This week, I am looking at another book that deals, among other things, with complicated family relationships. For my first nonfiction read of the semester, I chose the memoir “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.”
The memoir outlines the life of J.D. Vance, who grew up in the rustbelt town of Middletown, Ohio. After a teenage pregnancy scandal, his grandparents moved there from rural Kentucky.
Moving away from their roots, Vance’s grandparents create better lives for themselves than their parents.
While they struggle to adhere to some of the norms of their new lives, ultimately, they settle down and help raise Vance after his relationship with his mother becomes complicated due to her drug addiction and abusive behavior.
Despite the odds being stacked against him, from poverty to the culture in which he was raised, Vance is able to create a path for himself toward upward mobility. After four years in Iraq with the marines, Vance graduates from Ohio State University and later Yale Law School.
Vance attributes his success to his grandparents, as well as the time he spent in the marines. He knows he barely made it out of a toxic cultural environment and the advantages he did have allowed him to do so.
Although “Hillbilly Elegy” is a compelling memoir, it is also a cultural criticism of the white working class in America. Vance, a conservative, does not believe the government can end the cycle of poverty, drug abuse and violence that plagues hillbilly societies.
In the memoir, Vance cites that working class whites are the most pessimistic group in America that struggles with poverty. While he hold his people accountable for their perpetuation of the hillbilly culture, he argues they aren’t entirely to blame because being born into such a culture is ultimately not their fault.
Since the release of the memoir, the book has been used to generate discussions about the current political climate. There are definitely parallels between Vance’s work and the 2016 election.
Vance demonstrates the fact that the white working class thinks the media, politicians and the government cannot be trusted to tell society the truth. He encounters firsthand the people who believe they have no prospects due to a “rigged” system.
Obviously, there are those like Vance who are able to rise up from their situation. There are even those who are able to do so in worse circumstances.
Although Vance doesn’t offer concrete solutions to the problems those in poverty face, he does bring these them awareness and calls on hillbillies to “wake up.”
“Hillbilly Elegy” is relevant and moving. It paints a vivid picture of the troubling implications of poverty. Vance tells his story in a matter-of-fact tone and incorporates statistics and relevant information to back up his commentary on the white working class.
Hopefully, books like this can lead to conversations about solutions for poverty in America. In a political landscape many Americans currently find troubling, any hope is welcome.
kchrisco@ius.edu
