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Everything I had worked for, all my years of study, had been to purchase for myself this one privilege: to see and experience more truths than those given to me by my father, and to use those truths to construct my own mind.
This quotation occurs in Chapter 36, when Tara hesitates over whether to let her father give her a blessing, before ultimately refusing. This refusal represents a definitive turning point in their relationship, and the end of the possibility that Tara will ever be submissive to her father again. If Tara accepts his blessing, she is indicating that she still follows his religious faith, and relies on him to direct her with his authority. Tara realizes that she has made many sacrifices in order to pursue her education. More than anything, her education has given her the ability to think for herself. She is no longer a naïve child who sees her father as the ultimate authority figure. She knows that there are many perspectives on how to view the world, and she wants to be free to choose for herself. Tara's education has set her free, but it has also made it impossible for her to blindly submit to her father's authority. This quotation represents a moment of empowerment, but also a moment of sadness. Tara's father has no other framework to guide his relationship with his daughter. If he cannot dominate and control her, he will choose to not have a relationship with her at all.
