In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, JD Vance talks about how he went from hillbilly to relatively wealthy author. Coming from a family and culture of drug abuse and instability, Vance made his way into one of the most elite law schools in the country and built a much more stable and sustainable life. Vance uses his own success story as a paradigm for achieving upward social mobility – the American Dream – and this strategy relies heavily on his ability to relate to his audience, which he achieves through his humility. Throughout his memoir, Vance argues that the two greatest obstacles to achieving the American dream are an outsider culture that snubs working-class individuals climbing the class ladder and insecurity. J.D. Vance's humble tone keeps him from appearing arrogant or traitor to his hillbilly heritage and makes him more effective as he promotes in his readers the same hyper-awareness of poverty that he believes is the key to upward social mobility. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Vance's current life as a wealthy author distances him in crucial ways from the very people he seeks to represent. Vance, however, is quick to insist on his similarity to other “hillbillies.” He claims that he has “accomplished nothing exceptional in [his] life,” immediately dismantling all of his readers' preconceptions of him as arrogant or snobbish due to his newfound distance from the white working class (1). Vance denies any distance from the white working class and instead speaks of his “intense sense of loyalty” to the “cultural tradition” of the hillbillies (3). Living with and writing to a wide range of people, some of whom no doubt consider hillbillies lowly, identifying with people "Americans call hillbillies, rednecks, or white trash" and redefining these people as his "neighbors, friends, and family" . (3). By openly identifying with a demographic that much of his audience clearly doesn't care much about, Vance displays a humility that makes him appear more genuine in the eyes of his audience. It also shows his personal connections to his topic and at the same time adds some diversity of opinion and remains receptive to the views of those people outside his cultural bubble. His ability to maintain those personal ties to the mountain community and at the same time factor in a counterargument shows a humility and relatability that endears him to his audience, a crucial component for an argument that depends largely on ability of Vance to engage his audience. on a personal level. After establishing this trust, Vance goes on to tell his own success story. Although he talks about his academic successes, he takes much more care to highlight times when he or another member of his family “has[s] a huge blind spot in the way they [perceive] the world” (122). This blindness, along with feelings of insecurity, effectively characterize Vance's early relationship with his education and are, according to Vance, the most difficult obstacle to working-class white children failing to realize their own version of the American dream. Vance introduces the topic through his experiences at Yale which “plant a seed of doubt in my mind as to whether [he] belonged” (202). While attending Yale, he struggles to define himself as "a Yale law student, or [...] a kid from Middletown with hillbilly grandparents" (205). Initially and instinctively he thinks the two are mutually exclusive. The moment in a supermarket when you feel like you have to choose between the two and the.