Hillbilly Elegy Summary

“Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” is filled with insight and unique observations into the life of, “hillbillies, rednecks, or white trash,” as experienced by author J.D. Vance as, “neighbors, friends and family” (Vance 3). The insights that Vance details in his book provide an important look into the economic inequality that exist in America, the importance of self-determination and the people who influence it, and the importance of where we come and how it affects who we become. Vance describes economic inequality and the influence it has on children who grew up like him. As a child, Vance remembers that he was destined to become a statistic. The statistics he writes about in his book claim that there are two …show more content…
He describes that the environment he lived in was far from normal. However, his environment is not limited to the location, but refers more to the people he was surrounded by. He was largely raised by his Mamaw, and would often seek comfort from his sister. Vance recognized that he had to play the hand he was dealt and lived an overall happy childhood (69). Most of the issues that occurred in his community were the same issues that were happening in his own home. He states that, “mom’s struggles…were replicated, replayed, and relived by many of the people who, like us, had moved…in search of a better life” (142). The struggles that both his hometown and his own family faced caused him to become interested in the factors that led to that particular way of life. Vance became interested in “the problems of hillbillies in modern America” (144). Soon after high school, Vance joined the Marine Corps, is was here that he began to, “appreciate how lucky [he] was: born in the greatest country on earth…supported by two loving hillbillies, and part of a family that…loved [him] unconditionally” (173). Eventually, despite the statistics, Vance was able to graduate Yale Law School, and achieve the American Dream that he was always fascinated with