This is the second time i’m reading Westover’s “Educated” and it’s amazing how much i’ve forgotten about the book. I remembered the plot and could pinpoint specific points in Tara’s life, but I hadn’t remembered how the book made me feel. I can confidently say this is one of my favorite books ever but it’s also extremely depressing in certain areas. Tara’s life is such an emotional rollercoaster that it’s hard to imagine how she could have possibly come out of it at times.
I want to talk about chapter 12; “Fish eyes”. At this point in the story, we do not know much about Shawn, one of Tara’s older brothers. Even so, at the end of this chapter we can kind of take a guess at who exactly Shawn is. Judging from his treatment of Sadie, it’s easy to label Shawn as manipulative and maybe even sadistic (From both the store incident with Sadie running back and forth for items Shawn supposedly didn’t even want, and to the moment where he stopped communicating with her because she was seen talking to Charles). By the end of chapter 12, once Shawn decided to yank her by the hair and pin her towards the toilet bowl, I think the perception of him changes to more along the lines of abusive. In this chapter, When Shawn asked Tara for a glass of water, she knew Shawn was treating her just like Sadie so she decided to pour the water over his head. Shawn then decided to escalate the situation even further. “He seized my wrist and folded it, curling my fingers and palm into a spiral. He continued folding until my body began to coil…As if he could read my mind, he twisted my wrist further; my body was coiled tightly, my face scraping the floor. I’d done all I could do to relieve the pressure in my wrist. If he kept twisting, it would break.” (Westover 110).
Just as a disclaimer, I don’t have any siblings. I don’t really know what a brother and sister relationship is like. I can only infer so much from the media, friends, and family. With that being said, I think most people would agree with me when I say that this interaction isn’t normal in the slightest (And if you don’t agree with me, feel free to tell me!). I don’t want to spoil the story too much but from what I know, the relationship between Shawn and Tara doesn’t get any better. Throughout this story there are many different instances that leave me feeling sorry for Tara but I can confidently say that Shawn is at least the cause of half of them. The cycle of Tara doing something small and ultimately insignificant and Shawn overreacting is a repeated pattern.
Briana's Blog 
I like that you also wrote about Shawn! This is really insightful. I saw things a little bit differently when it came to their relationship- Mainly because I haven’t read the book before so I’m just going off of what I am seeing this far. I thought it was good of him to save her from dying on her horse, and to take her with him on the road, but you can definitely see (even from Tara’s limited third person view) that he is a very manipulative and controlling, selfish guy. It just seemed like sometimes he was different around her. And yes, this isn’t how sibling relationships are. (The parts where they messed around and pretended to fight in the parking lot, that’s real. The near death scene, well, not typically.) There were times in my life where my sisters and I would fight so hard I was slightly worried one of us would truly destroy the other one, but it wasn’t usually from a place of raw spite, that you see with Shawn.
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Briana – I agree with you, this book was at times depressing and horrifying at the same time. I cannot help but think that perhaps Shawn inherited their dad’s mental illness. I know that the injuries Shawn sustained, especially those to his head played a part in his abusive nature, that added with a Bipolar disorder makes for the perfect storm.
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Briana,
Honestly, this part (Shawn) was one of the hardest chapters to read. You can see how clearly broken he is, he is hurting and taking that hurt out on everyone around him. Most people don’t realize the effects of abuse, control, manipulation on a child, and the cycle is one that is hard to break. It saddens me that because of familial difficulties (and possibly a predisposition to bipolar disorder) Shawn becomes an angry, manipulative, and abusive man. We see how tender he was when alone with his sister, but maybe because of having to be ‘tough’ for so long with his father, he turns that switch on whenever he is in public.
– Cassie Payton
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While I am also an only child so there is no way for me to tell for sure, I do not believe that the relationship between Tara and Shawn is at all normal. Although I have seen some of my friends get into scuffles with their siblings when they were both young, between the ages of five and eight, the conflict between Tara and Shawn is on an entirely different level. Not only are they much older than my friends and their siblings were in their slight scuffles, but Shawn takes the violence to another level and seems truly malicious when he does them. These actions by Shawn seem to be borne completely out of his desire to manipulate and control others and manifests as a cycle, as you stated. Overall, I also believe that this relationship that Shawn has with his sister can be absolutely characterized as being abusive and I can state that he is the cause of many of Tara’s problems with her life at Buck’s Peak. Great insights!
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I think the whole family had to deal with pain in different ways, mostly due to their upbringing. Unfortunately, Shawn’s method of dealing with it was draining Tara with abuse. However, this could be one of those situations where the universe is working through Shawn to make Tara stronger. Who knows? I enjoyed reading your post, thanks.
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