Everyone Has a Right to Tell Their Story
A couple of weeks ago I finished reading the memoir "Educated," written by Tara Westover. It was honestly one of the best books that I had read in a long time, and one of the most emotionally intense. The memoir details the story of Tara growing up in the middle of nowhere Idaho, where her parents (in particular her father) were paranoid about the modern world and the Illuminati, distrusted the public school system and homeschooled all their kids (well in actuality they barely taught them anything, having them work in a scrap heap), and kept their children away from vaccines. On top of it all Tara also dealt with a physically abusive older brother (he's called Shawn in the book, but many of the names were changed) and her family barely paid attention to this. Against all odds Tara went from having no formal education to getting a PhD in history, attending BYU, Cambridge, and Harvard.
The book has justifiably become a bestseller. It even has admirers such as former President Barack Obama and Bill Gates.
However, today while browsing on my phone, I came across one person who was not so pleased with the book. A writer named Tony Daniel wrote an article for "The Federalist" titled "What's Wrong with Trashing Your Homeschooling, Anti-Medicine Mormon Family." I have a few issues with his thoughts about the book, and I am going to address them.
In the middle of the article Daniel writes, "We become adults in that moment when we realize our parents are mere mortals who made sometimes terrible mistakes. To demand redress, reparations, or even a simple apology becomes ridiculous after we know this. We are no longer someone they could apologize to. That time has passed. To continue to pine after such an empty gesture on their part is pointless and a way of harming ourselves." Throughout the article the writer basically demeans the entire premise of the book, basically stating that it had no business of existing, at one point stating, "except for the exotic (to some) rural trappings and opportunity for homeschooler-bashing, Tara Westover’s story is fairly mundane."
I suppose everyone finds out that their parents are "mere mortals." However, not everyone's parents rave about the Illuminati, discourages their children from seeking higher education, or puts preparing for Armageddon and being overly judgmental of their neighbors over their kids safety and well-being. Tara's story is far from "mundane," and while she may not necessarily get an apology from her parents, she's justified in feeling wronged on a multitude of levels. Also, she doesn't fully bash home-schooling; she mentions that her other older brother Tyler, who also obtained a PhD, is home-schooling his children with his wife.
Near the end of the article Daniel writes, "Anyway, there are much, much worse upbringings one could have. I know a few people who have had them." Tara Westfield had an extremely rough upbringing, and while yes, there are plenty of people who have had life even rougher, that doesn't mean that the highly educated writer with a PhD in history can't tell her life story.
Awhile ago I read the memoir "Small Fry" by Lisa Brennan-Jobs, daughter of Steve Jobs (in fact I mentioned it on my blog). While she may have had some unique privileges in comparison to the average person, Lisa herself dealt with a lot of craziness from her father Steve Jobs (not to mention her mother had her own issues). Some critics may bemoan the fact that she's written this book, and knew that she would sell a lot of copies of "a tell-all about Steve Jobs." While yes, I am sure she knew ahead of time that this would be a best seller, Lisa herself (who had a degree in English from Harvard) has a right to tell her own story. Many before her wrote about their father-daughter relationship, so she might as well write about her own vantage point.
Ultimately, my point is that I believe everyone has a right to tell their own life story. Tara Westover wrote a phenomenal memoir, about how she overcame titanic obstacles to get to where she was, despite her upbringing. It might honestly inspire a lot of people, but even if all it does is help Tara heal, then that's perfectly alright too.
By the way, I looked up the author's bibliography. I realized that I had actually read one of his books years ago, titled "Metaplanetary: A Novel of Interplanetary Civil War." I thought it sucked.
The book has justifiably become a bestseller. It even has admirers such as former President Barack Obama and Bill Gates.
However, today while browsing on my phone, I came across one person who was not so pleased with the book. A writer named Tony Daniel wrote an article for "The Federalist" titled "What's Wrong with Trashing Your Homeschooling, Anti-Medicine Mormon Family." I have a few issues with his thoughts about the book, and I am going to address them.
In the middle of the article Daniel writes, "We become adults in that moment when we realize our parents are mere mortals who made sometimes terrible mistakes. To demand redress, reparations, or even a simple apology becomes ridiculous after we know this. We are no longer someone they could apologize to. That time has passed. To continue to pine after such an empty gesture on their part is pointless and a way of harming ourselves." Throughout the article the writer basically demeans the entire premise of the book, basically stating that it had no business of existing, at one point stating, "except for the exotic (to some) rural trappings and opportunity for homeschooler-bashing, Tara Westover’s story is fairly mundane."
I suppose everyone finds out that their parents are "mere mortals." However, not everyone's parents rave about the Illuminati, discourages their children from seeking higher education, or puts preparing for Armageddon and being overly judgmental of their neighbors over their kids safety and well-being. Tara's story is far from "mundane," and while she may not necessarily get an apology from her parents, she's justified in feeling wronged on a multitude of levels. Also, she doesn't fully bash home-schooling; she mentions that her other older brother Tyler, who also obtained a PhD, is home-schooling his children with his wife.
Near the end of the article Daniel writes, "Anyway, there are much, much worse upbringings one could have. I know a few people who have had them." Tara Westfield had an extremely rough upbringing, and while yes, there are plenty of people who have had life even rougher, that doesn't mean that the highly educated writer with a PhD in history can't tell her life story.
Awhile ago I read the memoir "Small Fry" by Lisa Brennan-Jobs, daughter of Steve Jobs (in fact I mentioned it on my blog). While she may have had some unique privileges in comparison to the average person, Lisa herself dealt with a lot of craziness from her father Steve Jobs (not to mention her mother had her own issues). Some critics may bemoan the fact that she's written this book, and knew that she would sell a lot of copies of "a tell-all about Steve Jobs." While yes, I am sure she knew ahead of time that this would be a best seller, Lisa herself (who had a degree in English from Harvard) has a right to tell her own story. Many before her wrote about their father-daughter relationship, so she might as well write about her own vantage point.
Ultimately, my point is that I believe everyone has a right to tell their own life story. Tara Westover wrote a phenomenal memoir, about how she overcame titanic obstacles to get to where she was, despite her upbringing. It might honestly inspire a lot of people, but even if all it does is help Tara heal, then that's perfectly alright too.
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