Educated 3 (9/23)

[Laura]

I’m enjoying and learning from your comments on Educated. One of my favorite parts of teaching was learning from my students. There are topics I have not addressed here, e.g. herbal treatments. Please feel free to comment on this point or any topic.

1. In chapter 7, Westover tells the story of Luke’s burned leg from her memory at the time and then revisits the scene 18 years later. Why does she do that? Near the end of the chapter she imagines her father chanting “The Lord will provide.” Why does she end the chapter this way?

2. In chapter 8, Westover’s piano teacher tells her “to stand powerfully, to take up my own space” (81). I’ve been thinking about taking up my own space as a powerful way of describing what is going on in the memoir as a whole. But the phrasing could also work for anyone growing into what that person was meant to be as a unique person.

3. Chapter 9 has moving parts: Charles, Y2K (almost comic relief?), the musicals. I’m not certain how it all comes together. I googled Tara Westover singing. There are two YouTube recordings. The first is from PBS News-Hour, where she sings a Mormon hymn. The second is from the 2019 Northeastern Commencement where she sings “How Great Thou Art.”

4. The second accident leads to Shawn’s “violent, compassionate act.” Oxymoron? That assessment is juxtaposed with the father Westover wants who is a “defender,” “champion,” a person “who, if I was hurt, would make me whole” (97). The ending of this chapter is similar to the ending of chapter 7. Is Westover judging her father or pleading with him?