First, review our Literary Analysis assignment full guidelines (cut and pasted at the bottom of this page). As a reminder, here is the prompt: “Using Educated as your only source, identify at least three major understandings (or epiphanies) that Westover realizes in her journey to become educated–and indicate which of those epiphanies or realizations is the most significant in helping her reach her goals. Draw on textual support from each of the three parts of the book whenever possible.
Then, begin on your initial task, Prewriting. Keeping the prompt in mind, please do two things:
1. Freewrite your ideas about what epiphanies or understandings Westover has in her journey to become educated. This can be approximately 250-300 words. (Labor estimate: 20 minutes)
2. Pull some ideas about what you might focus on as your three major understandings or epiphanies into a VISUAL form of some type–an idea map of your choosing. This could be a graphic organizer, a mind map, a story board, etc. The goal is to create a way to visually represent what you are thinking. Along with those major epiphany representations, go ahead and pull three or four different places in the text that support each big understanding–and find a way to visually add in the text sections, parts of quotes that will remind you of that text section, stick figure drawings that pull these ideas to mind, etc. I encourage you to put this visual into a Word document to upload, but you may do this by hand if it is clear, easy to read, and able to be uploaded as a .jpg or photo. Make it look like it took some thought and time to organize your thoughts! (Labor estimate: 40 minutes)
Upload both components of this freewriting to the assignment. It is fine to include them both on the same document.
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English 101 Tara Westover’s Educated
Topic:
What does it mean to be educated? Is it about acquiring degrees or work experience? Is it learning skills which lead you to be able to make a living? Is it about evaluating your experiences and being able to make adjustments? Is it about discovering self-identity? Tara Westover, the author of Educated, who grew up without ever having gone to school until she broke away from her family at 17 to attend Brigham Young University, offered her definition at a gathering to discuss her book at the Bing Theatre in Spokane when she spoke in 2018: “What an education is is the individual’s pursuit of understanding. I think an education is about making a person, not making a living. That’s a side effect.” After years of struggles, at the end of her memoir, Westover can confidently state that she has achieved a new self. “You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphis. Falsity. Betrayal.
I call it an education” (329).
Prompt Question:
Here is your task for this paper: Using Educated as your only source, identify at least three major understandings (or epiphanies) that Westover realizes in her journey to become educated–and indicate which of those epiphanies or realizations is the most significant in helping her reach her goals. Draw on textual support from each of the three parts of the book whenever possible.
Note:
Please write for an audience that has read the same material with the same intensity you have. You do not, for example need to spend much time summarizing the plot–rather, move right into discussing and analyzing the textual examples you are drawing on.
Requirements:
A successful paper will be one that clearly identifies, explains, and supports with text how each of your chosen examples (her realizations, her epiphanies) contributes to Westover’s goals of becoming educated, and which one is the most significant in helping her reach that goal.
Support your assertions using well-selected, relevant passages.
Create a clear thesis and topic sentences to guide your essay.
Include a minimum of six MLA in-text citations from throughout the book.
Compose approximately 750-1,000 words for your final draft.
Use correct MLA formatting including in-text citations and a works cited page.
