Educated: Chapter 23 Summary & Analysis

Back at school, Tara finds herself fielding offers from men at church to go out on dates. She rejects every single one, and her staunch opposition to dating and marriage attracts the attention of the church’s bishop. He calls Tara to a meeting, and tries to explain to her that “marriage is God’s plan.” Tara finds this advice in direct conflict with the ways in which Dad and Shawn always accused her of being a “whore” the minute she showed interest in makeup, clothing, or the attention of other boys her age. Their endless cruelty instilled in Tara the idea that there is “something impure in the fact of [her] being.”

Tara begins meeting with the bishop every Sunday until spring, attempting to explain the source of her shame when it comes to men, modesty, and human connection. The bishop is gentle and understanding, and at the end of the semester encourages Tara to take money from the church so that she can pay her rent and stay in Utah for the summer. Tara refuses the gesture but promises the bishop before leaving that she will not return to work for her father. Over the summer, Tara remains true to her promise. She gets her job at Stokes back and finds that she has no trouble avoiding both Dad and Shawn, since Dad is busy with work and Shawn is busy with a new “compliant” girlfriend named Emily, who is ten years younger than him.

Tara returns to BYU in the fall, concerned about money. When she wakes one night with a “blinding pain” in her jaw and learns, from a visit to the dentist, that a rotting tooth will cost fourteen hundred dollars to repair, she becomes more anxious than ever about how to secure the funds. She calls Mother to ask for a loan, but Mother tells her she’ll only lend Tara the money if she agrees to work in the junkyard next summer. Tara hangs up the phone. She tries toughing the pain out by swallowing ibuprofen like “breath mints,” but when she starts skipping meals because of trouble chewing, Robin tells the bishop what’s going on.

The bishop calls Tara to a meeting and tells her that he wants her to fill out some paperwork for a federal grant. Realizing that the grant comes from the government, Tara refuses to fill out the paperwork, hearing Dad’s words about the “Illuminati” echoing in her head. The bishop tries to offer Tara money from the church’s discretionary fund, but she refuses to take it.

By September, Tara is broke but in less pain—she is unsure whether the nerve in her tooth has died, or her brain has “adjusted to its shocks.” Tara calls home and has Shawn sell her horse for her—a few weeks later, she receives a check for only a few hundred dollars, and privately worries that Shawn sold Bud at an auction for meat.

Tara finds herself struggling in school, all her mental energy diverted to worrying about her finances. By January, she is behind on rent. She tries to come up with ways to earn more money, but every scheme fails, and she eventually decides to spend her last thirty dollars on a tank of gas to go home for Christmas, realizing that she might not have the funds to return to Utah. One night, before Christmas, Shawn calls Tara into his bedroom. He reaches into his pocket, and she worries that he is reaching for a weapon—instead, he pulls out a hundred dollar bill, hands it to her, and wishes her a Merry Christmas.

Tara drives back to BYU after Christmas feeling joyful and light—she believes the hundred dollars, enough to pay her rent, has been a sign from God urging her to stay in school. With some prodding from Robin and the bishop at church, she begins putting together the paperwork for a government grant, but finds she needs her parents’ tax returns. Knowing her father will never help her, she decides to drive home to Idaho in the middle of the night and steal the forms. As she enters the house, quiet as she can, she comes face-to-face with Shawn, who is waiting up in the kitchen, pointing a pistol at her. Shawn lowers the gun, explains he thought Tara was “someone else,” and goes to bed. They never talk about the encounter again.

Robin helps Tara mail off the paperwork, and, several weeks later, a check for four thousand dollars arrives. Tara calls the number on the envelope to tell the government they’ve given her too much money. The confused representative on the other end is baffled by Tara’s call. With the extra money, Tara submits to a root canal, buys textbooks, pays rent, and even gets herself a new Sunday dress. The money doesn’t control Tara, as she worried it would—it frees her. She realizes that the world of BYU is truly her home—in Buck’s Peak, as evidenced by the encounter with Shawn, she is an intruder.