Tara Westover Is Educated
Educated, the memoir of Tara Westover had been on my reading list for several years. I had heard all the good things, everyone, except her parents, had to say about it. I finally got around to reading it. I suggest you do the same.
Westover’s story is compelling. I will not review the book or relate what happened to her. I am going to write about how I reacted to her story. She was very fortunate; she broke free from the ignorant hillbillys that raised her. I have known many who did not.
Whenever I write about hillbillys, I preface my remarks with the following. My mother was a coal miner’s daughter. My father was not only the first person on either side of the family to graduate from high school but also the first to attend high school. Now that my hillbilly bona fides are revealed, I can feel free to write what I think.
Reading Educated brought up many deeply buried memories. I once dated a woman whose parents were ignorant hillbillys. At the time, I was teaching at a university in Ohio. Many of the courses were based, at least in part, on evolutionary theory. The woman, let’s call her Sandy, let her parents convince her that if she married me, she would go to hell because I was obviously a “tool of the devil.” That was one of the kinder things they had to say about me. Hillybilly ignorance runs true and deep.
Whereas the wrath of Westover’s parents was directed at her, I got it from the parents of a woman I loved. It was outrageous. Westover’s book is filled with stories that remind me of how Sandy’s parents acted. Kindred Hillbilly spirits, one for all and all for one.
Sandy wasn’t strong enough to break away from her parents; somehow, Westover was. The last I heard, Sandy was in a mental institution. Westover is working at Harvard University, my favorite place on earth.
Westover’s parents are Morman survivalists. Sandy’s parents are high school dropouts, one a Pentecostal holy roller, the other some kind of Catholic. All four think like they do and believe what they believe due to the historical accident of their birth. If they had been born in The Middle East, they would all be Muslim, and they would have been dancing in the streets when the twin towers collapsed. Think about that for a bit, and you will realize I am right.
I am very happy for Tara Westover. I am also proud of her. She did something astonishing; she broke away from the chain of ignorance and set herself free. Sandy chose to make her mother happy by accepting The Bible as a science textbook. On and on it goes.
I was affected by Westover’s book much more deeply than I anticipated. I highly recommend that everyone read it. It is even better than the best reviews.
