Educated: A Memoir Summary and Analysis

Section Two Summary: Finding a Voice (Chapters 8–16)

When Tara is 11, she begins to earn pocket money by babysitting and doing odd jobs around town. One of her employers arranges for her to join a local dance class, but Gene is furious when he finds out and forces her to quit. As a replacement activity, Faye finds a voice teacher for Tara. After Tara sings beautifully at church, Gene is proud of her. He supports her as she auditions for and performs in local musical theater productions, even though he thinks theater is sinful.

As Y2K approaches, Gene stockpiles weapons and food for what he believes will be the end of the world. [In 1999, many Americans incorrectly believed that computers were not equipped to process the year 2000 and that the date change from December 31, 1999, to January 1, 2000, would trigger a global technological meltdown. Some, believing that society would collapse as a result, reacted by stockpiling food and weapons in preparation.] When January 1 comes and goes without incident, Gene grows so depressed that Faye decides the family must visit Arizona. Once again returning to Idaho, the family has another severe car accident. Tara suffers a neck injury in the accident and is bedridden for months. While she recovers, her older brother Shawn returns to Buck’s Peak after having been away for many years. Tara initially sees Shawn as a protector because he sticks up for her when Gene orders her to do dangerous tasks in the junkyard, but Shawn has anger issues and soon begins violently abusing Tara. As Tara experiences puberty, Shawn’s attacks become increasingly misogynistic.

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. Tara’s parents disapprove of the idea, but they do not stop her. After failing to achieve a qualifying score on her first attempt at the ACT, Tara begins to tutor herself in math, which she finds frustrating but eventually masters. Shawn has a serious motorcycle accident, and Tara takes him to the emergency room for treatment, despite knowing that Gene will disapprove. Tara gets a higher score on her second attempt at the ACT, and just before her 17th birthday, she is accepted to BYU. She spends the following months preparing to leave for college.

Section Two Analysis: Finding a Voice (Chapters 8–16)

Tara’s love of music, which she developed by spending time with Tyler and has been her only real, positive connection to the outside world, becomes even more important in this section. Perhaps even more important than Tara’s own interest in music is the fact that singing is the one activity in which Tara is able to enjoy her father’s unconditional support and pride. When she begins to perform in community theater productions, singing also becomes the only context in which she is able to interact with children her own age.

This section sees the development and complications of Tara’s relationship with Shawn. When Shawn first comes back to the mountain, Tara sees him as a protector and their relationship has many positive aspects, such as Shawn’s willingness to stick up for Tara when Gene tries to assign her dangerous tasks in the junkyard. We soon see, however, that Shawn shares many of Gene’s faults, most notably that he sees himself as the ultimate authority and expects Tara to do whatever he says. As Tara becomes a teenager, Shawn’s abuse becomes focused on Tara’s gender as well as more physically violent.

This is also the section where Tara begins to question her education on the mountain. Although she shows great perseverance in studying for the ACT and applying to college, Tara does not seem to have developed a strong sense of what education is or why she wants to pursue it. In fact, she has a hard time imagining going to college at all until Tyler tells her that she could study music there and go on to become a church choir director. Tara does not end up doing either of those things, but because that future is imaginable to her, she is able to take her first steps on a path that ends up taking her much further. Once again, music serves as a lifeline for Tara.