Had Hillbilly Elegy been an academic work, most would consider it to be a case study, analysing the life, events, and culture of working class Americans living in the country’s Rust Belt region. Although not a research paper, author J.D. Vance enlightens readers on life in the Rust Belt region of America through astonishing facts and innumerable personal anecdotes full of of heart, soul, and humor; making this memoir an incredible read. Vance discusses in great detail his personal experiences being born, bred, and raised in Ohio, and explains how several key people in his life motivated him to escape the crisis plaguing his people. This memoir, while passionate and deeply personal, speaks to a much larger social issue. Hillbilly Elegy tells …show more content…
the all too familiar story of abuse, poverty, alcoholism, and drug use affecting the working class in America, especially in Ohio. Vance speaks candidly about the guilt sometimes associated with upward mobility, and the troubling loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country. Hillbilly Elegy not only chronicles Vance’s life, but the several generations that came before him. The first few chapters are dedicated to introducing readers to Vance’s nuclear, immediate, and extended family, laying out the foundation to help readers truly understand the hillbilly lifestyle in Ohio. Vance’s Mamaw and Papaw (grandmother and grandfather) moved to Middletown, Ohio after World War II from Northern Kentucky. With them, Mamaw and Papaw brought along their traditional Appalachian values, some which were positive and some of which were negative. Vance notes that both his Mamaw and Papaw were fiercely loyal to their family and their country, they were simple people with big hearts. However, Vance’s grandparents also exhibited traits of physical violence, verbal abuse, and addiction; the latter of which had a negative impact on their children, especially Vance’s mother. Papaw, although a recovered alcoholic later in life, was a gruesome drunk in his heyday, while Mamaw spoke with a sharp tongue and was described as forever tormenting Papaw. The instability of Vance’s grandparents relationship affected their children and as a result Vance’s mother was pregnant with her first child, Lindsey, and divorced all before she could start college. Vance also writes about his mother’s bouts of depression, violence, hysteria and prescription drug abuse (which later turned to heroin). He recalls the numerous men his mother courted, and the unstable home-life he was subjected to because of her personal choices. Throughout the rest of his memoir, Vance introduces readers to the aunts, uncles, and cousins who aided him in becoming the man he is today. The motivation, support, guidance, and love he received from his Aunt Wee, older sister Lindsey, and a 4 year stint in the Marine Corps contributed to the incredible success Vance has obtained. Most importantly though, Vance recognizes his grandparents mentorship as being the driving force behind his triumphs. Was it not for Mamaw and Papaw’s unofficial guardianship, Vance believes that he would have never managed to graduate from Ohio State University (in just under 2 years, with a double major), or have gone on to study at Yale Law School. However, his accomplishments were not met without strife. Vance vividly describes how social, regional, and class decline negatively impacts someone trying to escape an environment such as the one he experienced. Even after overcoming many obstacles, Vance recalls feeling like an outsider among his peers. At Yale Law School he mentions 95% of the student body comes from upper middle class, or outright wealthy families, something Vance could not identify with. Although he exceeded academically and socially, Vance could not shake the demons of his family history. Toward the end of the book, Vance grapples with the alarming conclusions that his people, working class hillbillies, are profoundly struggling due to lack of resources and exposure to life outside of Ohio. The themes of classism and race run rampant throughout Hillbilly Elegy, and Vance confronts the precarious nature of upward mobility directly.
Vance admits moving between social classes meant a change of lifestyle that included a sort of culture shock. He wrote about a time where he denied attending Yale when asked by a neighbor in Ohio out of fear he would be perceived as denying his roots and turning his back on hillbilly people. Eventually, Vance raises the question of whether or not his hillbilly kin should hold themselves accountable for their misfortunes, rather than blaming them on the government. Vance writes that many hillbillies he has spoken with blame the “Obama economy” for their turmoil, but Vance has a different perspective as someone who is now on the outside looking in. Hillbillies of the Ohio Rust Belt believe they are inherently poor, half jokingly stating, “Poverty is the family tradition.” This notion allows Vance to introduce the psychological phenomenon called “learned helplessness” — or the belief that someone born of adversity can do nothing to change the outcome of their life. The financial woes experienced by the working class place an emotional burden on their families, and creates hostile, broken homes.Vance struggles to understand the contradictory nature of hillbilly values and tirelessly attempts to make a case for why they are all so forlorn. Ultimately, Hillbilly Elegy adds to the conversation about whether hillbilly poverty is caused by economic, cultural, or racial
factors. Memoirs are often construed as boring, and readers may find themselves wondering what makes the subject’s life interesting enough to read 260+ pages about. Especially in the interest of Vance, who pens his memoir through the lived experiences of a (now) wealthy, conservative, heterosexual, white male. For those readers, I will argue that Vance offers a compassionate and intelligent discussion of the white working class, worthy and relatable enough to be read by audiences of varying races and social classes. This memoir is powerful and perhaps one of the most timely and relevant reads of the year in the United States. Hillbilly Elegy exposes the deeply troubled and underrepresented Rust Belt and enlightens readers about the disparity between those leading the government, and those who receive benefits from the government. Vance’s story is inspirational, thought provoking, eloquently written, and digestible to liberals, conservatives, upper class, and even the working class hillbillies Vance originated from.
Students are always taught about slavery, segregation, war, and immigration, but one of the least common topics is farm women in the 1930’s. Lou Ann Jones, author of Mama Learned Us to Work, portrayed a very clear and clean image to her readers as to what the forgotten farm-women during the 1930’s looked like. This book was very personal to me, as I have long listened to stories from my grandmother who vividly remembers times like these mentioned by Jones. In her book Mama Learned Us to Work, author Lou Ann Jones proves that farm women were a major part of Southern economy throughout the content by the ideology and existence of peddlers, the chicken business, and linen production.
The police treat the Saints as if they did nothing wrong. They might give them a slap on the wrist instead of the punishment for the crimes they did. The police thought of the Saints as leaders of the youth in the community.
The short story “Cherokee” written by Ron Rash is about a young married couple fighting to save their truck by gambling their last one hundred and fifty-seven dollars in slot machines at a casino in North Carolina. Rash did an impeccable job at creating two ordinary, everyday people by portraying their lives as the working poor of America. The two characters, Danny and Lisa, both work; however, they are barely making it by and fell behind on their truck payments. Throughout the short story is observed a theme of freedom, or lack thereof, not only through the plot but also through psychology and economics.
Poverty can be a terrible thing. It can shape who you are for better or for worse. Although it may seem awful while you experience it, poverty is never permanent. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which takes place in Alabama in the middle of the Great Depression, Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell are both in a similar economic state. Both of their families have very little money; however, they way they manage handle themselves is very different. In this essay, I will compare Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell’s physical appearance and hygiene, their views on education, and their manners and personalities.
In the world of Appalachia, stereotypes are abundant. There are stories told of mountaineers as lazy, bewildered, backward, and yet happy and complacent people. Mountain women are seen as diligent, strong, hard willed, and overall sturdy and weathered, bearing the burden of their male counterparts. These ideas of mountain life did not come out of thin air; they are the direct product of sensational nineteenth century media including print journalism and illustrative art that has continuously mislead and wrongfully represented the people of Appalachia. These stories, written and told by outsiders, served very little purpose to Appalachian natives other than means of humiliation and degradation. They served mostly to convince readers of the need for so-called civilized people and companies to take over the land and industry of the region, in particular the need for mineral rights, railroads, and logging as the mountain folk were wasting those valuable resources necessary for the common good.
Hard Times: 1920 - 1940. (2008, November 20). In Land of Contrast: A History of Southeast
In the book Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina, education, and the lack there of, plays one of the largest roles in the character's lives. At this time in West Virginia, where the book is set, many children had to leave school and actually go into the coalmines, as Rondal Lloyd did, or work on the family farm. Racial ignorance is also a key element Giardina confronts in the novel. The characters, chief and secondary, equally cultural and racially bland, pass on their beliefs and therefore help to maintain the continuous circle of inequality that carries on even today. Political knowledge, at least on the national and state level, is also lacking within the little town of Annadel. With this knowledge coupled with her own experiences from growing up as an immigrants daughter in the same coalfields as her novels characters, Denise Giardina tries to explain the function of education and ignorance in not only the coalfields of West Virginia, but throughout the entire world.
Jeannette Wall’s memoir, The Glass Castle, talks about the hardships and challenges that she and her family had to suffer from, as they were constantly running out of the food and cash, leading them to move from places to places such as Battle mountain in Nevada, Phoenix in Arizona, Welch in West Virginia, New York City and so on in the search of survival. Some places provided a better quality of live , while some worsen it. Thus, the author and her family were living under the condition of the poverty, where they had to struggle for the basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter by not getting adequate resources to support the minimum level of their physical health.
George Saunders, a writer with a particular inclination in modern America, carefully depicts the newly-emerged working class of America and its poor living condition in his literary works. By blending fact with fiction, Saunders intentionally chooses to expose the working class’s hardship, which greatly caused by poverty and illiteracy, through a satirical approach to criticize realistic contemporary situations. In his short story “Sea Oak,” the narrator Thomas who works at a strip club and his elder aunt Bernie who works at Drugtown for minimum are the only two contributors to their impoverished family. Thus, this family of six, including two babies, is only capable to afford a ragged house at Sea Oak,
Edwards, Jr., Bruce L. "O'Connor's 'Good Country People.'" Masterplots II-Short Story Series. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasedena, CA: Salem P, 1986. Vol. 2. 901-902.
A major drought, over-cultivation, and a country suffering from one of the greatest depressions in history are all it took to displace hundreds of thousands of Midwesterners and send them, and everything they had, out west. The Dust Bowl ruined crops all across the Great Plains region, crops that people depended on for survival. When no food could be grown and no money could be made, entire families, sometimes up to 8 people or more, packed up everything they had and began the journey to California, where it was rumored that jobs were in full supply. Without even closing the door behind them in some cases, these families left farms that had been with them for generations, only to end up in a foreign place where they were neither welcomed nor needed in great quantity. This would cause immense problems for their futures. It is these problems that author John Steinbeck spent a great deal of his time studying and documenting so that Americans could better understand the plight of these migrant farmers, otherwise known as "Okies." From touring many of these "Hoovervilles" and "Little Oklahomas" (pg. v) Steinbeck was given a firsthand look at the issues and hardships these migrant workers faced on a daily basis. With the help of Tom Collins, manager of a federal migrant labor camp, Steinbeck began a "personal and literary journey" (pg. v), revealing to the world the painful truth of these "Okies" in his book Harvest Gypsies.
West Virginia has a diverse history and strong record of struggle. From the original settlers to the current citizens, they have always found a way to survive and succeed (Wilson, 1990). The economic struggles of West Virginia have been due to the outsourcing of resources, income, capital, and information for the past 100 years (Cometti, 1966). This has led to reliance on the state and federal government to provide subsidies, and other welfare programs to help the citizens of the area feed, clothe, and shelter themselves (Erickson, 1986). Roughly, since the Kennedy administration’s increase in spending on food stamps and other assistance programs, and the correlated dwindling down of coal mining in the state, the adoption of citizens utilizing assistance programs has increased exponentially (Greenberg). 1969).
Works Cited Billings, Norman, and Ledford. Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes: Back Talk from an American Region. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1990. Beaver, Patricia.
In the early 1900s, the American South had very distinctive social classes: African Americans, poor white farmers, townspeople, and wealthy aristocrats. This class system is reflected in William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, where the Bundrens a poor, white family, are on a quest to bury their now deceased wife and mother, Addie in the town of Jefferson. Taking a Marxist criticism approach to As I Lay Dying, readers notice how Faulkner’s use of characterization reveals how country folk are looked down upon by the wealthy, upper class townspeople.
Jean Louise “Scout” and Jem Finch experienced life in the 1930’s living in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Their childhood was a nonstop adventure that brought jocund days and testing trials that teenager’s today experience even with the world around us changing every day. The moral upbringings, educational importance, and the crime rate of small towns all contributed to the childhood memories that were built every day in Maycomb County. These attributes to childhood experiences have changed a lot over the vast time period between the 1930’s and 2000’s. The moral upbringings are different in the way that children living now are experiencing a different surrounding in their everyday life and have lost morals that were taught in the 1930’s. Education is more important now than in the 1930’s because of the many laws that have been established to keep children well educated to help them succeed. Living in a small town had many advantages like the low crime rate; crime rate has risen and caused an effect on small town life. There are many similarities as well as differences between the childhood in the 1930’s and the 2000’s. The changes that have occurred affect my life as a young Alabamian every day in many ways.