How did Tara's parents support her decision to audition for Annie?

After Tara's father is outraged at her dance recital, her mother suggests she take voice lessons instead. Tara sings a hymn at church, and her father, proud of her talents, allows her to audition for a role in a local production of the musical Annie.

What was Tara's mother reaction to Tara applying to college?

After her father warns her again about pursuing college studies, Tara tells her mother that she doesn't think she will go to school after all. Surprisingly, her mother is insistent that Tara ought to go. Tara continues her studies while also helping her father with his scrapping work.

Why does Tara's father encourage her mother to become a midwife?

Tara reveals that Mother's apprenticeship in midwifery had been Dad's idea—“one of his schemes for self-reliance.” He wanted for her to learn how to bring babies into the world so that in the “End of Days,” she'd be able to deliver babies.

What event causes Tara's father to force the family to begin doomsday prepping?

He also tells his children about an incident where Federal agents shot a family who refused to send their children to school. Living in fear of an impending attack from the Feds, Tara grows up watching her family stockpile food, supplies, and weapons.

How did Tara's father feel about her dancing in the ballet?

What did Dad think about the dance recital? Even though Tara didn't do some of the dance moves that would lift up her sweatshirt, Dad was still very angry. He shouted at Mother for letting Tara do something sinful.

Author Tara Westover’s Incredible Story About Leaving Her Strict Survivalist Family

How did Tara's mother influence her?

Mother is defined by her obedience and indifference—she allows Dad to control her and her children's lives, she allows Shawn to abuse his siblings and effectively rule the roost, and she allows Tara to suffer physically, psychologically, and emotionally as a result of both men's constant cruelty.

How was the relationship between Tara and her father?

Tara's father has no other framework to guide his relationship with his daughter. If he cannot dominate and control her, he will choose to not have a relationship with her at all.

How did Tara's brother abuse her?

Tara soon had her own firsthand experience with Shawn's volatility when he, without warning, put his hands around her head and violently twisted it—to help pop her neck back into place following the accident, or so he claimed.

How did Tara's father get burned?

Her father has been injured in an accident where a fuel tanker exploded, and has suffered severe burns to his face and fingers. Tara goes to Idaho, horrified by her father's condition. Against all odds, Gene slowly begins to recover.

Did Tara Westover ever marry?

There is no evidence that she is currently married. Regarding Tara Westover's husband, the only information disclosed is that she was once in a relationship with Drew Mecham. The rest of his personal details remain private and unavailable in the public domain.

Is Educated a true story?

The stories are true stories. They are not fiction. And that's why they're so compelling to read.

What did Tara's father want proof of from Tara?

She reveals all her stories about Shawn's violence and abuse, but Dad demands proof. Tara tries to calmly tell him that he's already seen the proof with his own eyes, but Dad accuses Tara of coming home to “raise hell” and trying to put Shawn in prison.

What does Tara's father spend his life preparing for?

Growing up with a paranoid father who was consistently preparing for the end of the world, and believed the government brainwashed its citizens, Tara had far from a typical childhood. In addition to being homeschooled, her mother immersed herself in herbal medicine so they would never need a hospital or doctor.

Who encourages and helps Tara to apply to college?

On a visit home, Tyler witnesses Shawn attacking Tara and intervenes. He begins to encourage Tara to apply to BYU, which accepts homeschooled students who earn a high enough ACT score.

How much of Educated is true?

Although “there's a little germ of truth,” in “Educated,” the book falsely portrays the Westover family, Atkin said. “They are conservative, patriotic people. Tara says her father is a (Mormon) fundamentalist, which infers that he believes in polygamy. That's certainly not the truth.

What mental illness did Tara think her father had?

Tara recollects that later in life, she learned about bipolar disorder and notes that the typical timeline associated with the appearance of symptoms seems to line up with her father's gradual descent into paranoid and controlling behavior.

Is Tara's father bipolar?

Tara traces her life back to her parents meeting, showing how her mother's rebellion against a small-town sense of propriety propelled her into the arms of a serious young man who would grow into the towering patriarch of the Westover clan. It is suggested that he suffers from bipolar disorder with paranoid tendencies.

Who cracked Tara's neck?

Shawn's act of cracking Tara's neck is symbolic of what Tara longs for because she longs for someone who can protect her and make her feel safe. Shawn's act of cracking her neck shows his strength and power. It is symbolic of Tara's desire for someone who can protect her and make her feel safe.

What does fish eyes mean in Educated?

At the first rehearsal, a girl named Sadie flirts with Shawn. When Tara asks Shawn if he likes Sadie, he says that Sadie has “fish eyes”—beautiful, but “dead stupid.” Sadie begins coming around Buck's Peak to visit Shawn, but Shawn hardly ever speaks to her.

Why don t Tara and her siblings have birth certificates?

Four of my parents' seven children don't have birth certificates. We have no medical records because we were born at home and have never seen a doctor or nurse. We have no school records because we've never set foot in a classroom.

Why does Tara end her relationship with Nick?

When Tara returns to Utah, she considers telling Nick the truth about everything, but she is still too ashamed. She hides the truth about her family from him. In September, Emily and Shawn get married, and Tara breaks up with Nick, because she doesn't believe she will ever be able to be honest with him.

Which of Tara's brothers has a stutter?

Tyler's stutter marked him as different and timid, and though he and Tara never talked much, they bonded over music and enjoyed a CD together every night.

Which brother abused Tara?

He is 12 years older than Tara. Shawn Westover (pseudonym): Westover's older brother, the second brother of the siblings, 10 years older than Tara. Shawn was physically, mentally and emotionally abusive toward Westover, and later to his wife.

How did Gene affect Tara?

Gene functions as an antagonistic figure in the memoir, because he works to thwart Tara's attempts to become her own person and think for herself. Because of his mental illness and his tendencies to be dominant, Gene always needs to be in control of everything .

Who is Shawn Westover in real life?

Shawn Westover is the fictional name of Tara Westover's estranged older brother in Educated. She did not really grow up with him as he had left the household as a teenager to become a trucker. He had a nasty reputation and Tara witnessed it first hand in how he overreacted violently to her.