Educated: Chapter 21 Summary & Analysis

The day before Tara leaves to return to BYU is a Sunday, and she decides to spend it with Charles rather than going to church. She has an earache, and Charles asks what she’s taken for it. She tells him Mother has given her lobelia and skullcap. Charles gives her two ibuprofen tablets, and though Tara insists that people like her and her family don’t take medicine, Charles urges her to see that she’s different from her family. Tara takes the pills and is amazed by how quickly they take her pain away. She has never been given any kind of medicine that actually makes her feel better.

In the morning, when it is time to leave for school, Mother is off on a birth. Tara—who has not been compensated as much for her summer work as Dad told her she would be—decides to take her older brother Tony’s old Kia and drive it to school, figuring it will make up the difference. Dad never says a word to her about it. She moves into a new apartment with new roommates named Robin, Jenni, and Megan. Robin is kind and gentle, and sees the ways in which Tara is different from other girls her age. Robin helps Tara do things the “right” way, and soon enough, Tara’s cleaning habits and personal hygiene improve.

Tara has designed her fall schedule with Charles’s help. She finds herself enjoying her music and religion classes but struggling greatly with algebra. Due to the pressure she’s facing, Tara stops sleeping and develops stomach ulcers. Her roommates often discover her doubled over in pain and offer to take her to the hospital, but Tara refuses to go. Out of money, she takes a job as a janitorial worker, which further debilitates her sleep schedule and weak stomach. One night, over the phone, Charles tells Tara that her behavior is “self-destructive,” and urges her to simply ask her algebra teacher for help. It has never occurred to Tara that she is encouraged, let alone allowed, to talk to her professors.

A few days before Thanksgiving, Tara meets with her algebra professor to tell him that she’s struggling but needs to pass to maintain her scholarship. The professor offers little sympathy, but makes Tara a bargain. He says that at the next lecture he’ll announce to the entire class that anyone who makes a perfect score on the final will receive an A in the class, regardless of their previous grades. Up for the challenge, Tara goes home and calls Charles—she tells him that she is coming home for Thanksgiving and needs his help with algebra.