JD Vance, in his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, uses his own experiences living in rural Kentucky and industrial Ohio to paint a picture of the problems facing afflict the poor white class and the resulting problems. “Hillbilly” culture dominates the American Appalachians. Recounting his experiences from childhood, to his time in the Marines, to his college education, Vance sympathetically portrays the struggles of many who share his class and culture. However, he also presents himself as a model of an upwardly mobile American, supporting the idea of ​​the American dream. Doing both at once, Vance argues that the plight of poor white “hillbillies” is due to economic disadvantage, but exacerbated by a destructive culture. In this area his argument is successful, as he sufficiently demonstrates through the story of his life an awareness of the negative cultural effects he has overcome. However, he fails to take into account the factors and resources that help him achieve the awareness that others in his class lack. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Vance introduces his memoir with the concept of pessimism, laying the groundwork for his thesis that hillbilly culture created a hereditary and debilitating mentality. It is this mentality, he argues, that should be primarily blamed for the plight of poor whites. Noting that “working-class whites are the most pessimistic group in America,” even above those groups that are “clearly more deprived,” he vaguely “suggests that something else is going on” (4). He then illustrates this mentality in his hillbilly childhood. Describing his childhood as “a world of truly irrational behavior,” he implies that the poor are responsible for their own financial and social difficulties (146). However, he admits that there are members of his class and culture who “struggled but did so successfully,” defining such success as “intact families.” . . quiet houses, lots of children. . . believing they will reclaim their American dream” (149). By defining it as such, he identifies early success not with the realization of the American dream, but only with the belief that one can achieve it in the end. This definition supports his claim that pessimism is the main cause of limiting social mobility, not the lack of ability to achieve it. For Vance, Mamaw serves as a bridge between the world of total helplessness and the world of so-called successful struggle. He credits her as the reason why "[he] never only saw the worst of what [their] community offered", as a quiet, peaceful place that allowed him to focus on his schoolwork and personal relationships (149). It acts as an essentially different paradigm for what a hillbilly is, encouraging him to think positively about his future, which Vance admits "[his] neighbor children couldn't say the same" (149). This refuge offered by the grandmother, however, creates a paradox in her argument; he admits that he was lucky to have a source of hope in Mamaw, but continues to maintain that his life is not extraordinary, that he is a universal example of what working-class white men (at least) can achieve without the pessimism that characterizes them. The distinction Vance makes between hillbillies as children and as adults is an important aspect of his argument; as children, they are victims afflicted by their culture, but at some unclear point along the path to adulthood they become the perpetrators of the same.