The Interpretation Of The Protagonist’s Dilemma In Educated From The Perspective Of Spatial Criticism Theory

Educated is the first autobiographical novel of American writer Tara Westover,and it topped the New York Times best-seller list in the first week of its publication.The author Tara Westover was also named "the Influential Person of the Year" by Time magazine.The novel mainly describes Tara’s "extreme" childhood life,"extreme" religious beliefs,and "extreme" native families,who are physically injured by violence and mentally oppressed,and finally get rid of the persecution of native families step by step through the power of education to realize real freedom.Taking Tara’s different stages of growth as clues,the work is rooted in the life reality of people in remote mountainous areas in the United States,revealing the physical and psychological persecution of their children by the unfortunate original family environment,emphasizing that only through the power of education can they get out of the cage of the original family,establish correct and scientific values and outlook on life,and realize their self-worth.From the perspective of Lefebvre’s theory of space criticism,this thesis analyzes Tara’s growth process of how to get out of the plight of the original family and gain a free life from the three different perspectives of physical space,social space and psychological space.Based on Henry Lefebvre’s space theory,this thesis analyzes Tara’s different persecutions and struggles in physical space,social space and spiritual space,as well as his efforts to break away from the prison,thus breaking the traditional shackles and opening a new free life.In the physical space,Tara grew up in a remote mountain area in Idaho,the United States.She had not received education before the age of 17,had not been to a hospital,or not even had a birth certificate.Because of the remote geographical location,she never knew what the real world was like.Until she experienced physical and mental injuries,she finally took the first step;In the social space,Tara was persecuted by extreme religious consciousness and patriarchy.She began to doubt the importance of the original family and bravely resisted oppression and violence;In the psychological space,the lies and betrayals of the relatives once tortured Tara mentally,and forced Tara to go into the abyss of despair again and again.Tara had to choose to stay away from her native family,complete the reconstruction of her inner world by accepting and giving back the love of others,and finally get a real free life.Tara conveyed the importance of education to readers through her own experience,highlighting that education is a golden key that opens doors in people’s lives.This thesis uses the theory of space criticism to analyze the reason why Tara finally got out of the predicament,got rid of spiritual torture and achieved self-rescue,so as to encourage more children who were bound by the original family to fly freely to the mountain they yearned for in their hearts.