Educated Sparknotes

Throughout this story, Tara grows from a naive child, whose mind is full of delusions and misconceptions, to a grown woman who feels fulfilled and connected with the world. To be self-actualized is to feel like you are exactly who you are meant to be and contribute positively to society. In the book Educated, Tara Westover becomes self-actualized and relearns reality by disconnecting from her family and discovering the world for herself. By the end of the book Tara has exemplified appreciation for the world around her, spontaneity, acceptance and realism, autonomy and solitude, problem-solving, and peak experiences, proving that she has become self-actualized. The first of Maslow’s characteristics as a self-actualized person, demonstrated by …show more content…
Being able to face her past as a part of her life, no matter how painful, is what enables Tara to see the world for what it is. Tara demonstrates autonomy and solitude much later in the book than most of the other characteristics, but it still shows her growth throughout her life. Autonomy and solitude are described as the “need for independence and privacy” (Cherry). Tara’s need for independence is a slow burn that develops throughout the book. A need for privacy is something Tara desires much more quickly as she begins to feel ashamed very early on. Each time Shawn attacks Tara, she feels ashamed when others see her. She says after one of these instances that “[t]he only thing worse than being dragged through the house by my hair was Tyler’s having seen it”(Westover 119). Her desire for privacy throughout most of the book is attached to feelings of shame which worsen throughout the novel but she eventually breaks free of. While on a trip to Spain with her friends, she says that “the shame I’d long felt about my family leaked out of me almost overnight. For the first time in my life, I talked openly about where I’d come from”(Westover