When you were young did your parents deny you of an education because it was ungodly, forced you to work in a junk yard because you had to help the family business, or even be forced to bring your brother home for medical attention after he was in an almost fatal car accident? Frankly, I doubt any of these have happened to you, but these are just some of the things that happened to Tara Westover. Tara grew up on a small farm in rural Idaho as the youngest of 7 children. Her parents, Gene and Faye, had the goal of raising all their children as perfect mormons. Tara’s father, Gene, believes that the government is always watching them and that there is a sort of impending doomsday that will eventually be upon them. This belief results in Faye, Tara’s mother, becoming a midwife so she is able to provide care for the family and eventually help repopulate the world when they survive the doomsday. This also results in Gene being very untrustworthy of the government and all things that are related to the government. His hate for the government grew as he had more children. His eldest few had their birth certificates at least, but as more and more children came along he started to not allow them to have birth certificates or even attend public school. This book really surprised me in the way it was written and the way that the story was told. The story is based on the real life experiences of Tara Westover and how she makes her way through life trying to adapt to the outside world after being sheltered by her family for so many years. I think it's incredible how Tara’s emotional changes are written throughout the book, it’s transmitted to the reader very well and really makes you feel that she did have this emotional change rather than just stating it blandly. I think the book conveyed multiple important factors of Tara’s life and really made the reader think about how all of the things happening affected adult Tara’s opinion of those around her. This is shown specifically in the book when Tara’s finally makes it into college. When she arrives she is basically disgusted at how other people, especially other women, are dressing. As she is supposed to be attending a primarily Mormon college, she expects that all of the other people attending would have been just like her. It’s conveyed extremely well in the book when she finally starts to notice that her father may be slightly deranged, and how she begins to rebel against him. While reading this book I definitely felt a multitude of emotions from happy, to sad, angry, empathetic, and even disgusted. The book “Educated” has the capability of having the reader feel almost any emotion you can think of, and in my opinion it’s almost entirely based on how you were raised. This book really made me realize how well off I am and how loving my family is. Even though I may be mad at my parents occasionally, I know that I will never have to suffer through what Tara did. It practically gave me a whole new perspective on life and how I should be living it. I need to be more grateful for what I have and help those who may not be as fortunate. Caden M.
0 Comments
Have you ever thought about others around you and how they’re feeling? I didn’t realize how mental illness can affect anyone until I read The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart. Ever since Lily found her sister, Alice, hurting herself, she has been trying to keep it together for her family, but she is coming to terms with her own anxiety disorder while watching her sister go through a mental illness. After Alice being at a treatment center for about 2 months, Lily is dealing with school, friends, family, grades, and track. Micah, who was in treatment with Alice, soon gets paired with Lily for a school project. Micah tries to help Lily understand not only her sister and her feelings, but her own feelings. They soon become very close, but Lily is finding things to be difficult when she starts to have her own panic attacks, and thoughts spiraling. The Words We Keep is very powerful, emotional, sad, hopeful, and much more. Before reading this book, I knew what anxiety and depression were, but I didn’t really realize how it can affect people’s day to day lives. It makes me think about my family and friends, because I know that nobody around Lily knew how she really felt. It shows how stigma can keep people from speaking up about mental health. The author really gives you a good look on how people with a mental illness really see life and how they think. It really truly is hard to have a mental illness, and I don’t think people really think about it and how people are struggling. I noticed how Lily never spoke up about her feelings and thoughts, so no one ever knew that she was struggling. I think that Lily’s coach and her dad were really hard on her, which also contributed to her starting to have panic attacks. It shifted my view on depression and anxiety and it really makes me think about others, and how others are struggling silently. It helped me have a more open mind and better understanding of mental illnesses. I feel that Lily didn’t really have anyone to talk to or anyone to open up to. It was interesting to read about Lily and her thoughts because it really truly does give me a better view on mental illness. I have realized that I am very lucky to be able to go home and know that I don’t have to keep things from my parents or friends, and that I have someone to talk to. It is important to read about people that are different from yourself, because it helps you become empathetic. From reading this book I have learned more about myself, and I think that I understand the feelings of those around me better. By: Marri Feuerhelm On a Scale of 1 to 10 is about a girl who is being transferred to a mental hospital and we don’t know why at first, but as the book continues we figure it out. This book changes perspectives of a young girl named Tamar from before she was in the mental hospital to during the time she was in it. Tamar is having a rough time because she thinks she killed her friend Iris, which is not what happened at all and you'll learn that towards the end of the book. During her time at the mental hospital she goes through ups and downs. One of her ups was making new friends, and one of her downs is just the fact she has to be there. A lot of things happen to her that aren't necessarily good in this book. When perspectives change, It helps a lot with letting you know what happened to make her have to go to the mental hospital. In the end, one of her really good friends, Elle, she met there has to leave her, but Tamar gets to go home. She ends up figuring out her purpose in life and knowing her worth. Some things that surprised me in this book was how hard it truly is to have to go to a mental hospital. Having friends you meet there having to leave and not being able to see them again, being watched twenty four seven, and having to be away from family. I noticed that this book was very detailed in the writing. The author had the first person (Tamar) explain her story very well. I have a very hard time understanding books, so I liked how this one was easy for me to understand and didn’t mix words around in weird ways. I also love books where people tell their story. Not action or anything, just someone telling what they went through and what they have overcome through their life. Something I learned about myself while reading this book was that although it was very sad and hard to read at some points, I enjoyed it. Watching her overcome certain things in her life that were very challenging to her made me happy, especially in the end when she felt like she was actually worth something. This book has changed me in the ways I think. You truly never know what someone is going through, so before assuming, stop and think. This book was a very sad book, and made me feel sad sometimes, but I think people should read it even though it may be a sensitive topic for them. It truly shows what people can overcome after the hardest things in life. It shows to never doubt yourself and never give up in life even though it may seem like a disaster. This was a great book and I'm glad I got the chance to read it. by Joey M. Punching Bag is a memoir of Rex Ogle and his upbringing. Ogle talks of how difficult his home life was, between his likely mentally unwell mother and his abusive stepfather. In this story, Ogle is only 16 and is continuously trying to protect his younger brother, Ford from not having such a childhood as he’s had so far. The setting is always at home, almost as if the author is trying to convey how inescapable this terror really was. Ogle was consistently urging his mother to leave his stepfather for a better and less abusive life, but every time his mother refused. Ogle suffered this utter pain and torture for 18 gruesome, bloody years. This book is very intense, to say the least. As soon as the book opens, you’re immediately introduced to the mood of the book and how tiresome this constant abuse truly was. It made me think and worry quite a bit about my peers around me-- what if they were going through a similar situation? What if their home isn’t safe? What if? It shifted my worldview just a bit, just enough to want to do something about it. But, really what can you do? In this book, the cops are called for a disturbance in Ogle’s home after a fight between Ogle’s mother and stepfather. Instead of telling the police the truth, Ogle lied to protect his mother. How many abused children have done this? How many abused children have had to cover their bruises and scars? How many abused children have had to protect the younger ones from harm? From their own parents? Most of all, the book hurt my heart. I felt angry at Ogle’s mother because she wouldn’t leave him. Ogle did a wonderful job putting you into each and every situation with intense word choice but somehow keeping it adolescent to remind you that he really is just a kid. I constantly felt as if I was walking on eggshells right along with him, I felt helpless for him. He can’t leave, he has nowhere to go; he can’t leave, he’ll leave Ford behind; he can’t leave, his mother will find him soon. There is no solution for him, and he perfectly conveys that in his memoir. I sincerely hope he is doing well today. By Kealy H. Do you think you are smart enough to go to Harvard? What if you never had formal education? Everyone who isn’t lying to themselves would say no. But the book Educated would prove you wrong. Educated follows the true story of Tara Westover, a girl who did that very thing. Tara Westover was born the youngest of seven children in a house in Idaho surrounded by a serene mountain and a junkyard. Tara’s family were extremely strict Mormons, who were seen as crazy by almost everyone in the nearest town, which was predominantly Mormon. Tara’s father was the source of their ways; he believed they were one of the few righteous Mormon families following the correct life of God’s teaching, and everyone else was evil gentiles. He believed the government was the source of most evil and indoctrination, which among many, meant avoiding hospitals no matter the cost, attempting to have his children undocumented, and not placing his children in school. Tara endured extreme physical and mental abuse by her parents and siblings, most notably by her brother Shawn. Educated shows how slowly Tara starts to question the highly damaging lies her father fed her that she kept as truth for her entire life. Eventually, she decides to go against her father’s will and attend college. This was a hard task as she had never been to public school and her mother had failed at homeschooling her. After a lot of studying, however, she got a good enough score on the ACT to attend BYU. There she slowly learned how little she understood of the world. She was miles behind her peers in knowledge but had an extreme work ethic and natural smarts, and she eventually earned a scholarship to Cambridge University in London, then went on to get a Ph.D. at Harvard. Through her academic journey, she learned more about the world and became fluently aware of the abuse she faced in her childhood. Educated ends with Tara walking through the struggles of choosing to remove her family from her life, and the immense unexpected challenges she faces through the process. Educated is jammed packed with things I could write pages about. It makes it hard to write about how the book made me think as a whole without further focusing on one specific idea. One of these parts was the way it talks about Tara’s father’s mental health. When you think of someone with a mental illness, you immediately think of the effects it has on their life. But rarely is the first thought on how profusely it affects the lives of the people close to the person with a mental illness. It is clear that Tara’s father has some sort of mental illness. Tara spoke to many professionals and concluded that it could be bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, but he never took any tests so he was never diagnosed. Tara and her family's lives were completely different because of Tara's father. Tara wrestles with the idea of hating her dad. She hated the way he raised her and the struggles he caused her later in life. But since she believes her dad has a mental illness, does she hate her dad, or the illness? She tries to see her dad empathetically and instead of hating him for what he did, pity him for the delusion he is in. In the end, she decided to remove her dad from his life, as he was significantly detrimental to her mental well-being. This really made me think about balancing the sacrifice of some of our own well-being to help others, while also prioritizing your own mental well-being. Educated has made me realize how significantly someone’s background determines their personality. Before Tara went to college, most of everything she knew came from her father. Her thoughts and actions were completely different before she went to college than after. In the book, she doesn’t describe this change as normal growth, but as her actually changing into a different person. This book has significantly changed how I look at people and how they act. It doesn’t make me judge them for their background and make assumptions about what they are like based on it, instead, I find myself imagining what it is like to be in their situation. This greatly helps me understand why they do what they do. For example, one of my closest friends is the oldest sibling, with one middle school sister and two elementary brothers. I am the youngest sibling with an older brother in college. This isn’t a very big difference, but I can notice its effects on our personalities. My friend is the first child of his parents to go to high school, so everything seems a lot more stressful for them as it is all new. Meanwhile, my parents have already gone through the process of having a kid in high school, so they know what they are doing. Freshmen year was a lot harder for him than for me because he went in not knowing any of the upperclassmen, while a lot of the juniors and seniors knew me since a lot of them were friends with my brother and had been coming to my house every week for years. There are plenty of other examples of how this simple difference actually affects our lives and personality a lot. Recognizing this helps me to be a better friend as I am able to better understand why he may do some things differently, so I’m not quick to tell him that he’s wrong and I’m right. Educated helped me build empathy by showing how someone’s decisions may seem wrong to me, but in reality, their actions are just a byproduct of their circumstances. By Liam Chamberlain I never truly understood the importance of education until I read about Tara Westover's life. She lived a childhood unimaginable and overcame her trauma while learning about a world unfamiliar to her own. Westover grew up in an off-the-grid home in Idaho and was raised by her bipolar father and mother who follows him mindlessly. Tara faces conflict with her extreme father and abusive brother at a young age. Her father preaches ideals of the education and medical systems being run by large organizations, like the government or illuminati. Tara grew up without a birth certificate, schooling, or contact with a real doctor. Her mother was a midwife and herbalist, delivering children at home and using herbal remedies to “heal” injuries. When Tara’s brother suffered third-degree burns on his leg, or her father burned half his skin off they were both entirely healed at home. It isn’t until Tara begins her education journey that she recognizes the influence her upcoming has had on her perception of the world. Tara’s story is one that evokes confusion and shock. The morals Tara’s father expresses to his family are beyond my own comprehension. He describes his dislike for the education system, medical system, and government in a highly harsh fashion. He fails to make a logical argument as he lacks any rational evidence to back his claim up. It makes me question where he discovered such radical thoughts in the first place. When Tara leaves for college she is still brainwashed with these absurd morals. This created an apparent divide between her and her peers also attending BYU. She got weird looks because of her modest clothing and was often yelled at by roommates for her lack of hygiene. What surprised me the most was her lack of knowledge about the world. Classes discussing the civil rights movement and the Holocaust left Tara confused as she had never heard of these things before. It was very clear that Tara had grown up with a much different childhood than those around her. Educated helped me realize that my perception of the world is much smaller than it should be. Tara’s life only took place 1,000 miles away from my home, in a place I would have never imagined. The story of brainwashing and abuse is one I would never expect to hear about in the United States. Now I realize that horrible and heartbreaking stories can occur closer to home, and my eyes are much more open to the world. I am able to perceive stories with greater empathy for those experiencing them. I could especially feel my empathy grow while reading Tara’s story. When she described her hardship throughout the story, it was as if I was feeling it with her. When she was happy, I was happy. When she was sad, I was sad. I felt an overwhelming feeling of compassion for Tara and all the hardships she faced. By McKenzie R. The title itself is plenty to explain the story, it's confusing yet seems to make sense at the same time. Not only does it provide an interesting read, but is also beautifully crafted to make someone question their outlook on mental health and their assumptions of people. John Green’s book Turtles All The Way Down uses high school romance, friendship, loss, and mystery as the background for an interesting story that takes a look into the mind of a 16-year-old girl suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. With that, the book provides this look into Aza's mind by having her tell the story. By that, I got to "see" the seemingly wild thoughts of someone diagnosed with OCD. In my mind, the book was... odd... to read as there is a lot of focus placed on recurring ideas and lines as well as metaphors, which make the book a bit repetitive. However, I think this is outshined by the fact that this is how Green depicts Aza's OCD and does a fantastic job of it due to his personal experience with OCD. As far as the book changing my thinking goes, I think it's done a brilliant job of making me question why with most books that I have read, do mental problems never get brought up in any sense. Perhaps I just need to expand my horizons and read some more books like this. All in all, the interesting combination of genres and characters makes for an eye-opening read. A major piece I've taken away from this has to do with one of Green's quotes, "Your now is not your forever". I think this is quite self- explanatory, but being able to have examples to apply it to and being able to read it makes it inspiring. Anyway, reading this book has helped me question lots about what I read. With that, I've realized that there is quite a lot that I can change having to do with my outlook on mental illness and peoples' problems in general. Basically, I need to read more that have to do with peoples' different situations in life and learn more about what those people have to deal with so that I can apply that to my ideas and thought process. by Max W. |
AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
All
Archives
November 2022
|