The proper way to dress

A major issue throughout the memoir, “Educated” by Tara Westover, is how Tara feels about clothes. It seems unimportant, but the way people present themselves has a big impact on the way Tara sees them because of her religious upbringing. It’s especially problematic when she gets to college, where her beliefs about how women should dress is challenged. 

When Tara first meets her roommates, she’s disgusted by the way they dress, believing their clothes to be too immodest. Similarly, her roommates are shocked by her super baggy-modest clothing. Each of the women look down on the other, both believing themselves superior because of how they had been raised. In reality, neither are dressing wrong. There’s nothing wrong with dressing immodestly or modestly, yet their perceptions of how people should dress clouded their opinions of each other. At another point in the book, Tara’s parents are discussing how women should dress. They claim that a woman at their church was wearing too loose of a shirt, so it moved with her body and exposed skin. Naturally, the way to fix this would be to wear a tighter shirt. Only then it wouldn’t be modest. Tara questions what the correct thing would be to wear. The problem is, there is no correct answer. Someone could believe what she was wearing was improper regardless of whether it was a sac or ball gown.

No matter how women choose to present themselves, they will be looked down upon by someone. It’s impossible to dress if you're trying to please others. Meaning, don’t try to dress for others. If you feel comfortable in it, wear it. If Tara had been able to comprehend this, lots of her own issues with identity and her relationships could have been solved.