path: root/jones-la/vance/annotations.tex

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\input mla8.tex

%%Annotations should include:
% - Unknown Vocabulary
% - Themes and Support Quotations
% - Strong language/passages
% - Shifts in POV or tone
% - Author's tone and author's purpose
% - Short personal reflections grouped by chapter
% - Anything else that resonates with me
%%Prompt:
% In his book, Democracy in America, French historian Alexis de Tocqueville claims the American Dream is the charm of anticipated success. In 1931, historian James Adams first defined the American Dream as "that dream of a land that should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement."
% Trace the idea of the American Dream through Vance's book. How do the above ideas fit with the poeple in Hillbilly Elegy? What determines success or failure? Who is responsible and ultimately pays the price for failure to attain the dream? Is the American Dream attainable?

\countdef\partnum=2
\def\part#1{\advance\partnum by 1{\bf Part \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral\the\partnum}: #1\/}}

\countdef\chapnum=1
\def\chapter#1{%
  {\bf Introduction}
  \def\chapter{\advance\chapnum by 1{\bf Chapter \the\chapnum\/}}
}

\def\word#1#2{{\it #1:\/} #2}

\long\def\reflection#1{#1\smallskip\hrule\smallskip}

\def\note#1{#1}

\def\ifquoted{\expandafter\iftrue \def\ifquoted{\iffalse}}
\def\quote#1#2{``#1'' \cite{\ifquoted \newcite \nameinline \fi
  \name{Vance}{Vance, J.D}%
  \contain{Hillbilly Elegy}%
  \publish{Harper Press}%
  \pubdate{Jun 2016}%
  \pagenum{#2}%
}}

%%Actual document

\name{Holden} \last{Rohrer}
\prof{Jones}
\header

\title{Running Annotation of {\it Hillbilly Elegy}}

\chapter{Introduction}

\note{I don't have a physical copy, so page numbers may be slightly inaccurate from Kindle version.}

\quote{I wrote this book because I've achieved something quite ordinary, which doesn't happen to most kids who grow up like me}{1}.

\quote{With all due respect to those people [who assume I'm some sort of genius], I think that theory is a load of bullshit. Whatever talents I have, I almost squandered until a handful of loving people rescued me}{2}.

\quote{I want people to understand how upward mobility really feels. And I want people to understand something I learned only recently: that for those of us lucky enough to live the American Dream, the demons of the life we left behind continue to chase us}{2}.

\note{The Scots-Irish/Greater Appalachians are a cohesive, extremely traditional culture.}

\note{His tone is sympathetic to the Scots-Irish role as the downtrodden working class. \quote{From low social mobility to poverty to divorce and drug addiction, my home is a hub of misery}{4}.}

\word{Inculcates}{instill (an attitude, idea, or habit) by persistent instruction}

\quote{But this book is about something else: what goes on in the lives of real people when the industrial economy goes south. It's about reacting to bad circumstances in the worst way possible. It's about a culture that increasingly encourages social decay instead of counteracting it}{6}.
\note{This is preceded by an anecdote of Bob and his pregnant wife failing to maintain any sort of work ethic, emblematic of a larger social problem of poor work ethic even for good pay.}

\word{Dole}{(British) benefit paid by the government to the unemployed}

\quote{My primary aim is not to convince you of a documented problem. My primary aim is to tell a true story about what that problem feels like when you were born with it hanging around your neck}{8}.

\reflection{As the name of the chapter states, Vance is introducing the content, so he talks a lot about what he wants to do and what he doesn't want to do. He makes very clear that this is a memoir, not a study or an academic argument. He also says that he doesn't want to make his relatives sound pitiful because he identifies with them. Relevant to the prompt, he explicitly states that this is a story about the American Dream.}

\chapter

\word{Holler}{(Appalachian) a small valley}

\quote{I'd run around with my cousins, unaware of the ever-present poverty or Mamaw Blanton's deteriorating health. At a deep level, Jackson was the one place that belonged to me, my sister, and Mamaw}{12}.

\quote{I once overheard Mamaw tell her mother [Mamaw Blanton] that I loved the Blanton men because so many father figures had come and gone, but the Blanton men were always there.}{17}

\quote{Most important, they're mean about it [needing government assistance]---they will hesitate to open their lives up to others for the simple reason that they don't wish to be judged}{19}. \quote{Sociologists $\ldots$ found that avoidance and wishful-thinking forms of coping ``significantly predicted resiliency'' among Appalachian teens. Their paper suggests that hillbillies learn from an early age to deal with uncomfortable truths by avoiding them, or by pretending better truths exist.}{20}

\quote{What I realized many years ago, watching that funeral procession with Mamaw, is that I am a hill person. So is much of America's white working class. And we hill people aren't doing very well}{21}.

\reflection{This chapter introduces the ``honor culture'' of the Greater Appalachias in general, and how violence is well-accepted as part of this culture (of which the Blantons, Vance's family are a part of). This is the admirable part of ``hill person'' culture, visible as pride in vigilante justice. The other part, social problems brought on by vice, laziness, lack of work ethic, and unwillingness to accept those problems leads to the severe economic depression in Jackson and Middletown, Ohio, a town with a significant number of Appalachian transplants. The culture makes the American Dream difficult if not impossible to achieve without abnormal assistance.}

\chapter

\quote{When I first read this gruesome story in one of the country's most circulated newspapers, I felt one emotion above all the rest: pride. It's unlikely that any other ancestor of mine has ever appeared in {\it The New York Times}. Even if they had, I doubt that any deed would make me as proud as a successful feud}{24}. \note{The incident this is referring to is Mamaw's grandfather, Tilden, killing a member of a rival family on Election Day.}

\note{The tone has changed some. He is less sympathetic and somber in this chapter, expressing pride and excitement at his family's past.}

\quote{Pet, Paul, and Gary moved to Indiana and worked in construction. Each owned a successful business and earned considerable wealth in the process. Rose, Betty, Teaberry, and David stayed behind. All of them struggled fainancially, though everyone but David managed a life of relative comfort by the standards of their community}{29}.

\quote{The full truth is that my grandparents struggled in their new life, and they continued to do so for decades}{30}.

\quote{Economic mobility came with a lot of pressures, and it came with a lot of enw responsibilities}{30}.

\quote{But hillbillies shared many regional characteristics with the southern blacks arriving in Detroit}{31}.

\quote{Despite the setbacks, both of my grandparents had an almost religious faith in hard work and the American Dream. Neither was under any illusions that wealth or privilege didn't matter in America.}{35}

\quote{To Papaw and Mamaw, not all rich people were bad, but all bad people were rich}{35}.

\reflection{Vance develops the theme of the American Dream through Mamaw and Papaw's ``political'' philosophy. Their idea of the American Dream is more complex than a simple right to prosperity. Mamaw and Papaw believe strongly that hard work and the correct decisions leads to prosperity, with no patience for self-pity: \quote{\thinspace `Never be like these fucking losers who think the deck is stacked against them,' my grandma told me, `you can be anything you want'\thinspace}{35--36}. They also believed that it {\it should} lead to prosperity, and Vance carries some of those same beliefs with him, albeit recognising that making the ``correct'' decisions is often difficult without hindsight, especially when family and community ties pull strongly against those decisions (the stigma around migration and lack of social support).}

\chapter

\word{Carousing}{drinking alcohol and enjoying oneself with others in a noisy, lively way}

\quote{Mamaw felt disloyalty acutely. She loathed anything that smacked of a lack of complete devotion to family $\ldots$ Yet in her own life, with three children at home, the men who should have been most loyal to her---her brothers and husband---conspired against her}{42}.

\quote{I couldn't believe that mild-mannered Papaw, whom I adored as a child, was such a violent drunk. His behavior was due at least partly to Mamaw's disposition. She was a violent nondrunk}{43}. \note{This poorly constructed family life seems to be, at least partially, the result of the lacking social support in Middletown. Because the culture of Middletown teaches family life earlier in life than in hillbilly culture (which supposedly teaches it on the fly), Mamaw and Papaw got none of the necessary training for married life after leaving Jackson.}

\reflection{This chapter, chronologically, tells the story of Jimmy, Lori, and Bev's childhood. Their childhood wasn't the privilege that Mamaw and Papaw were trying for due to their abusive and violent marriage. However, after most had moved out to try to recover their own piece of prosperity, Jimmy at Armco, Lori becoming a radiologist later in life, and Bev getting trapped in an abusive home. However, after the children moved out, Mamaw and Papaw restabilized, allowing them to support their children and give them some part of the prosperity promised by the American Dream. The American Dream, in this case, seems to be unrelated to the headstarts people have. It's not just about upward mobility. In a certain sense, it's about the ``typical middle class life'' Uncle Jimmy would describe his childhood as (33).}

\chapter

\quote{Today downtown Middletown is little more than a relic of American industrial glory}{50}.

\quote{Despite its beauty, a Maryland couple recently purchased the mansion for \$225,000}{51}.

\quote{Manufacturing in America was a tough business in the post-globalization world}{54}.

\quote{We never considered that we'd be lucky to land a job at Armco; we took Armco for granted}{55}.

\quote{\thinspace`Your generation will make its  living with their minds, not their hands,' he once told me}{55}.

\quote{To the average Middletonian, hard work doesn't matter as much as raw talent}{57}

\quote{My grandfather and I would practice increasingly complex math once a week, with an ice cream reward for solid performance $\ldots$ [my mom] took me to the public library before I could read, got me a library card, showed me how to use it, and always made sure I had access to kids' books at home}{59--60}.

\note{Point of view has been changing chronologically. In the first chapter, Mamaw Blanton's generation was the focus (told through young Vance's eyes, to explain gaps in knowledge). Then Mamaw and Papaw. Then Mom, Uncle Jimmy, and Lori. Now, Vance is telling his own story---how he grew up and got out in much the same way Mamaw and Papaw did.}

\reflection{This chapter is about the current newest generation in the work force, Millennials, told through Vance's personal experience. Continuing in the locale of Middletown, he tells the story of the fall of industrial towns in America, blaming globalization. However, this was and is a slow process---Vance's generation and the next generation aren't able to see the severe decline in job prospects with companies like Armco because from one day to the next, it looks mostly the same. The segregated wealthy and poor communities remain segregated into wealthy and poor, especially because poor neighborhoods are stuck where they are. As home values decline due to deplorable job prospects, so does mobility, economic and geographic. But he doesn't abdicate the people of their personal responsibility. \quote{The only thing that report proves is that many folks talk about working more than they actually work}{57}. His views remain ambivalent, with his rejection of the meritocratic philosophy of why the certain few succeed while everyone else languishes---he thinks he got lucky because of his Papaw and his Mom's relentless efforts to educate him. He had library access from an early age, and Papaw taught him math to a much higher level than he could have possibly learned on his own.} %bruh, this a summary

\chapter

\note{This continues the idea of his advantage given by his Mom's love of learning; it gave him a leg up on the other kids for no reason of his own merit.} \quote{Mom cared deeply about enterprises of the mind. Nothing brought her greater joy than when I finished a book or asked for another. Mom was, everyone told me, the smartest person they knew. And I believed it}{65}.

\quote{Even as a boy, I knew [moving to rural Ohio] was the very worst thing that could happen to me. Mamaw and Papaw were my best friends. They helped me with my homework and spoiled me with treats when I behaved correctly or finished a difficult school assignment}{69}.

\quote{I began to do poorly in school. Many nights I'd lie in bed, unable to sleep because of the noise---the furniture rocking, heavy stomping, yelling, sometimes glass shatterring}{71}. \quote{Up to that point in my life, I was a perfectly fit and healthy child. I exercised constantly, and though I didn't exactly watch what I ate, I didn't have to. But I began to put on weight, and I was positively chubby by the time I started the fifth grade}{72}. \quote{The trauma at home waws clearly affecting my health}{72}/ \quote{Mom and Bob weren't that abnormal}{73}. After the domestic disputes with Bob, Mom cheated and entered depressive periods where she started to neglect her kids and became. Eventually, it reached a climax of Mom threating to kill J.D. because she's irritated, causing her to lash out at J.D., who runs away from her on the side of the highway, finding someone to call Mamaw. Mom didn't officially lose custody in the court, but Mamaw forcefully took it for J.D.'s safety. \quote{This was hillbilly justice, and it didn't fail me}{78}.

Vance, after describing the abusive family structure prevalent in his community, describes how he still identifies with people in that community. He felt a kinship with the hillbilly transplants observing the court case where Mom was charged with domestic violence but didn't realise it at the time. Afterwards he took a trip to California to see Uncle Jimmy, and there he saw the contrast between hillbilly culture and the broader world. This strengthened his identification with the hillbillies.

\quote{It is a testament to the class consciousness of my youth that my friends' thoughts drifted first to the cost of an airplane flight}{79}.

\reflection{This continues the secondary theme of privilege. Because of his mother's abuse, he is dispriveleged. However, the presence of Mamaw means that he is luckier than a comparable kid who doesn't have the same support structure; he at least had a way out that kept some of the stability of his life. This is probably a factor in the lack of ambition of many Middletonian students---a miserable home life which destroys your health, your sleep, your ability to think will undoubtably make it more difficult to want to do anything other than get independence as quickly as possible. But Vance doesn't think that this is a reason to abandon the culture. In fact, this may have even {\it strengthened} his identity as a hillbilly.}

\chapter

\quote{The theology she taught was unsophisticated, but it provided a message I needed to hear. To coast through life was to squander my God-given talent, so I had to work hard. I had to take care of my family because Christian duty demanded it. I needed to forgive, not just for my mother's sake but for my own. I should never despair, for God had a plan}{86}.

\quote{More than any other person, Dad understood what Kentucky meant to me, because it meant the same thing to him}{90}.

\word{Caper}{skip or dance about in a lively or playful way}

\quote{Dad had built a home with an almost jarring serenity}{91}.

\quote{Regular church attendees commit fewer crimes, are in better health, live longer, make more money, drop out of high school less frequently, and finish college more frequently than those who don't attend church at all}{92}.

\quote{In the middle of the Bible Belt, active church attendance is actually quite low}{93}.

\quote{Dad had hired multiple lawyers and done everything within reason to keep me}{94}.

\quote{On balance, I loved my dad and his church}{95}.

\quote{Theological battle lines were drawn, and those on the other side weren't just wrong about biblical interpretation, they were somehow unchristian}{96}. \quote{In my new church, on the other hand, I heard more about the gay lobby and the war on Christmas than about any particular character trait that a Christian should aspire to have}{98}. \quote{Dad's church required so little of me. It was easy to be a Christian}{98}.

\reflection{This chapter is about Vance's childhood religious enlightenment. %he was 8
It happened because Vance's biological father came back into his life, a born again Christian, brought him into a highly conservative evangelical church. However, around the same time, Mamaw's spiritual anti-organized-religion Christianity helped him cope with Mom's violent outbursts. \quote{\thinspace`Mamaw, does god love us?'\thinspace}{85}. The conflict between these two beliefs continued to build, Vance isolating himself more and more from pop culture and the outside world as he began to believe in the hatred preached by Dad's church because he loved Dad and he loved the support the Church offered (especially because following the church was easy)}

\chapter

\quote{\thinspace`I never had a dad,' I explained. `But Papaw was always there for me, and he taught me the things that men needed to know.' Then I spoke the sum of his influence on my life: `He was the best dad that anyone could ask for'\thinspace}{109}.

\quote{No matter how much we loved Mom, our lives were easier with one less person to care for}{114}.

\quote{These sessions provoked little more than arguments and raw emotion, which I suppose was their purpose}{115}.

\word{Apace}{swiftly, quickly}

\reflection{This chapter is about the rocky teenage years Vance mentioned in the beginning. Because of Papaw's death Mom became more unstable and completely lost her ability to function within relationships---parental and otherwise. This left J.D.~and Lindsay to care for themselves, deliberately disregarding Mamaw's welcome arms because hill culture discourages reliance on anyone, especially reliance on a single individual, because it's thought to be unjustly burdensome. Papaw's death didn't only affect Mom, however; Vance was also deeply affected by Papaw's death because he played the role of a father figure---teaching him math, teaching him shooting, fiercely protective, and fiercely supportive of both him and Lindsay. The coming together of the people in Middletown, in Jackson, and from members of the Blanton clan across the country shows the virtues of the hill people. Their strong community, in highs and lows, helped to compensate for some of the other weaknesses.}

\chapter

\quote{I loved [Lindsay's] husband, Kevin, and still do, for a simple reason: He never mistreated her}{119}.

\quote{I remembered life when I didn't have that safety valve [of going to Mamaw], and I didn't want to go back to those days}{120}.

\quote{That she would ask me to move with her to Dayton, that seemed genuinely surprised by my resistance, and that she would subject me to such a one-sided introdution to a therapist meant that Mom didn't understand something about the way that Lindsay and I ticked}{122}.

\quote{That feeling of being a burden to Mamaw wasn't something I imagined; it came from a number of small cues from the things she muttered under her breath, and from the weariness she wore like a dark piece of clothing}{122}.

\quote{It was a boring evening. And it epitomized what attracted me to Dad's home. What I never lost, though, was the sense of being on guard}{123}.

\quote{\thinspace`You can't stay away from that crazy grandma of yours. I know she's good to you.' It was a stunning admission from a man to whom Mamaw never said a nice word}{124}.

\quote{Living with Mom and Matt was like having a front-row seat to the end of the world}{125}.

\quote{As a teacher at my old high school told me recently, `They want us to be shepherds to these kids. But no one wants to talk about the fact that many of them are raised by wolves.'\thinspace}{127}

\quote{I didn't know it, but I was close to the precipice $\ldots$ Along with my abysmal school record came drug experimentation---nothing hard, just what alcohol I could get my hands on and a stash of weed that Ken's son and I found}{127}.

\reflection{Because of Mom's failed relationships and marriages, Vance was thrown around between at least four different households within the short time of two years. They also affected Mom's ability to parent (which was already subpar because Vance was forced to always have his guard up and Mom couldn't understand the effects of her actions on him). This damaged Vance's academics significantly, and isolated him from his support community. With respect to the theme of the American Dream, it's amazing that he achieved a ``normal,'' happy life.}

\chapter

\quote{Mamaw knew little of how this arrangement affected me, partly by design $\ldots$ I loathed living with these strangers and that everything that had made my life to that point tolerable---the reprieve of her house, the company of my sister---had apparently vanished}{129}.

\quote{And maybe, if we help her this time, she'll finally learn her lesson.' It was the eternal hope, the thing to which I couldn't say no $\ldots$ Her life was a clinic in how to lose faith in people, but Mamaw always found a way to believe in the people she loved}{131}

\quote{Mamaw told me that she wanted me to stay with her permanently, with no more moving in between}{132}.

\quote{I also saw for the first time Mamaw's love of children, not as an object of her affection but as an observer of it}{135} \quote{She didn't believe in using the legal system until you had to}{136}. \quote{Mamaw was the best thing that ever happened to me $\ldots$ Those three years with Mamaw---uninterrupted and alone---saved me}{137--138}.

\quote{Working as a cashier turned me into an amateur sociologist}{138}. \quote{I could never understand why our lives felt like a struggle while those living off of government largesse enjoyed trinkets that I only dreamed about}{139}.

\quote{From that anger sprang Bonnie Vance the social policy expert: $\ldots$ Depending on her mood, Mamaw was a radical conservative or a European-style social Democrat $\ldots$ I began to see the world as Mamaw did. I was scared, confused, angry, and heartbroken}{142}. \quote{These were people with serious problems, and they were hurting}{142}.

\word{Elegy}{a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead}

\quote{We spend our way into the poorhouse}{146}. \quote{There's nothing left over. Nothing for the kids' college tuition, no investment to grow our wealth, no rainy-day fund if someone loses her job}{146}.

\word{Inimical}{tending to obstruct or harm}

\word{Mores}{the essential or characteristic customs and conventions of a community}

\quote{My grandparents embodied one type [of people in our community]: old-fashioned, quietly faithful, self-reliant, hardworking. My mother and, increasingly, the entire neighborhood embodied another: consumerist, isolated, angry, distristful}{148}.

\quote{But what I remember most of all [from staying with Mamaw] is that I was happy}{152}.

\reflection{This chapter is long, but it effectively covers one issue: how childhood advantages lead directly to upward economic mobility. Vance's desperate situation with Mom (a typical example of a hillbilly childhood) caused Mamaw to remove him from all the moving around, an opportunity which most other children/adolescents wouldn't have had---especially because Mamaw was virtuous, a good teacher, and a good parent. His work as a cashier gave him a broader point of view (``turned him into an amateur sociologist''), while the kids without a stable home couldn't get a job or it didn't even occur to them (138). Vance also describes how a lack of thrift in one's character, taught as the value of a dollar, leads to bad financial decisions, mostly in overspending and overborrowing. Those financial decisions destroy the safety nets and savings funds, repeating the cycle of poverty.}

\chapter

\quote{With my friends headed for college, I figured I'd do the same}{155}. \quote{Everything about the unstructured college experience terrified me $\ldots$ the Corps: `They'll whip your ass into shape'\thinspace}{156}.

\quote{I realized through letters, how much my family loved me}{159}. \quote{I read every day that Mamaw was proud of me, that she loved me, and that she knew I wouldn't give up}{159}.

\quote{Contrary to conventional wisdom, the military is not a landing spot for low-income kids with no other options}{160}.

\quote{Marine Corps boot camp, with its barrage of challeneges big and small, began to teach me I had underestimated myself $\ldots$ every time th drill instructor screamed at me and I stood proudly; every time I thought I'd fall behind during a run and kept up; every time I learned to do something I thought impossible, like climb the rope, I came a little closer to believing in myself}{163}.

\quote{Many of the foods that I ate once now violated the fitness standards of a marine}{164}.

\quote{When AK Steel $\ldots$ announced that they were increasing her premiums $\ldots$ She had never accepted anything from me $\ldots$ But she accepted my three hundred a month, and that's how I knew she was desperate}{166}.

\quote{To laugh and joke with the people I loved most as they scarfed down the meal that I'd provided gave me a feeling of joy and accomplishment that words can't possibly describe}{167}. 

\note{Mamaw's death bringing together the family and bringing back Mom's volatility and jealousy around grief are both profound examples of hill people culture,and it demonstrates the duality of destructive and supportive behavior coming from the same sense of familial responsibility.}

\quote{I opened my mouth to spew pure vitriol in Mom's direction, but Lindsay spoke first: `No, Mom. She was our mom, too.'\thinspace}{172}

\word{Mettle}{a person's ability to cope with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way}

\quote{[After seeing true poverty,] I began to appreciate how lucky I was: born in the greatest country on earth, every modern convenience at my fingertips, supported by two loving hillbillies, and part of a family that, for all its quirks, loved me unconditionally}{173}.

\quote{The Marine Corps taught me how to live like an adult}{175}. \quote{Now I knew exactly what I wanted out of my life and how to get there. And in three weeks, I'd start classes at Ohio State}{178}. \note{This brings up themes of education's ability to allow upward mobility.}

\reflection{This is Vance's rite of passage, learning to do things like an adult would in a ``safe'' environment. This included facing challenges he didn't think he could possibly do---and succeeding. In the army, he learned something his peers staying close to Middletown never would have---that he has agency over his environment. His rite of passage included seeing unimaginable poverty in Haiti and Iraq. This included the death of his grandmother. And that was probably the most impactful. As an adult, he sees what honoring the dead looks like through the eyes of the decisionmakers. He helps choose to pull the plug on Mamaw, yet he maintains composure to appear strong while her last wishes are being acted on.}

\chapter

\quote{The whole experience [of college applications] had made both of us painfully aware of how unfamiliar we were with the outside world}{181}.

\quote{I wasn't supposed to make it, but I was doing just fine on my own. Did I take it too far? Absolutely. I didn't sleep enough. I drank too much and ate Taco Bell at nearly every meal}{183}.

\quote{Many of my Marine Corps friends were staunch liberals who had no love for our commander in chief---then George W. Bush---and felt that we had sacrificed too much for too little gain}{186}.

\word{Tripe}{nonsense; rubbish}

\quote{I graduated with a double major, summa cum laude}{187}. \quote{That feeling I had in college---that I had survived decades of chaos and heartbreak and finally come out on the other side---deepened}{188}.

\quote{The most basic promise of the American Dream---a steady wage}{189}. This shows that the American Dream isn't a singular idea; it's a collective belief in certain economic rights.

\quote{To understand the significance of this cultural detachment, you must appreciate that much of my family's, my neighborhood's, and my community's identity derives from our love of country}{189}.

\word{Acela Corridor}{the train line Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston run by the Amtrak's Acela Express line}

\quote{Nothing about [Barack Obama] bears any resemblance to the people I admired growing up}{191}. \quote{Barack Obama is a foreign alien actively trying to destroy our country. Everything the media tells us is a lie}{192}.

\quote{Group belief is a powerful motivator in performance. When groups perceive that it's in their interest to work hard and achieve things, members of that group outperform other similarly situated individuals}{193}.

\quote{What separates the successful from the unsuccessful are the expectations that they had for their own lives. Yet the message of the right is increasingly: It's not your fault that you're a loser; it's the government's fault}{194}.

\quote{For the first time in my life, I felt like an outsider in Middletown. And what turned me into an alien was my optimism}{196}. \reflection{This chapter continues the theme of culture's relation to economic outcomes. In this case, Vance's optimism about his future and his ability to control contrasted with Middletonian beliefs. Working-class whites believe that their economic situations will stay the same (bad) or get worse. They blame, however, outsiders like the government or society at large or globalization. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. A belief you won't succeed means you don't even try, but then the person to blame is you. Because the system doesn't work for them, they alienate anyone for whom it does. The prevailing belief is that working class whites don't succeed, so you clearly aren't one of us.}

\chapter

\quote{Yale wasn't just my dream school, it was also the cheapest option on the table}{199}. The government/society provides plenty of resources for upward mobility. While none of them are perfect, culture is often much more to blame than financial or economic policies for restricted upward mobility. \quote{The most expensive schools are paradoxically cheaper for low-income students}{199}.

\quote{I lived among newly christened members of what folks back home pejoratively call the `elites,' and by every outward appearance, I was one of them: I am a tall, white, straight male. I have never felt out of place in my entire life. But I did at Yale}{202}. \quote{Professors and classmates seemed genuinely interested in what seemed to me a superficially boring story: I went to a mediocre public high school, my parents didn't go to college, and I grew up in Ohio}{204}.

\quote{This wasn't one of my prouder moments, but it highlights the inner conflict inspired by rapid upward mobility: I had lied to a stranger to avoid feeling like a traitor}{205}.

\quote{One way our upper class can promote upward mobility, then, is not only by pushing wise public policies but by opening their hearts and minds to the newcomers who don't quite belong}{206}. \quote{When you go from working-class to professional-class, almost everything about your old life becomes unfashionable at best or unhealthy at worst}{208}. \quote{Why did I think that places like Yale and Harvard were unreachable?}{208} highlights how this hostility damages the ideal of the American Dream instead of just making ``cultural migrants'' uncomfortable.

\reflection{This chapter is about Vance's life at Yale and the prestigious sphere it occupies. Its prestige is weaponised, often not deliberately, by the wealthy to keep working-class people from even thinking about entering this echelon of society. This is especially strange because they outwardly support and incentivize upward mobility---need-based scholarships mean colleges like Yale are often cheaper than regional or state options. This ``oppression'' is matched by Vance's peers. His family and community are very hostile to outsiders, so they're also hostile to ``insiders'' becoming outsiders, specifically Vance moving up the socioeconomic ladder.}

\chapter

\quote{In a place that always seemed a little foreign, Usha's presence made me feel at home}{210}. \quote{Nine utensils? Why, I wondered, did I need three spoons? Why were there multiple butter knives?}{212}. This chapter identifies why networking is so important in the wealthy world, starting off with basic information. Usha supported him by providing some of the knowledge he needed to to function as if he were a cultural native.

\word{Pedigree}{the background or history of a person or thing, especially as conferring distinction or quality}

\quote{The interview were about passing a social test---a test of belonging, of holding your own in a corporate boardroom, of making connections with potential future clients}{213}.

\quote{I had always thought that when you need a job, you look online for job postings $\ldots$ The problem is, virtually everyone who plays by those rules fails $\ldots$ successful people are playing an entirely different game. They don't flood the job market with r\'esum\'es, hoping that some employer will grace them with an interview. They network}{214}.

\quote{What matter was that, with a professor's help, I had closed the information gap. It was like I'd learned to see}{217}.

\quote{So to get this information, you have to tap into your social network}{219}. \quote{Social capital is all around us. Those who tap into it and use it prosper. Those who don't are running life's race with a major handicap}{221}. Working-class people aren't taught this by their parents because if their parents knew this, they'd be upper class. The segregation of communities by income jeopardizes upward mobility for this and similar reasons of unavailable knowledge. \quote{Mamaw always resented the hillbilly stereotype---the idea that our people were a bunch of slobbering morons. But the fact is that I was remarkably ignorant of how to get ahead}{222}.

\quote{It was okay to chart my own path and okay to put a girl above some shortsighted ambition}{220}.

\reflection{This chapter discusses why the American Dream is so difficult to achieve: much like actual capital, social capital (the currency one needs to get a job and to understand how to choose one's course in life) is concentrated at the top. This compounds several other issues in poverty, but not knowing how to use the job market means you've already lost to someone who does. But even if you know how to make connections, the people with connections are nowhere near the Rust Belt or greater Appalachia.}

\chapter

\quote{I could scream at her when she did something I didn't like, but that seemed mean. Or I could withdraw and get away}{223}.

\word{Morass}{a complicated or confused situation}

\quote{So I tried to get away, but Usha wouldn't let me. I tried to break everything off multiple times, but she told me that was stupid unless I didn't care about her}{225}.

\quote{A sincere apology is surrender, and when someone surrenders, you go in for the kill}{225}.

\quote{\thinspace`I still call him regularly and check up on him. You can't just cast aside family members because they seem uninterested in you. You've got to make the effort, because they're family'\thinspace}{226}.

\quote{We are constantly ready to fight or flee, because there is constant exposure to the bear, whether that bear is an alcoholic dad or an unhinged mom}{228}. \quote{For many kids, the first impulse is escape, but people who lurch toward the eexit rarely choose the right door}{229}.

\quote{[Aunt Wee's] marriage got even better, she said, only after she realized that she didn't have to be on guard all the time}{229}.

\quote{I realized that of all the emotions I felt toward my mother $\ldots$ I had never tried sympathy}{230}.

\reflection{This chapter covers how relationships between people from the Greater Appalachias generally have more conflict and often traumatize children in the home. The defensive tactics employed by Vance and his family---hiding from a significant other, mistrust in apologies, and a general unwillingness to let one's guard down---are taught from childhood as survival methods, but they don't transfer to adult relationships. This type of bad communication causes the instability and stress-inducing situations which are so damaging to children. It points to a way out, a sort of solution to their cultural issues: marrying up/out of the culture is helpful because outsiders bring in the necessary knowledge to make a relationship work, not available from the broken homes of Ohio's industrial towns. This is why upward mobility heals in more ways than just a lack of money problems---wealtheir families aren't happier just because they have more money.}

\chapter

\quote{But upward mobility is never clean-cut, and the world I left always finds a way to reel me back in}{237}.

\quote{But these problems of family, faith, and culture aren't like a Rubik's Cube, and I don't think that solutions (as most understand the term) really exist}{238}.

\quote{Other people who have overcome the odds cite teh same sorts of interventions [as Mamaw's support of Vance]}{239}. \quote{They had a family member they could count on. And they saw---from a family friend, an uncle, or a work mentor---what was available and what was possible}{241}.

\quote{No one's that nice, I thought, especially not someone who's suffered any real adversity. But Gail was a Blanton, and, at heart a hillbilly}{240}.

\quote{Part of the problem is how state laws define the family. For families like mine---and for many black and Hispanic families---grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles play an outsize role. Child services often cut them out of the picture, as they did in my case}{243}.

\quote{Boys who got good grades were `sissies' or `faggots'\thinspace}{245}.

\quote{Some scales aren't that amenable to the proverbial thumb}{246}.

\reflection{The complexity of the issues is precisely what makes them difficult to solve. Vance claims, however, that it's impossible to solve them as the government or as a corporation---simply because any outside influence wouldn't really change anything.}

{\bf Conclusion}

\quote{[The ``adopt-a-child program''] sounds pretty simple, but I managed to find fault with nearly every suggestion}{249}.

\quote{It was the holiday season that taught me about tax refunds, which I gathered were free bits of money sent to the poor in the new year to save them from the financial indiscretions of the old one}{252}. \quote{Somehow my aunt and uncle's children ended up with more pedestrian gifts than I had come to expect as a child $\ldots$ there was no obsession with meeting a two-or-three-hundred-dollar threshold for each child}{252}. Christmas is a microcosm of bad financial decisions by poor people ``trying to be rich.''

\word{Confabulate}{engage in conversation; talk}

\quote{I believe we hillbillies are the toughest goddamned people on this earth. $\ldots$ But $\ldots$ are we tough enough to look ourselves in the mirror and admit hat our conduct harms our children?}{255} \quote{These problems were not created by governments or corporations or anyone else. We created them, and only we can fix them}{256}.

\reflection{This chapter tires to give a satisfying reaction to the socioeconomic problems faced by Vance, his family, and his community. He recognizes the social programs instituted by companies and governments (adopt-a-kid, social services, education grants), but he knows that's not enough because the problems still exist. Vance believes that part of the reason for upward mobility is so scarce in these poor communities is because of how poor people act. They are often financially short-sighted when they're trying to provide for their kids, and social support structures are failing because of social pressures. People are forced to act invulnerable, and not share their emotions because that might get them hurt. They also can't admit fault and improve from a problem because then they get hassled for the issue. Instead, people blame external actors like Barack Obama.}

\biblio
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