Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Educated, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory, History, and Subjectivity
Learning and Education
Devoutness and Delusion
Family, Abuse, and Entrapment
Summary
Analysis
As Dad slowly and painfully recovers over the course of several months, Tara and her siblings wait to see what kind of life he will have, and how much of him will “grow back.” Tara cannot imagine her strong, imposing father living out the rest of his life physically impaired. Though Tara feels sad for her father, she also feels a twinge of hope. Dad’s accident has made him an observer rather than a lecturer—within a few weeks, Dad knows more details about Tara’s life than he has in years, and asks her questions about her “interesting” classes and friends. Tara feels that maybe Dad’s accident has made way for a “new beginning.”
Tara has been feeling a lot of resentment for her father lately, more intensely than ever before. In the wake of his accident, though, it seems as if he is softening, perhaps sobered by the trauma of what he’s been through. Tara wants to start a new chapter in her relationship with her father, and is hopeful that he has changed enough for that to be possible.
Themes
Shawn and Emily get engaged, and to celebrate, Tara goes with them on a long horse ride to camp at a lake twenty miles away. Tara and Emily share a tent, and as they lie together in the dark, Emily asks Tara about Shawn’s “problems.” Tara is about to tell Emily that she shouldn’t marry Shawn, but Emily begins talking about how Shawn is a “spiritual man” who has been called by God to “help people.” Emily says Shawn has told her stories about “helping” Sadie and Tara. Tara says that Shawn has never “helped” her, but finds herself unable to say anything more. Emily admits that she’s frightened of Shawn, but when Tara lies mutely in her sleeping bag, Emily says once more that Shawn is “spiritual” and then rolls over to go to sleep.
Not all is well within Tara’s family, though—Tara longs to warn Shawn’s fiancée about how dangerous he really is, but finds herself paralyzed at the moment of truth. It’s unclear whether Tara clams up because of fear that Shawn will find out what she’s said and harm her, or out of some twisted loyalty to her older brother. Though Tara’s unable to say a bad word against her brother, it’s worth noting that she can’t bring herself to say anything good about him, either.
Themes
Tara returns to BYU a few days before the start of the fall semester and goes straight to her boyfriend Nick’s apartment. They have barely spoken all summer, and while Tara has told Nick that her father was burned, she hasn’t provided him with any of the gory details. When Nick asks Tara how her father is, she is aware that she has a choice: to deepen their relationship by sharing her burden with him, or to keep the world of Buck’s Peak separate from the world of BYU. Tara chooses the latter, refusing to let him in on the secrets of her family.
Tara still harbors a deep sense of shame about her past. She is trying so hard to make a new life for herself at BYU, and doesn’t want to drag any of the pain and horror of life at Buck’s Peak into her new relationships. She doesn’t realize what a disservice she’s doing herself—and her understanding of her family’s past, present, and future—by still refusing to rely on her friends for support.
Themes
In September, Tara returns to Buck’s Peak for Shawn and Emily’s wedding. The event makes Tara upset and anxious, and she vomits in the church bathroom right before the start of the ceremony. A week after the wedding, Tara breaks up with Nick, refusing to explain the “hold” Buck’s Peak has on her or confide in him the truth about Shawn and Dad.
Tara is still reeling from the trauma of her past, and eventually it catches up to her. After watching Emily marry Shawn, Tara’s own relationship suffers a blow; she ends it, unable to cope with the feelings of shame and suffering she feels at having let poor Emily marry Shawn.
Themes
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