Essay On Hillbilly Elegy

After the attention on the sixth grade she started having issues again she was more introspective and gained weight. Her attention was focused on her appearance still and her worth was reflected in the fact that she put much stock in not having friends or a boyfriend. She was transferred to an all-girls school and there were programs

     Many people have different views on what Appalachia is, I grew up thinking that Appalachia meant people were dirty, poor, illiterate, inbreed and we also called them mountain people. As I grew up I realized that most of the things they went through and had a hard time with, I was dealing with the same problems. So what exactly is Appalachia? Well you will find out as you read on.

The multidimensional expression “hillbilly” carries different cultural significances throughout the book Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. First, Vance utilizes the term “hillbilly” to refer to the working class white Americans of Scots-Irish descent who have no college degree (3). Second, Vance uses the term hillbilly to refer to a group of people from a specific geographic area, namely the area of the Appalachian Mountains. According to Vance, the area stretches from Alabama to Georgia in the South to Ohio to parts of New York in the north (4). Third, hillbilly indicates the way of life, behavior, or identity of the people of Greater Appalachia.

Poverty and inequality cripple America in every state and region of this country. These social problems overlap between social class and different cultures. As we read Evicted by Matthew Desmond, and Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D Vance, these problems were brought to the forefront in their own unique way. Evicted focused on the lower class level of urban poverty in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The people that were highlighted in this book were struggling to make ends meet every month, and keep food on the table. Many of the families that we read about were evicted countless times, and struggled to stay out of local homeless shelters. Hillbilly Elegy focused more on the struggles of the working class, and how the people of

Memoirs, and writing in general, reveal a truth about the author. Oftentimes, said truth is revealed intentionally. Universal truths such as struggle, endurance, and agony help authors influence their audiences. These truths cause the readers to become cognizant of and appreciate the authors. It is a writer’s duty to write from the heart—to write about the good and bad sides of a story. Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood fails to use universal truths and instead presents a very superficial presentation of its author’s life. J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis display the unconventional upbringing of Vance in order to give the audience a better understanding of the writer. Pure honesty

Our society has lived around giving people nicknames, labels or titles. Schools specifically can be a spot where these labels have been detrimental on a person’s view of themselves. Labeling or stigmatizing is when someone uses a label or nickname to degrade someone who is considered different. Insults and jokes can enforce these labels. People who are different can be labeled something which may make them feel more insignificant about themselves, and if these labels are repeated the person may even come to believe the label. In the case of the Saints and the Roughnecks it was the citizens who stigmatized these teenagers to the point where the kids were they were not given any other future besides the one that follow what their label was. The community believed the teenagers could not become better or worse people than what their title

The book Hillbilly Elegy is a story about a man that achieved things he never thought possible. J.D. Vance grew up in an extremely small town in Ohio which did not present much opportunity to him. Most of his family members had worked in places like steel mills in the past where physical labor was done in return for low wages. Throughout his childhood, J.D.’s mom battled a drug addiction and was emotionally unstable. Eventually J.D. moved in with his grandma, Mamaw, who saw the potential J.D. had to succeed. She encouraged him to do better with his life in many ways, one being giving him his first calculator. This motivated him to learn math and was the first step in achieving his goals. J.D. soon went on to graduate high school and

While growing up Erica didn’t face many personal or family struggles. The worst struggle was losing their home. Erica was a rebel in middle school. Growing up in the 90’s wasn’t that easy. Skinny jeans were not invented yet so she just to wear rubber bands at the end of her jeans so they could look better with her Jordan’s. By rebel she meant she became more social and became more interested in boys. Wasn’t allowed to have boyfriends. Was very dedicated to softball. Softball kept her on track to keep her grades up. Her friends didn’t like her focusing on her goal of going to college. Is planning to get her masters at Ucla or Csun. She is the oldest of her siblings. She wants to become a teacher but her desire to teacher has nothing to do with her father being a teacher. When she got to college that’s when she faced some struggles she was in an abusive relationship everything

The novel, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance was eye opening about the poverty situation currently facing the Appalachia people. Vance brings the culture surrounding the community and the government’s effect on the people’s situation down to a level even the strictest Republican or Democrat can empathize with the situation. The issue surrounding low income families is not that the government doesn’t provide enough assistance, but that the culture does not promote the same success potential as the wealthy culture does. The assistance provided to these communities needs to be restructured to help build up the community not just put a band aid on the situation. It is essential to note that Vance believes that government interference with the poor

Southerners are known to be proud of their traditional beliefs. To Kill A Mockingbird allows its readers to question and consider those beliefs. Maycomb represents a typical old southern town. Not many people move into Maycomb and not many people who live there journey beyond its boundaries. As a result, the opinions held by many of the citizens of Maycomb are left to grow and foster in the same families for many generations. The circumstances in Maycomb are less than ideal for generating change and more prone to sustaining traditionally accepted codes. Two codes embedded within southern social beliefs are class and race.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty attempts to answer some questions regarding inequality. He argues that we are now re-entering a more typical period of low growth. Thus, the rate of return on investment rapidly outpaces the rate of overall economic growth (r > g). A trend well-nknown through history until the 19th century. He predicts that this path will likely continue in the 21st century, resulting in wealth growing faster than output and income—thus pushing towards divergence of equality.

It has been said that the land is itself another character in Paton's novel, Cry, the Beloved Country. What role does the landscape play in the novel? What does the valley surrounding Ndotsheni represent?

When I watch the episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, I agree with Dean's claim that the program exploits hillbilly, redneck, or white trash stereotypes. The movie has content about a family move to Beverly Hills when they get millions of dollars from their land .Then, they have to face a new life. When they move to a huge house, they are really surprised . Moreover, when they live in their old place, they never use a refrigerator and over. So, they are confused ; they also have some mistakes on the first time they use these things. In addition, they are not respected by other people when they wear informal costumes.The secretary thinks that they are hired to help because they wear the costumes which are different to others who live in

To formulate a response to the question above, I periodically reflected on the eleven students in my classroom this year. One student, in particular, comes to mind is a young man by the name of Brando. Brando was a third grade, ESL student, who struggles in all academic areas especially reading. Is family came from Mexico with the intent to have a better life? Brando’s family consist of his mom, a fourteen-year-old brother and two sisters, one sixteen and the other thirteen. His mother worked 12-hour shifts to put food on the table, thus, as a result, she is never home. Therefore, Brando’s sixteen-year-old high school sister is in charge of the running of the home in the absence of their mother.

The final reading of Hillbilly Elegy starts with J.D applying to law school. This was J.D’s goal, and I was so happy that he was about to achieve this. I found it interesting that J.D did not apply to Stanford Law School because to be admitted, you need a letter of recommendation from the dean from your undergraduate school. Vance did not apply because he didn’t know the dean from Ohio State. I think this says a great deal about how Vance views outsiders. I feel that J.D is hesitant to trust outsiders in every part of his life, and I think this feeling started with his upbringing. I was also happy to read that his financial aid allowed him to attend Yale. I was initially shocked to read that the most