Analysis Of J. D Vance's Hillbilly Elegy

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from you should read J.D Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy”. It’s an explorative memoir into the author, his family and the culture of the people in the Appalachian Mountains. I would recommend this book to anyone who has experienced violence, drug abuse, and loss of a loved one. While its topics are hard to dive into J.D Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” writes about the realities of life in the Appalachia, and the many traumas and roadblocks he went through to get where he is now.

Vance 's grandparents, Bonnie Blanton and Jim Vance, were born in a little town called Jackson in southeast Kentucky. They migrated north in the 1940’s to Middletown, Ohio in search of better jobs. Vance appreciates the irony—“I write this book because I’ve achieved something quite ordinary, which doesn’t happen to most kids who grew up like me (p. 1)”. Born into the poverty of the Appalachian, later displaced to an Ohio rust-belt town. Among the inconsistent characters that shaped Vance’s upbringing, his Mamaw shaped him the

Vance 's Hillbilly Elegy is a memoir about his life growing up in Ohio as the child of a working-class family with roots in Appalachia it gives insight into a deeply unknown and private culture. Showing the upsides and the downside to hillbilly life. Vance uses his experiences in a dysfunctional family to talk about the problems with what he calls hillbilly culture. While I did really like the book. I don’t agree with some of the things J.D. concludes. He says that hillbilly culture is mired in laziness, drug use, and learned helplessness. Hillbillies claim to be committed to hard work, but Vance believes they actually refuse to work at available jobs, miring them in poverty. He argues that hillbillies must recommit to institutions like the family and the church in order to escape poverty. I would recommend this book it is a great read for people who live in these areas and for those who don’t and want to understand the