J.D. Vance's Message in Hillbilly Elegy upwards against statistical odds. This indicated that as the grandson of hillbillies and the son of a drug addict, he would fail to graduate from high school and would likely fall into drug addiction and/or domestic violence. His ability to avoid this fate is not the reason he wrote Hillbilly Elegy. He wrote this book so that people can understand what happens in the lives of the poor and the psychological impact that spiritual and material poverty has on their children. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Hillbillies are explained to be descended from Scots/Irish Americans, who immigrated to the United States from Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. For these people, poverty is widespread and almost no one earns a college degree. Like the author's relatives, many Scotch/Irish Americans live in the hills of Kentucky. Although Vance himself spent much of his childhood in Ohio, he calls Jackson, Kentucky his true home. That's because his grandparents spent most of their lives in Jackson. Vance illustrates the importance of hillbilly oral storytelling traditions in his town. He writes about his great uncles who he idolized as a child. They spent time together and told him many different types of stories. These stories were very inappropriate for young ears, but Vance was intrigued by the “hillbilly justice” each story told. The storytelling tradition often emphasized hillbilly “values” in the community of loyalty and honor. Vance's uncle once told a story about a man named "Big Red" who insulted his mother. After warning Big Red to retract what he said, his uncle beat him and hacked the man to pieces with a chainsaw. The man did not die, but he never turned to the police because "he knew what it meant to insult a man's mother". Speaking more in depth about the importance of honor and loyalty in hillbilly culture, Vance discusses the many problems of Kentucky and Appalachia as a whole. Even today, drug addiction is widespread throughout the working class, along with unhealthy lifestyles. Looking for more, Vance's grandparents moved from Kentucky to Ohio, where his grandfather found work at Armco Steel. They married as teenagers in Kentucky in 1947. They were two members of well-known hillbilly families. The young couple moved to Ohio because his grandfather's only other option was working in the coal mines of Kentucky as a prospect that would bring his family little money to provide for. His grandparents had three children, Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Wee and his mother, Bev. Unfortunately his grandfather was an alcoholic. His grandmother refused to allow her husband to continue the lifestyle he had chosen and, after much discussion, threatened to kill him if he came home drunk again. When he tested her several nights later, she poured gas on him while he slept on the sofa and set him on fire. Aunt Wee discovered this and rushed to put out the fire. His grandfather eventually stopped drinking years later. Vance says children who witness the type of domestic abuse his grandparents were involved in are statistically more likely to lead difficult lives themselves. His Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Wee made it through childhood to start a normal life. Unfortunately, her mother began a life of drug addiction and domestic abuse. She gave birth to Vance in herssecond marriage, which fell apart soon after. Her next husband adopted Vance and was a relatively kind man. The family achieved some stability for a while, during which Vance attended school and fell in love with reading. Even though his mother wasn't perfect, Vance admits that she believed deeply in education and worked to show this to her children. His grandparents played a very important part in Vance's life, as they were very close. This period of calm ended when her mother and stepfather decided to move away from Middletown because they felt her grandparents were crossing some lines. Vance was very sad to be away from his grandparents. To make matters worse, the move gave rise to some domestic disputes between his mother and stepfather. Vance says arguments between his mother and stepfather were his first idea about how to resolve marital disagreements. As a result, he began to do poorly in school because he stayed up late and listened to his mother and stepfather's arguments with his sister. One day, Vance came home from school to find that his grandmother had come for an unexpected visit. She came because Vance's mother had attempted suicide after a particularly heated argument with his stepfather. The argument was over the fact that his mother was having an affair and asking for a divorce. Although her mother crashed her car into a telephone pole, she still survived. His grandmother thought he tried to make it seem like he wanted to die to draw attention away from his affair. After this fiasco, Vance, Lindsay, and their mother returned to Middletown, where they lived even closer to their grandparents than before. During this time, her mother spiraled out of control with irresponsible behavior and began dating men who never stayed around for long. One day, when Vance was angry at his mother for her behavior. She apologized and promised to take him to the mall to buy him football stickers. During the trip, she became angry with him and started speeding on the highway saying that he would crash the car and kill them both. Vance jumped into the back seat, trying to get her to pull over to distract her. When the car stopped, he drove off across a large field until he encountered a woman in a pool in the backyard. He told the lady that his mother was trying to kill him and begged her to call his grandparents. The woman got out of the pool, brought him in and gave him the phone. Meanwhile, his mother finally broke down the door and took Vance. The woman had called the police, who immediately intervened and took her mother away. When she later went on trial in a domestic violence case, Vance was called to testify against her. Instead he lied, saying she had never threatened him. He did this to protect his mother, but also because he had made a deal with her that if he refrained from testifying against her, he could live with his grandparents whenever he wanted. Papaw died shortly after her mother began dating a new man named Matt. , and his death affected the entire family. His mother fell into a prescription drug habit that was slowly getting worse and worse. More than anyone, she was devastated by his death. She also emphasized to everyone that they had no right to be sad like her because he was her father. One day, after attacking Matt, his mother was arrested and admitted to a drug rehabilitation center. This forced Vance to rely on his sister, Lindsay, who had just graduated from high school. Finally, by the time Vance finished eighth grade, his mother had been sober for almost a year and Lindsay had married a man namedKevin. Before Vance started high school, his mother insisted that he move with her and Matt to Dayton, Ohio. Vance refused to leave, deciding instead to live with his biological father with whom he had recently reconnected. Don was also from Kentucky, and although widely seen as a terrible husband and father, he had made drastic changes in his life, turning to God and starting a new family that strictly followed the rules of the church. This pleased Vance, who was looking for a reliable community. Despite the peace and stability of Don's home, Vance constantly felt defensive in his new life, which eventually encouraged him to move in with his grandmother. He stayed with her for the rest of the summer before finally moving in with Bev and Matt for fear of overwhelming his grandmother. As Vance progressed through high school, his mother's drug addiction continued, along with her disappointing romantic life. After years of attending Narcotics Anonymous to support his mother only to watch her continue using drugs, Vance finally decided to live full time with his grandmother, which he believes saved his life. Immediately his grades in school improved and he lost all interest in hanging out with other kids who smoked marijuana or drank alcohol. He was even accepted into college at Ohio State University, although when the time came to commit he felt unprepared. He knew that going to college would be an investment in his future, but he couldn't shake the feeling that not all investments were good investments. His grandmother viewed education as "the only damn thing worth spending money on," but he decided to put off higher education, opting instead to join the Marines, a challenge that seemed insurmountable, considering he was out of shape and severely lacking in discipline. Although she was worried, his grandmother supported Vance by sending him letters while he was in boot camp. The experience of constant exercise and psychological challenge transformed him, giving him confidence and agency he could never have imagined before joining the Marines. Not long before Vance left for Iraq in 2005, his grandmother died, leaving him alone for the first time in his life, although he had now gained a sense of self-confidence. Thankfully, he served unharmed in the Iraq War, and when he returned, he finally attended Ohio State University. This was a busy time in his life, as he worked multiple jobs while attending classes, but Vance had learned to appreciate the value of pushing himself to achieve his goals. As a result, he graduated in just one year and eleven months. He then began applying to law schools. In his second round of applications, he was accepted to Yale Law School, where he ended up earning his bachelor's degree. During his time at Yale, Vance was forced again and again to confront the enormous class gap between his hillbilly upbringing and the elite milieu in which he now found himself. Fortunately, he made friends with a classmate, Usha, who often helped him navigate social situations. He and Usha ended up dating, then married after graduating from law school. Vance notes that even after successfully achieving upward mobility, he often still finds himself drawn to the uglier sides of his original community. One night, not long after her graduation from Yale, she went to Middletown to pay for her mother's stay in a motel because her now-husband had kicked her out of the house after she started using heroin. Vance says, “Upward mobility is never clear-cut, and the world I left always finds a way to bring me back.” It is not.”

Topic > J.D. Vance's Message in Hillbilly Elegy upwards against statistical odds. This indicated that as the grandson of hillbillies and the son of a drug addict, he would fail to graduate from high school and would likely fall into drug addiction and/or domestic violence. His ability to avoid this fate is not the reason he wrote Hillbilly Elegy. He wrote this book so that people can understand what happens in the lives of the poor and the psychological impact that spiritual and material poverty has on their children. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Hillbillies are explained to be descended from Scots/Irish Americans, who immigrated to the United States from Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. For these people, poverty is widespread and almost no one earns a college degree. Like the author's relatives, many Scotch/Irish Americans live in the hills of Kentucky. Although Vance himself spent much of his childhood in Ohio, he calls Jackson, Kentucky his true home. That's because his grandparents spent most of their lives in Jackson. Vance illustrates the importance of hillbilly oral storytelling traditions in his town. He writes about his great uncles who he idolized as a child. They spent time together and told him many different types of stories. These stories were very inappropriate for young ears, but Vance was intrigued by the “hillbilly justice” each story told. The storytelling tradition often emphasized hillbilly “values” in the community of loyalty and honor. Vance's uncle once told a story about a man named "Big Red" who insulted his mother. After warning Big Red to retract what he said, his uncle beat him and hacked the man to pieces with a chainsaw. The man did not die, but he never turned to the police because "he knew what it meant to insult a man's mother". Speaking more in depth about the importance of honor and loyalty in hillbilly culture, Vance discusses the many problems of Kentucky and Appalachia as a whole. Even today, drug addiction is widespread throughout the working class, along with unhealthy lifestyles. Looking for more, Vance's grandparents moved from Kentucky to Ohio, where his grandfather found work at Armco Steel. They married as teenagers in Kentucky in 1947. They were two members of well-known hillbilly families. The young couple moved to Ohio because his grandfather's only other option was working in the coal mines of Kentucky as a prospect that would bring his family little money to provide for. His grandparents had three children, Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Wee and his mother, Bev. Unfortunately his grandfather was an alcoholic. His grandmother refused to allow her husband to continue the lifestyle he had chosen and, after much discussion, threatened to kill him if he came home drunk again. When he tested her several nights later, she poured gas on him while he slept on the sofa and set him on fire. Aunt Wee discovered this and rushed to put out the fire. His grandfather eventually stopped drinking years later. Vance says children who witness the type of domestic abuse his grandparents were involved in are statistically more likely to lead difficult lives themselves. His Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Wee made it through childhood to start a normal life. Unfortunately, her mother began a life of drug addiction and domestic abuse. She gave birth to Vance in herssecond marriage, which fell apart soon after. Her next husband adopted Vance and was a relatively kind man. The family achieved some stability for a while, during which Vance attended school and fell in love with reading. Even though his mother wasn't perfect, Vance admits that she believed deeply in education and worked to show this to her children. His grandparents played a very important part in Vance's life, as they were very close. This period of calm ended when her mother and stepfather decided to move away from Middletown because they felt her grandparents were crossing some lines. Vance was very sad to be away from his grandparents. To make matters worse, the move gave rise to some domestic disputes between his mother and stepfather. Vance says arguments between his mother and stepfather were his first idea about how to resolve marital disagreements. As a result, he began to do poorly in school because he stayed up late and listened to his mother and stepfather's arguments with his sister. One day, Vance came home from school to find that his grandmother had come for an unexpected visit. She came because Vance's mother had attempted suicide after a particularly heated argument with his stepfather. The argument was over the fact that his mother was having an affair and asking for a divorce. Although her mother crashed her car into a telephone pole, she still survived. His grandmother thought he tried to make it seem like he wanted to die to draw attention away from his affair. After this fiasco, Vance, Lindsay, and their mother returned to Middletown, where they lived even closer to their grandparents than before. During this time, her mother spiraled out of control with irresponsible behavior and began dating men who never stayed around for long. One day, when Vance was angry at his mother for her behavior. She apologized and promised to take him to the mall to buy him football stickers. During the trip, she became angry with him and started speeding on the highway saying that he would crash the car and kill them both. Vance jumped into the back seat, trying to get her to pull over to distract her. When the car stopped, he drove off across a large field until he encountered a woman in a pool in the backyard. He told the lady that his mother was trying to kill him and begged her to call his grandparents. The woman got out of the pool, brought him in and gave him the phone. Meanwhile, his mother finally broke down the door and took Vance. The woman had called the police, who immediately intervened and took her mother away. When she later went on trial in a domestic violence case, Vance was called to testify against her. Instead he lied, saying she had never threatened him. He did this to protect his mother, but also because he had made a deal with her that if he refrained from testifying against her, he could live with his grandparents whenever he wanted. Papaw died shortly after her mother began dating a new man named Matt. , and his death affected the entire family. His mother fell into a prescription drug habit that was slowly getting worse and worse. More than anyone, she was devastated by his death. She also emphasized to everyone that they had no right to be sad like her because he was her father. One day, after attacking Matt, his mother was arrested and admitted to a drug rehabilitation center. This forced Vance to rely on his sister, Lindsay, who had just graduated from high school. Finally, by the time Vance finished eighth grade, his mother had been sober for almost a year and Lindsay had married a man namedKevin. Before Vance started high school, his mother insisted that he move with her and Matt to Dayton, Ohio. Vance refused to leave, deciding instead to live with his biological father with whom he had recently reconnected. Don was also from Kentucky, and although widely seen as a terrible husband and father, he had made drastic changes in his life, turning to God and starting a new family that strictly followed the rules of the church. This pleased Vance, who was looking for a reliable community. Despite the peace and stability of Don's home, Vance constantly felt defensive in his new life, which eventually encouraged him to move in with his grandmother. He stayed with her for the rest of the summer before finally moving in with Bev and Matt for fear of overwhelming his grandmother. As Vance progressed through high school, his mother's drug addiction continued, along with her disappointing romantic life. After years of attending Narcotics Anonymous to support his mother only to watch her continue using drugs, Vance finally decided to live full time with his grandmother, which he believes saved his life. Immediately his grades in school improved and he lost all interest in hanging out with other kids who smoked marijuana or drank alcohol. He was even accepted into college at Ohio State University, although when the time came to commit he felt unprepared. He knew that going to college would be an investment in his future, but he couldn't shake the feeling that not all investments were good investments. His grandmother viewed education as "the only damn thing worth spending money on," but he decided to put off higher education, opting instead to join the Marines, a challenge that seemed insurmountable, considering he was out of shape and severely lacking in discipline. Although she was worried, his grandmother supported Vance by sending him letters while he was in boot camp. The experience of constant exercise and psychological challenge transformed him, giving him confidence and agency he could never have imagined before joining the Marines. Not long before Vance left for Iraq in 2005, his grandmother died, leaving him alone for the first time in his life, although he had now gained a sense of self-confidence. Thankfully, he served unharmed in the Iraq War, and when he returned, he finally attended Ohio State University. This was a busy time in his life, as he worked multiple jobs while attending classes, but Vance had learned to appreciate the value of pushing himself to achieve his goals. As a result, he graduated in just one year and eleven months. He then began applying to law schools. In his second round of applications, he was accepted to Yale Law School, where he ended up earning his bachelor's degree. During his time at Yale, Vance was forced again and again to confront the enormous class gap between his hillbilly upbringing and the elite milieu in which he now found himself. Fortunately, he made friends with a classmate, Usha, who often helped him navigate social situations. He and Usha ended up dating, then married after graduating from law school. Vance notes that even after successfully achieving upward mobility, he often still finds himself drawn to the uglier sides of his original community. One night, not long after her graduation from Yale, she went to Middletown to pay for her mother's stay in a motel because her now-husband had kicked her out of the house after she started using heroin. Vance says, “Upward mobility is never clear-cut, and the world I left always finds a way to bring me back.” It is not.”