Hillbilly Essays

The idea of “hillbilly culture” as presented in Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance is a complex concept that can be interpreted in many different ways. This is a culture that is familiar to millions of Americans that call the Rust Belt home. Many people from Appalachia take pride in their intrinsic “hillbilly culture” while others want to distance themselves as much as possible from the term “hillbilly” and many times from the region that coincides with this

In J.D. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy, he uses his life story to critique the notion that economic insecurity is the root cause of the hardship his fellow hillbillies must endure. Rather, Vance argues that the very culture he claims to love is actually responsible for the social decay that he and millions of others have had to live in, and that hillbillies’ inability to recognize this has led to their political estrangement. To fully grasp the impact of hillbilly culture on the level of social decay

“Y’all might be a redneck if you stand under the mistletoe at Christmas and wait for Granny and cousin Bobby Sue Ellen to walk by.” Laugh or be offended, rednecks can relate to this statement because they have a brother, a close friend, or they are like the man in the redneck joke. The truth is that many rednecks say y’all (not you guys) and they do have names like Billy Joe and Jerry Don. This analysis is only a part of all the cultural words that rednecks have that make their lingo so unique. By

the social world should be viewed as situated, conjoint accomplishments of an inherently imperfect process of coordination” (Pearce, 1989, p. 33). Essentially, coordination is people getting together to create a joint meaning of good and evil. In Hillbilly Elegy, Vance discusses that when he used to get into fights his Mamaw would always change when he was or was not able to fight. For instance, Vance was taught to never start a fight, always finish a fight if one did start,

In the excerpt from Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir written in first person point of view, J.D. Vance writes about the time he spent at Yale, but also the identity crisis that follows with it. Throughout his memoir, Vance presents the theme that the identity that one grew up with, in a place where they felt a sense of belonging, will stick with one forever, despite stereotypes or new environments. Top schools, including of Harvard, Stanford, and Yale — the school Vance went to — are meant for the most

Vance's memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" examines the challenges of rural Appalachian working-class Americans. The narrative chronicles Vance's personal journey, starting with his relieved upbringing in Kentucky and ending with his achievement as a Yale Law School alum. Vance covers the social and economic issues that his neighborhood faces throughout his story, including poverty, addiction, and family dynamics. By the use of literary devices like pathos, tone, and conflict, J.D. Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" reveals

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance is a memoir that follows J.D. through a childhood full of hope, adventure, and physical and mental abuse. This memoir follows not only J.D. through a life of poverty, but examines a culture in crisis, commonly referred to as ‘hillbillys’. J.D. helps examine and identify the characteristics of the culture from the inside, while effectively telling the story of the class’s social decline. J.D. examines the hope his family possesses following the war, however as years

J.D Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis is a personal psychological, cultural and sociological analysis of poor white working-class Americans. Specifically, Hillbilly Elegy examines the life of the author in Middletown Ohio, a once booming post war steel town that today has a struggling economy, diminishing family values and a rapid increase in drug abuse. At the beginning of the memoir, Vance perfectly situates the reader to the uniqueness from his life in Middletown

“A world of truly irrational behavior”: Culture in J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy In chapter nine of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J. D. Vance describes the town he grew up in. He recounts how his mother and neighbors purchase “giant TVs” (146), iPads, and nice clothes with “high-interest credit cards and payday loans” (146), spending to “pretend . . . [they’re] upper class” (146). Vance talks about how his family “scream and yell at each other like . . . spectators

in a family that was, by his record, exceptionally useless. The well-known book Hillbilly Elegy portrays the disagreeable reality of life in country regions that have lost occupations and expectation. The attention is on families living in Ohio however comparable falling flat economies can be found in various states. Vance's youth and memories of childhood in Ohio and Kentucky is the reason for his book. Hillbilly Elegy has something for everybody, and something everybody won't care for. One purpose

social success amongst people living in Appalachia, and how he broke out of it. As a child growing up in this poverty stricken area, Vance is well aware of all of the issues keeping “Hillbillies” from moving up the social and economic ladder. Aside from bare lack of money and abusive drug use, he recognizes how “Hillbillies learn from a young age to deal with uncomfortable truths by avoiding them.” In his story, he talks about how people in economic hardship would not try to change their bad work ethic

By Demondre Peak Hillbilly as defined by Webster’s dictionary is “an unsophisticated country person associated originally with the remote regions of the Appalachians.” Over time the word Hillbilly has developed plenty of negative connotations and some would even say that it is now even used as a derogatory term for those who live in the Appalachian heritage. Some also say that the connotation is two fold in the sense that there is a positive outlook and a negative one as well. The positive seems

Set in the Appalachian region of the United States, “Hillbilly Elegy,” tells the story of J.D. Vance, the author of the book. The book is written about Vance’s life, growing up in Appalachia, one of Americas poorest regions. Unexpectedly, the book came to be used as an explanation for the upset in the 2016 Presidential election, when republican candidate, Donald Trump, beat democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. The reason this was so shocking, was because the Appalachia region, has long been a democratic

The Reality of the “Hillbilly Heroin” Epidemic in Appalachia McDOWELL COUNTY, March 9—West Virginia’s Bureau of Public Health determined that the state of drug addiction and abuse in McDowell County, West Virginia is increasing in high numbers. McDowell County, known to be one of the poorest counties in America, is a community overwhelmed with the devastating effects of poverty and drug addiction. This is clearly a problem too dire to ignore. Background: The problem arose due to the fact that coal-mining

Hillbilly culture is one of the few American subcultures that has survived for more than three generations. In Ohio, hillbilly culture permeates through the towns of poor Scots-Irish laborers. In Hillbilly Elegy, JD Vance tells his story of upward mobility, from his roots in this hillbilly culture of Middletown, Ohio, to graduation from Yale Law School. Hillbilly culture is a love of country and loyalty to the community that can produce both upward mobility, as well as violence and drug abuse. Vance

I personally believe that stereotype is an issue of mainstream media in the United States, especially in TV shows and movies. After reading “Here Comes the Hillbilly, Again” by Michelle Dean, and watching The Beverly Hillbillies - Getting Settled, I agree with Dean’s claim that the film producer used hillbilly stereotype to create comedic effect for the sitcom. For audience, this episode is entertaining because it has many humorous situations that exceed audience’s imagination. However, it also creates

Hillbilly Stereotype on the Appalachians in Popular Culture Stereotypes can be simplified and standardized conceptions or images invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group. A stereotype can also describe or label people and objects by giving them a name. Many people or groups from all over the world like to stereotype others, specifically in the Appalachia area, which sometimes infuriates the people of the region. One of the most popular stereotypes of the Appalachians

According to Dean article which is " Here Comes the Hillbilly, Again", I can see Dean's point of view on classist stereotypes by his words. In order to make his idea clear, he gives the reader clear evidences of the stigma that still exists in the examples and he also quotes a number of opinions from many and from the Beverly Hillbillies video. " Interestingly, the term “white trash” may have been coined by black slaves in the early 19th century to describe poor white people in the South; American

In Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance argues that “hillbillies” are stereotyped and perceived as being “lazy, poor, and violent.” Vance tells the reader to look beyond the stereotypes, and shows a new position that many before weren’t previously aware of. He tells a story about the culture in which he grew up in, which showed some of the stereotypes, but was extremely different from what people had originally thought. He showed that the people in this culture cared about one another and would go to extreme

Success and Prosperity, two words that define the American Dream that every U.S Citizen would like to achieve. But, is this Dream alive and available for everyone? In the article “Hillbilly Elegy”, and the book Scratch Beginnings both discuss how the American Dream could be accomplishable for certain people. Many do believe that it is possible for anyone to reach this dream because there is a variety of government programs that are willing to help the low income families or individuals who need an