Why is the Father supportive of Richard’s desire to go to college

Why is the Father supportive of Richard’s desire to go to college?

In chapter 22, What We Whispered and What We Screamed, Tara returns to Buck’s Peak to find Richard is studying for the ACT, and to her surprise her father is supporting him. This contradicts a defining characteristic of Gene Westover: relentless opposition to western institutions. This is why he pulled his kids out of school, why he does not take them to the hospital, why some of them do not have birth certificates, and this is why he has his family living this survivalist lifestyle preparing for the apocalypse or the day when the government comes for his family. He was not supportive of Tara wanting to go to school, he was paranoid of the communists and demons that run these systems and believed he had saved his children from being indoctrinated by Satan. Yet he is helping Richard prepare for the ACT. This contradicts what the reader understands about this character up to this point if we regard the ideology he has expressed in his lectures and his actions. However, if we pay attention to his motivations, qualities, and history and analyze him psychologically, we can make sense of his choice.

Tara knows that the Father is serious when he says “Richard, I’ll give you next week off, paid, if you’ll use it to study them books.” Tara has likely included this dialogue not only so the reader has the same confirmation, but also to subtly remind the reader of the father’s level of education, shown by the errors in his speech and limited understanding of education. Yet when Tara was trying to understand mathematics, Gene figured out the problems easily and proved to have a mind capable of swift mathematical calculations. His mother is not as extreme as he is, and therefore there is conflict between them, as she does not adhere to his eccentric ideology. It is therefore likely that he went to school himself. If he went to public school, why does he fear what will happen to his children? While his perception of the education system may have changed, there are other reasons why he would want to deter his children from being educated. It is clear that he depends on them for labor to support the rest of the family, so perhaps it was to ensure that he would have a reliable workforce. Tyler and Tara both go to college, and do not come back to work for him while the rest, including Tony, do. His opposition to this institution may be out of fear of losing his ability to support his family. It is a way to keep them close to him so that he can ensure they live under his control.

He initially did not believe that Tyler would actually go away, and the fight between him and Tara was naturally more developed since she is the author. He is a traditional man, and maybe he shows less retaliation when it comes to his two sons, but Tara is a girl. Gene believes housework and cooking to be women’s work, despite the fact that their philosophy states that men and women are equals, however Mormons practice polygamy. This may be part of the reason for him feeling insecure when his wife becomes the one to make the family wealthy. Gene uses theological philosophy when it is convenient for him, and other times he blatantly defies it. Preventing Tara from pursuing a future that is not that of a housewife is an example of this. The Bible says not to kill, yet he stockpiles weapons, he puts his children in perilous situations despite the fact that he should be their protector, and he lets Shawn abuse Tara. Now he is proud of Richard for pursuing an education. These are examples of cognitive dissonance, between his religious beliefs and what he does, and between his ideology and what he allows. He uses religion as a way to manipulate his family, to give me a position of power from which he can justify his irrational actions and fears.

He is proud of Richard, he claims “Richard is a genius” and that he is “five times smarter than Einstein was.” Pride is among the deadliest sins, and he is clearly filled with pride because he allows Richard to take time off and talks about his genius a lot while Tara is there. Once again, he is enveloped in two contradictory beliefs. This is coming from a man who filled his fridge with nothing but honey and milk because of something written in a proverb, and yet he is subjugated by pride. This system that he has preached against, that he thinks would turn his children to Satan, no longer holds the same dread. Perhaps his judgement is repressed by pride, but there are other instances when he has thought of departing from his core beliefs, such as when his wife almost died in a car crash. He only asked if she wanted an ambulance, but this goes against his utter rejection of institutionalized medicine and not leaving things in the hands of God. When he was burned, he did not think of going to the hospital. It may be that he only uses God to justify his eccentricities and keep control over his family, or it could be that he forgets this values in the face of strong emotion, such as when he was stricken with fear that his wife would die, and now is too full of pride to adhere to his previous rejection of education and integration into society. Gene is inconsistent with his briefs, perhaps due to the bi-polar disorder Tara thinks he says, which may cause him to be more tolerant at points.

Apart from pride and personal traditional values, there is another reason that may influence his complacency in Richard’s desire to go to college. He says that Richard can “disprove all them socialist theories and godless speculations. He’s gonna get down there and blow up the whole damn system.” It is possible that his hatred for socialism conquers his fear, and that he truly thinks that Richard can fight the system. This has always been his personal mission, and it does not seem like people in his family share the same extreme views, or are only in agreement. Richard would be his only way to fight against this illusions derived from his paranoia, he may be projecting his dreams of defiance of this system onto Richard. This is after nothing happened at the turn of the century, there was no apocalypse, no feds to come and attack him. He was preparing for all of this, it gave him goals and a purpose in life, and now when no actual threat presents itself, and there is no chance to fight this imaginary battle in his head, it would be possible that Richard is his new hope to do so. This would mean that his pride is genuine, and is the solution that would portray him as consistent in his motives.

Gene Westover is a complicated character. In order to understand his motivations in this chapter, we must consider what he has said and done throughout the entire book in order to piece together possible explanations to explain his behavior. A man that vehemently opposed modern institutions and practices, who devoutly opposed his children integrating with the western lifestyle he deemed so corrupt and sinful, is not supporting his son in getting into college, and is immensely proud. People change throughout their lives, and maybe now that two of his children have gone off to pursue education, he has decided to not oppose it any longer. It could be that he imagines that Richard will really take on the system, and fight the imaginary battle he has been fighting his whole life. The conflict between the two parts of himself can be attributed to mental disorder, traditional values, or merely manipulation. I believe that he has used these values he has instilled in his children as a way of controlling them, and he views Richard as an extension that he can use to continue to fight against society. Pride may be interfering with his judgement, but his demonizing of education is a method of control, and he may have the sense that he can control Richard. Tara was different in the years leading up to her going to college, and her father may have recognized she was beyond his control, which is why he is supporting Richard in this instance.