hillbilly elegy 1

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JD Vance’s life is a study in upward mobility: despite his rough upbringing, he beat the odds and became more successful than the other kids he grew up with. It seems that Mamaw’s words — “Never be like those fucking losers who think the deck is stacked against them. You can do anything you want to.” (36) — had their intended impact.

(Side note: I sort of love that his grandmother swears like a sailor.)

However, Vance still seems to struggle with his new place in society. He says he views the elite with “primal scorn” and feels uncomfortable in his new community, while at the same time admitting that their culture seems to be more functional than the hillbilly culture in which he grew up. He also talks about the discomfort in leaving his hillbilly roots, and that hillbillies think people like him are too big for their britches.

Is Vance still a hillbilly? To which culture does he currently belong? Can he have a foot in both worlds, or is that not allowed? He’s clearly making more money than his family, and based on how articulate he is in communicating his thoughts, we can feel fairly certain that he’s not solving his problems with violence. What’s his cultural identity now?

Here’s another thing to think about: Vance puts a lot of his family’s hillbilly behavior on a Scots-Irish heritage (40), but is that legitimate? Is this an excuse for their violent and irresponsible behavior, or is there a lack of ownership? He notes that his family members are aware of their behavior on some level: Aunt Wee had to hide her black eye when her brother came home, and Vance’s papaw stopped drinking on his own. Do you think Vance is owning up to the faults in his heritage and trying to change it, or is he trying to justify it?

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