Summary

At the start of Chapter 5, “Honest Dirt,” Tyler announced he would go to college. Their dad spoke against this, claiming organized education was influenced by the Illuminati. Tyler had always been different from the rest of his family, preferring quiet and organization to boisterous chaos (43). Tara enjoyed listening to music with Tyler while he read. Their mother had been optimistic about her children’s education, but the reality of their varying levels left them to their own devices with little educational discipline.

Tara noted that her father had changed, influencing her older brothers’ childhoods differently than her own; Tony went to public school through high school, for example (47). Their father could not accept Tyler’s decision and was angered when he spent time studying rather than working with the rest of the family. Once he left for college, he “rarely came home” (51). Over a...