Education as Freedom
As the title of the memoir suggests, education allows Tara to be free to create her own life. Tara was not only denied the opportunity to attend school—in fact, she was conditioned to think that the pursuit of knowledge itself is dangerous. When Tara sees Tyler flourishing at BYU, she becomes aware that education is an opportunity. However, after she begins college, she truly understands how her father's extremism clouded her perception of history and the world at large. Tara is able to take control of her education in a way that grants her a sense of confidence and self-worth. In addition, Tara's academic community allows her to create a network of friends, colleagues, and advisors that become a makeshift extended family.
Extremist Religion and Delusion
Throughout the memoir, Tara makes a clear distinction between Mormonism and her father's religious extremism. While Westover is clear in outlining the key difference between religious belief and her personal experience, she uses her upbringing to demonstrate how religion can be co-opted to promote a harmful, deluded agenda. Gene disguises his acute paranoia with his religious devotion, and he manipulates his family to usurp authority and control. Although he criticizes the harmfulness of "the watchful government," he ironically stifles the individual liberties of his wife and children. As a result, Tara realizes that her father's fervor has caused him to ignore Shawn's abusive behavior. This realization ultimately drives the family apart.
The Complications Surrounding Familial Abuse
As a teenager, Tara suffers silently while Shawn abuses her physically and emotionally. Although Tara is attacked consistently, she feels uncomfortable confronting her family about it because she does not wish to exacerbate social tensions. While Shawn's abuse is physical and covert, Tara comes to the realization that Gene's emotional abuse is dangerous and out in the open. His social paranoia, religious extremism, and gender discrimination causes the family to live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. Tara is not able to realize the extent of Gene's power until she begins classes at BYU. Although she attempts to connect with Faye and divulge how she has long been silenced by her husband, Faye is unable to provide Tara with a sense of vulnerability or an admission. This further indicates how complicated it is to reckon with abuse when it permeates the family structure.
Undocumented and Invisible
Due to Gene's paranoia about the federal government, Tara was not issued a birth certificate. Tara's undocumented status is a recurring problem for the protagonist. However, while at BYU, her lack of a birth certificate manifests into feelings of insecurity and invisibility. Not having a state-recognized identity makes Tara feel ostracized by her religious, academic, and civic communities. As a result, Tara dissociates and has a difficult time socially adjusting. After Aunt Debbie vouches for Tara's birth record, Tara is finally issued a passport. The process of "becoming documented" allows Tara to gain freedom and mobility, and she feels more in control of her life and her opportunities.
Art as Escapism
Art plays an important role in the memoir. At the beginning of the story, Tara explains that Tyler would often pass his time humming to himself. Later, when he moves away from home to attend BYU, Tara wonders if he garnered courage by listening to "the music in his head." As Tara grows older, she is able to distance herself from Buck's Peak through her involvement in the arts. She first takes up dance lessons, and later she is inspired by music and joins the church choir. Tara's attraction to art and music is further explored in her Western civilization class at BYU. Although she initially has difficulty in this class, she is later mesmerized by the role of music and fine art throughout culture. As her life progresses, Tara is able to use her narrative voice as a way of coping with her trauma.
The Debilitating Effects of Poverty
While growing up, Tara's family struggles to make ends meet. As a result, each of the seven children has an important responsibility in contributing to the family's microeconomic wellbeing. As a child, Tara is conditioned to believe that she is indebted to her parents. Due to this obligation, Tara begins working in the scrapyard at a young age and shadowing Faye's midwife missions. Tara's being accepted by BYU causes the family to lose an "essential worker." Therefore, Tara must singlehandedly support herself through college. This economic burden affects her academic performance, and Tara is consistently anxious that she will be unable to make ends meet while at school. Throughout the memoir, it is clear that poverty is an important factor that impacts Tara's mental health.
The Pervasiveness of Self-Doubt
Throughout the memoir, Tara is doubtful of her accomplishments and abilities. At both BYU and Cambridge, Tara grapples with imposter syndrome and does not feel as if she belongs within these institutions. Although writing Educated was empowering for Tara, the narration allows the reader to see how Westover continues to doubt herself. In the memoir, Tara must critically examine the relationship between memory and truth. As Tara reflects upon her childhood, she questions the truth of her memories. These feelings are further exacerbated when she consults her family members, who each have different perspectives and versions of past events. Even as the writer of her own life's story, Tara is unable to feel a true sense of authorship, confidence, or validity.
