Educated: A Memoir

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Prologue-Part 1, Chapter 4

Reading Check

1. What is the Westover’s nickname for her paternal grandmother?

2. How does Faye become a midwife?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In the Prologue, Westover writes that all her father’s stories had what in common? What is the larger implication of the Prologue?

2. How did Westover’s parents meet?

Paired Resource

“Tara Westover annotates the first page of her memoir, ‘Educated’”

• In this annotated PBS News Hour piece, Westover gives deeper context and explanation for key terms and phrases in the Prologue to Educated.
• Westover highlight the final four words of the Prologue–“time to come home”–and how they connect to the book’s theme of Finding One’s Place in the World.
• Did Westover’s annotations give you clues about other themes, motifs, or concepts that could come into play later in the memoir?

Part 1, Chapters 5-9

Reading Check

1. When Tyler announces he is going to college, Gene responds with a lecture about how professors are agents of what secret organization?

2. How does Mary repay Westover for her babysitting services?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe the process of “muscle testing.” Why does Faye take up this technique?

2. In Chapter 7, Westover recalls when her brother Luke’s jeans caught on fire, severely burning his leg. Looking back on the incident as an adult, what are some of the inconsistencies in the story?

Part 1, Chapters 10-13

Reading Check

1. After Gene crashes the family van in Chapter 10, Westover suffers an injury to what part of her body?

2. In Chapter 11, Shawn breaks in Westover’s gelding. What is the gelding’s name?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Shawn emerges as an abusive figure in this section. What is an example of his violent behavior?

2. How does 9/11 affect Westover? Describe her response, and what it says about her character.

Part 1, Chapters 14-16

Reading Check

1. In Chapter 15, Westover describes doing what activity every morning before going to work at her dad’s junkyard?

2. Gene procures a dangerous contraption for the junkyard, which is used for cutting up scrap metal. What nickname does he give this machine?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Shawn airlifted to the hospital in Chapter 14?

2. Westover agonizes over whether she should defy her father and go to college. What happens in this section that confirms she must attend college?

Paired Resource

“The Woman Who Escaped a Polygamous Cult–and Turned its HQ into a Refuge”

• The Guardian profiles Briell Decker, who was the 65th wife of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Decker eventually escapes and forges a new life outside of FLDS.
• This resource relates to the theme of Finding One’s Place in the World.
• Compare Decker’s and Westover’s motivations for escaping their families. How are they similar, and how do they differ?

Part 2, Chapters 17-21

Reading Check

1. In Chapter 17, Westover’s college professor scoffs when she asks them to explain a word she doesn’t recognize. What is the word?

2. When Westover returns home for the summer, Gene is angry when she gets a job working where?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. As she explains to her classmate Vanessa, what was Westover’s logic for not reading her textbook on Western Civilization?

2. What is one or more example of how Westover’s college education “undoes” the education she received growing up?

Part 2, Chapters 22-24

Reading Check

1. When Westover tells the bishop at her church about her financial struggles, what does he recommend that she do?

2. In Psychology 101, Westover realizes that her father might have what mental health condition?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 22, Westover recalls the first time an outsider witnessed Shawn’s abusiveness. What was the incident?

2. Westover has an epiphany about the use of the word “whore” in this section. What does she realize?

Paired Resource

“Helping Someone with Bipolar Disorder”

• This article discusses what bipolar disorder is like, its impacts on a family, and what family members can do to help the person with bipolar disorder and also themselves.
• Examine the symptoms that are discussed in the article for both depression and mania.
• What are some barriers that would keep Westover’s father from seeking treatment? How has bipolar disorder impacted the Westover family?

Part 2, Chapters 25-29

Reading Check

1. As a gift for Gene, Westover searches every nearby video store for a boxset of what show?

2. Which of Westover’s professors encourages her to apply to Cambridge University?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 26, Shawn’s fiancée, Emily, confides in Westover that she fears Shawn. Why is she afraid?

2. During a rooftop tour at the King’s College chapel, Dr. Kerry remarks that Westover seems comfortable at such heights, as though she’s been “on this roof all [her] life” (242). What does Dr. Kerry mean?

Paired Resource

“Mormon Women Confront Power and Patriarchy in the LDS Church”

• WBUR discuss three recent homicides in which LDS men murder their wives and children. The cases raise a larger discussion about women and safety within extremely patriarchal systems.
• Westover also experienced or witnessed violence from her father and Shawn.
• What do you think causes women to stay within certain communities, even after they’ve experienced violence and abuse? Why did Westover struggle to separate from her family and make excuses for her brother Shawn’s abuse?

Part 3, Chapters 30-34

Reading Check

1. What does Westover give Audrey’s daughters as a gift, before returning to England?

2. After the funeral for Grandma-down-the-hill, what does Gene refuse to do that instigates a fight between him and Faye?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Gene asks Westover for proof that Shawn threatened to kill Audrey, what does this say about the nature of Westover’s relationship with Gene?

Part 3, Chapters 35-37

Reading Check

1. In Chapter 35, Westover receives a grant to study in what European city?

2. In her letter to Gene from Chapter 37, Westover says she is cutting ties for how long?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Gene insists Westover touch a Mormon temple in Chapter 36, how does it make her feel?

Part 3, Chapters 38-40

Reading Check

1. Which of Westover’s brothers is most vocal in his support of Westover’s situation with Shawn?

2. When Grandma-over-in-town passes away, Westover comes back to Buck’s Peak and stays with which of her aunts?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 39, Faye issues an ultimatum to Westover concerning her relationship with the family. What is that ultimatum?

2. In the final chapter of the book, has Westover made peace with her estrangement from her parents?

Recommended Next Reads 

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

• Under the Banner of Heaven is Krakauer’s 2004 investigation of the fundamentalist Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City.
• The protagonists in Under the Banner of Heaven, like Westover, struggle with The Consequences of Belief and Doubt, as the result of their Mormon faith.
• Both texts deal with religious extremism, albeit from different angles: Contrasting with Educated, Under the Banner of Heaven is an outsider’s examination of the community. 
• Under the Banner of Heaven on SuperSummary

Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family by Garrard Conley

• Boy Erased is a memoir centered around when Conley, at 19-years-old, is outed as gay to his religious parents in Arkansas. They attempt to “cure” him of being gay through a 12-Step Program.
• Both Westover and Conley grapple with Leaving Home and Finding One’s Place in the World, and seek to define themselves separately from their religious families.
• While one deals with Christianity and the other with Mormonism, Boy Erased and Educated are both coming-of-age stories shaped by conservative religion.
• Boy Erased on SuperSummary