Educated is an all-consuming memoir. Tara Westover allows the reader to take a seat and read but even more so feel how she felt while becoming a woman of strength and dignity. Every person grows up differently and every person respect things and others differently. Some accidents in life happen to hopefully show how grateful and thankful you are for those in your life.
Moments before utter chaos there was a calm about the Westover family. They were all peaceful just riding down the road. Even though they were fussing at home over something so meaningless they still began their journey in a peaceful and silent way. This peace the family felt was one like no one would ever feel in the memoir until now, it was so peaceful Tara fell asleep as they drove farther and farther from home. All of a sudden Tara “awoke when the car hit the first utility pole” (36). The sudden clash made Tara feel and hear something like never before. Everyday people hear and feel the same terror that Tara felt. The pain that Tara felt was not just from the crash but from the fear of losing her family. Westover did not realize how much she valued her family until this crash, of course no one really would want to deal with the stress of a father that is overbearing or overprotective but it is all for what Mr. Westover believes to be her best interest. The crash put things into perspective for Tara and her family as they all were crying out for one another to be sure no one had died.
Audrey called each sibling and parents name so that she could be sure she had not lost anyone. Tara’s sister was afraid of losing the most important people in her life as anyone would be. Audrey felt that pain and terror that many feel on a daily basis and it put the life she had in perspective. Mr. Westover is one that never shows much emotion if any and he was worried. He allowed what little bit of emotion he wanted his family to believe was not there to show. He cried out for his kids and wife to respond. He cried out for his wife “Are you okay?” (37) with no answer. He called out again and after too many times of asking his beloved bride responded. Mr. Westover truly had felt nothing like this before. The thought of losing his precious bride tore him to pieces. No man, woman, or child ever wants to go through this deep hurt, but Tara allowed it to make her stronger and more observant. The feelings she had allowed her to see it in others and she used that to make a difference in her family.
Tara could tell when they got home how her brother blamed himself for the accident and for the pain, he put his mother in. But Tyler could not figure out how to make up for it. The pain was too much to bear and “Tyler’s guilt was all-consuming” (39). Any mention of the accident took Tyler back to square one. He felt terribly and would wish he could take it make and make it all go away. The guilt Tyler felt was not only of the accident but of the way he refused to listen to his mother when she suggested that the trip was a bad idea. His mother even suggested that they wait until morning so no one would be as tired. Tyler and his father demanded to go on and the accident was a result.
While reading this book so far there has been a lot of things a reader would notice but one of the biggest things that seems to stand out is how much guilt every Westover family member carries. The guilt that they hold within themselves is full of doubt and it keeps them from soaring and being the best, they can be. As a reader it is valuable to see how the writer expresses herself to such a broad audience. There are not a lot of people in the world that are comfortable with letting anyone and everyone know their hardships, but Westover wants you to know her hardships because she wasn’t you as a reader to take them and keep them from bringing you down. This memoir is more about helping someone out of their chaos than telling her life story.
Works Cited
Westover, Tara. Educated. Random, 2018
Carlee 