Survivor Stories: Tara Westover

Photo credits: The Harvard Crimson

After enduring domestic violence at the hands of her family throughout her entire childhood, she decided she had had enough. She embarked on a quest for education, enrolling in Birmingham Young University and Cambridge University. Years later, she told her tale in the best-selling memoir, Educated. This is the inspirational story of author and abuse survivor Tara Westover.

Tara was the youngest child in her family of nine, with six older brothers and one older sister. Raised in an abusive household, Tara explained that she was constantly beaten and terrorized by her older brother, whom she gave the pseudonym of “Shawn” when describing the incidents in her memoir. Shawn choked her, twisted her limbs, dragged her by the hair, and verbally assaulted her, to which their parents paid no attention.

Besides such forms of direct abuse, Tara was also forced to work at a dangerous scrap salvage yard—her family business—where she and her siblings dodged metal pieces and balanced on beams and forklifts. Serious physical injuries grew commonplace, including but not limited to burns, breaks, and lacerations.

The Westovers eschewed legal documents, including birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and insurance, to avoid leaving a paper trail for the government to track. Tara’s father, Val, forbade Tara from studying books that were not religious texts, and when she was admitted to Birmingham Young University after applying against his will, he surprisingly put on a good face and said, “It proves one thing at least. Our home school is as good as any public education.”

In her early days at university, Tara struggled. She felt humiliated, not knowing what the Holocaust was, not understanding fractions, and not having heard of biology before registering for a biology class. Nevertheless, her professors saw potential in her, saying they saw her “tenacity and intellectual drive” as well as her openness to “new perspectives.”

Tara remained consistent until her hard work culminated in her being awarded the prestigious Gates Scholarship to attend Cambridge University for graduate studies, where she completed a doctoral degree in intellectual history. Still, whenever Tara returned home during school breaks, she endured sibling violence and violent work on the scrap salvage yard.

When interviewers visited the Westovers’ home years later, they found traces of the scrap yard. Even now, Tara’s parents continue to mistrust the government, while her father only talks about her books in short spurts. Strangely, those who work with Val expressed very positive sentiments about him, saying he was “the nicest man ever” who “would do anything for anybody.” One worker even went so far as to say, “I envy how she grew up.”

Tara’s mother has written her own memoir, titled “Educating,” while her father stated that he believed Tara knew him least out of all his children. However, Tara has not allowed her past to hold her back. Now a celebrated memoirist, essayist, historian, and award-winning author, Tara has shown the world that despite a difficult and tumultuous upbringing, education and self-expression can be powerful tools in overcoming the past and reclaiming one’s life.

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Jurisview Journal is a student-led blog that publishes biweekly articles about interesting criminal cases. Our aim is to shed light on cases that require justice or further exploration and provide input on controversial legal events. We also publish infographics to help victims or those who wish to educate themselves on legal issues. 

In this series, Survivor Stories, we explore and share the stories of survivors of violence and crime. Through this, we advocate for justice and more attention to victims, such as the survivors we feature.