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Grandma-down-the-hill
Tara’s maternal grandmother, who lives fifteen miles away from the Westover clan in the only town in the county. Though she keeps a modest home by “normal” standards, Tara is always entranced on her relatively rare visits to Grandma and Grandpa-over-in-town’s home by their creamy white carpet, spotless kitchen, and the generally calm atmosphere within the house. Grandma-over-in-town is disappointed by Faye’s brainwashing, and by the wild, unruly, deeply strange way Faye is raising her children. After Grandma-over-in-town’s passing, Tara regrets not having gotten to know the woman better because of her father’s attempts to keep his children from their maternal grandparents.
Grandma-over-in-town Quotes in Educated
The Educated quotes below are all either spoken by Grandma-over-in-town or refer to Grandma-over-in-town. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5 Quotes
Dad picked me up soon after on his way home from a job. He pulled up in his truck and honked for me to come out, which I did, my head bent low. Grandma followed. I rushed into the passenger seat, displacing a toolbox and welding gloves, while Grandma told Dad about my not washing. Dad listened, sucking on his cheeks while his right hand fiddled with the gearshift. A laugh was bubbling up inside him. Having returned to my father, I was taken by the power of his person. A familiar lens slid over my eyes and Grandma lost whatever strange power she’d had over me an hour before.
“Don’t you teach your children to wash after they use the toilet?” Grandma said.
Dad shifted the truck into gear. As it rolled forward he waved and said, “I teach them not to piss on their hands.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Educated LitChart as a printable PDF.
Grandma-over-in-town Character Timeline in Educated
The timeline below shows where the character Grandma-over-in-town appears in Educated. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: Cream Shoes
...a white picket fence.” Her mother, a seamstress (whom Tara and her siblings all call Grandma-over-in-town) sewed her beautiful clothes for church and school, and Faye and her family’s life “had...
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Grandma-over-in-town herself had come from a family seen as the “wrong kind” by many others in...
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...of Mother’s family was the inauguration” of their own. Dad rarely even set foot in Grandma-over-in-town and Grandpa-over-in-town’s house, and Faye’s parents hardly ever visited the mountain.
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The older Tara reflects, too, on the recent death of Grandma-over-in-town. She attended the memorial despite tensions with her family, and as she looked down into...
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Chapter 5: Honest Dirt
...really leave and go off to college. When she accompanies him on a visit to Grandma-over-in-town and Grandpa-over-in-town’s house, however, they remark on how he’ll soon be going away to school,...
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A month after Tyler’s departure, Tara is spending an afternoon at Grandma-over-in-town’s house, and they are baking cookies. When Tara uses the bathroom and comes out without...
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Chapter 16: Disloyal Man, Disobedient Heaven
One Saturday night, Tara is at Grandma-over-in-town’s alone. She is studying, hoping to retake the ACT and improve her score even more....
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Chapter 39: Watching the Buffalo
Tara visits Grandma-over-in-town and Grandpa-over-in-town. Grandma is in the throes of Alzheimer’s and doesn’t recognize Tara, so Tara...
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Several months later, when Grandma-over-in-town dies, Tara returns to Idaho for the funeral. She visits Faye’s sister Angie who lives...
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