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.
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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