The Indian Princess Symbol Analysis

The Westover clan makes their home in rural Idaho, in a valley at the foot of a mountain called Buck’s Peak. At the top of the mountain is a peak shaped in “the dark form of [an] Indian Princess,” who, to the young Tara, seems to rule the mountain and the lands beyond. In Educated, the Princess is an emblem of Tara’s family’s self-sufficient, survivalist way of life—and a symbol of the strange traditions, superstitions, and logic that rule the Westover clan. Tara and most of her siblings have no birth certificates, no medical or school records, and no formal education—instead, they have been “educated in the rhythms of the mountain” and the natural world around them. Tara’s father Gene—a deeply paranoid and devout man who believes that “the Days of Abomination” are swiftly approaching and the world will soon come to an end—tells her when she is young that eternity belongs to the mountain, and the Indian Princess who guards its peak. Visible only in the summer months, the “Princess” is the sign that spring has come to the valley, and Tara and her siblings learn to measure time and seasons by the sight of the Princess. As Tara grows older, pursues an education, and moves away from home, she can no longer “search the horizon for the Princess”—she loses her connection to the lore and tradition of her home even as she gains the education, normalcy, and participation in larger society she’s always dreamed of. When Tara leaves Idaho in search of more, she comes to realize how abusive, isolated, and abnormal her home life has been—but each time she returns home to visit and sees the Princess again, she feels “haunt[ed]” by her visage and feels the mountain “coaxing” her to come home forever, and abandon all she has learned for the familiar rituals of her childhood.