Educated: Week 1 Discussion

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Norms

Make a list of your group norms below.

Roles

List any absent group members:

● Facilitator:Mahika
● Recorder: Brayden
● Connector: Sowmya
● Questioner: Morgan

Notes

1. Educated starts with an epigraph from Virginia Woolf: “The past is beautiful because one never
realizes an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don’t have complete emotions about the
present, only the past.” What do you think Woolf meant by this? Why do you think Tara Westover chose
to begin her memoir this way?
S: mostly reflection so explanation of her current feelings being inserted into the past. She is almost
numb to emotions of the past and how it feels emotionless
Ma: her family is screwed up and the majority of stuff wrong is caused by her family’s sturces
Mo: ptsd? Or is she just ignoring her feelings or glazing over? Is this now a flood of emotions?
B: the bipolar disorder takes over family’s feeling and shuts down emotion from dad’s closed off
S: the older you get the more about emotions you understand, while the dad didn't do that much
Ma: the dad does exhibit some bipolar disorder symptoms

2. In the first pages of Educated, we are introduced to the mountain in rural Idaho where the Westover
family lives, described as a dark, beautiful, and commanding form in a “jagged little patch of Idaho.”
How does this setting inform the family’s experience?
Ma: random closed off place that not many people are able to stay readily connected to the rest of the
world
S: the jagged description means it's also a rough part of her past, and has more than literal meaning.
B:Dark and beautiful was childhood, good and bad
S: i agree, because childhood is childhood
Mo: the dad is def dark but not beautiful, there was a lot of controlling in the family
Ma: idaho is hard to leave especially with the EDUCATION that she had
S: sharp objects and other bad memories had come out of Idaho and a bunch of bad experiences.
Mo: could have seen a little patch as sanctuary from the government, so the exclusion is their idea of
how they were safe from the outside world.
S: little patch is close to her and how she relates to it and not many others do because it is a small
B: the same thing that I saw in up with the neighbors of my farm
S: the idea of leaving everything behind is definitely scary
Mo: the dad’s bipolar switch def factored into this because of the one major switch
S: the mom’s “witchcraft” and her medical miracles

3. We are also introduced early in the book to the standoff at Ruby Ridge, a 1992 gunfight between FBI
agents and U.S. marshals and a heavily armed family on an isolated homestead. How does this incident
cast a shadow over the Westover parents and children, and the survivalism that characterizes their
upbringing?
S:brings motivation to not question it. Otherwise they would want to go to school, control needs fear
Mo: then imagining how she would deal with it and how the child was killed, thinks about her
Ma: the justification of the dad’s crazy and how “illuminati exists”
B: the dad’s control is crazy important and how the mother gets very manipulated by him
S: the issues in our life usually fall apart or get resolved ], where single issues were a major fear for most
of their life.
Ma: being shot is definitely a huge fear and how they were basically fighting for their life

4. In Chapter 5, Westover’s brother Tyler announces that he’s going to college, something none of her
other siblings have done. Why does Westover’s father, Gene, object to formalized education? How does
Tyler’s leaving have an impact on Westover?

Ma: he doesn't like the the government, everything is out to get him,
Mo: he wanted to go to school and then he dissed school with “is for stuff not smart enough to learn it
the first time”
Ma: the dad wants him only to himself and just to help him on the farm, leaves and finds city jobs
S: define broadened perspective, not used to family rebelling. Helped going to grandmother’s house
B:she could have left with grandmother to new school but still had fear
Mo: she had fear of what parents would do, but she could have left a note
Ma: she feels like she could leave if her brother could
S: the brother self studied most of the time and isolated himself reading
Mo: Surprisingly the dad didn't notice.

5. Why does the dad care so much that they don't get caught, when they get stabbed in the junkyard
but she gets helped at home after making such a huge ruckus, the dad bipolar is affecting this?
S: the dad seems to have an obstruction of the view, he really can't seem to focus on anything
Ma: they didn't even go to the hospital when they were close to dying
S: Did the crash affect her thinking (mom), he uses religion as an excuse too, what does this show about
him?
B: Religion definitely has an impact on their view, Idaho has a very high mormon religion rate and very
low schooling and education rate.
Summary:Brayden was not too talkative because he was TAKING THE NOTES, the discussion was fairly
evenly dominated by the others. We were able to relate things to the present and our lives by living in
utah with a very religious mormon society, was definitely a fun discussion
Takeaway: insight into how people live in those society, family effects on lives and views, and how
essential oils can cure everything (paid for butterfly express essential oils). Education has a huge effect
on people’s live and susceptibility to being controlled