughable habits held within the family, and dangerously harmful moments, Tara Westover lets her audience know—on a personal level—the qualities of a family held together by slim thread. And although Westover speaks meticulously and purposefully with her words, her motives elaborate on many different controversial topics for the duration of the book; there are a multitude of ways to interpret her experiences—most of them regarding the issue of bad parenting. The origin of a good memoir comes from the worst stories. Westover’s childhood dominates her book, but her parents are its spine. The lack of a good parental leader within the story forces the audience to question their own lives, but more importantly, question the outcome of having unconventional role models. What will become of the offspring of these unorthodox and near-delusional parents? How did Tara make her way here—to the land of the ones who cling onto sanity? To a high degree, Tara Westover delivers a message to her wide audience: good parenting is pertinent towards youth success and accomplishment in this bitter, gruesome world, encouraging her readers to learn from her parents’ mistakes. Within Westover’s universe, the struggle of maintaining dominance over her life appears exponentially: obeying her father as they loaded steel, controlling an undomesticated horse, and complying to Shawn’s harshness. In short, this memoir serves as a definitive ‘on the come up’ story. Just looking at the first half of Westover’s story, it becomes evident: a young Tara is introduced as obedient to her father’s demands of unnecessarily jarring food for The End of Times, and as her story develops, Westover begins to subconsciously construct well-etched barriers that prevent her from reaching maximum potential. To conclude, Westover elaborates on countless issues that persistently arise within families. As well told of a story this was, Westover’s overall message to her audience was to become better, more insightful people by telling us about the negative inflictions of her everyday childhood life.