Educated: A Memoir

Westover remembers having a realization that scared her to her core: There was no future for her that could tolerate her independence and her father’s control. She realized that to maintain her relationship with her father, she must “remain a child, in perpetuity, always” (140-41). Gene told her that going to college would be “whoring after man’s knowledge” (141), which caused Westover to decide not to go to college. But when Gene was not around, Faye pushed back: She told Westover not to let anything stop her from going, even her father.

Since Westover quit her job when Shawn was injured, she decided to start scrapping for her dad at the junkyard again during the winter. Despite this, she kept waking up at 6 a.m. to study for the ACT. BYU was a competitive school, and Westover knew she would need to score at least a 27 to get in. Although she was just 16 and had never taken a test before, she registered for the ACT.

When she got her ACT results, she found she had scored a 22—not high enough to get into BYU, but high enough to get into Idaho State. When Gene found out that she had taken the ACT, he told her she had to move out of the house. Despite her earlier support, Faye backs Gene’s decision. Faye tells Westover, “I know you think we’re being unfair, but when I was your age I was living on my own, getting ready to marry your father” (145). When Westover tells her that she is only 16, Faye responds, “You’re at least twenty. Aren’t you?” (145). Looking confused, Faye said she would talk to Gene, and that Westover could stay at the house a little longer.

Soon after this, Shawn returns to work in the junkyard and Gene comes home with a new, dangerous contraption: “the Shear.” It looked like a giant pair of scissors and was used to cut up scrap metal. Luke immediately got his arm gashed to the bone trying to slide pieces of iron through the sharp blades. Gene told Westover to try “the Shear” next, but Shawn screamed at Gene that it was too dangerous, which devolved into a shouting match between them. Shawn insisted that if she had to work the machine, he would do it with her. Gene said this was preposterous; he needed Shawn to continue working as his foreman. But Shawn won the fight, and Gene looked small in defeat. Shawn and Westover ran “the Shear” together for a month.  

Westover remembers Shawn and Gene arguing almost every day throughout the summer. It was as if they were fighting over Gene’s authority. Shawn had another bad accident that summer. After watching a movie with Westover at Grandma-over-in-town’s house, Shawn wrecked his motorcycle on the way home. Westover was following him in her car, but some bystanders beat her to him and called an ambulance. Westover panicked and called Gene, who told her to bring Shawn home instead. She protested because she could see a hole in Shawn’s head and his brain was visible. But Gene still insisted that she bring him home. She loaded Shawn in her car and intended to go home, but when she thought about the last time Shawn nearly died, she changed direction and headed to the hospital instead.

At the hospital, Westover called Gene and told him what she did. He and Faye came to the hospital too. The three of them waited to talk to the doctor, then listened to the diagnosis, which was not as bad as Westover was expecting. After a few stitches, Shawn’s head injury would heal on its own. When her parents arrived, Westover immediately felt ashamed. Westover felt she was not a good daughter. She was a traitor, “a wolf amongst sheep” (155). Gene never mentioned that night at the hospital again, but Westover knew that her rebellion against her father’s will brought her to a fork in the road where Gene’s path went one way and her path went the other way.

Three weeks after the accident, Westover got the results from her second attempt at the ACT. She scored a 28: high enough to get into BYU. She immediately vowed never to work for her father again and applied for a job bagging groceries in town. A week later, she applied to BYU. She was not sure if she would get in, but she knew she was going to leave home even if she did not. She felt that home changed the moment she chose to take Shawn to the hospital instead of home to Faye for treatment. Westover heard back from the BYU admissions committee before her 17th birthday and was accepted for the spring term. By Christmas, she could not wait to leave for college, although she could not imagine what a future beyond home would be like.