Hillbilly Elegy: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

In 2007, after he finished the Marines, Vance attended Ohio State University. Although he was older than the majority of students, he found that most of the people he met came from similar places as him. Having learned intensity and discipline in the Marines, he applied himself to his studies with incredible energy, often sleeping only several hours a night. To avoid debt he worked at the Ohio Statehouse, and when this income wasn’t enough, he took a second job at a nonprofit doing advocacy working for abused and neglected children. Though he didn’t mind his busy schedule, it took a toll on his health. After finding out that her son was running a fever of 103º, Bev drove to Columbus and took him to the emergency room, where they discovered he had a staph infection and mononucleosis. Bev took him home, where he recovered for several weeks while feeling conflicted about his mother’s kindness, since he didn’t know how to reconcile her current loving attitude with her past mistakes.

When he returned to Columbus, Vance took a third job as an SAT tutor. It paid so well that he quit his job at the statehouse, figuring that despite the fact that it was the job he liked the most, he would have to wait until later in life to choose rewarding occupations. In his second year of college, Vance worked even harder than he had during his first. He also found himself annoyed with some of his fellow classmates, who were younger, inexperienced, and judgmental of the military. One classmate in particular went on a rant during class about how soldiers tended to be unintelligent and bloodthirsty. Shortly after this incident, Vance decided to finish college as quickly as possible, plotting with his guidance counselor so that he successfully graduated from Ohio State in only one year and eleven months.

Vance moved back to Middletown to prepare for law school, to which he had already been accepted. He stayed with Aunt Wee—who had taken Mamaw’s place as the family matriarch—and worked at a tile factory. From his new vantage point, he was able to observe the cynicism most Middletonians had about their prospects. He writes that the culture had no heroes to look toward, and “certainly not any politician.” Although Barack Obama was admired throughout the country, hillbillies were suspicious of him. “Nothing united us with the core fabric of American society,” he writes. Nonetheless, one of the strongest elements of hillbilly culture, Vance says, is patriotism. When he was growing up, Mamaw and Papaw taught him that he lived in “the best and greatest country on earth.” He writes that this gave meaning to his childhood. The fact that working-class whites no longer have any sort of political hero, Vance points out, means that they are losing what previously “bound them to their neighbors, that inspired them in the way [Vance’s] patriotism had always inspired” him.

Vance explains that many white conservative voters believe Barack Obama is a Muslim. He says that he has heard from multiple acquaintances and family members that Obama “has ties to Islamic extremists, or is a traitor, or was born in some far-flung corner of the world.” “Many of my new friends blame racism for this perception of the president,” he writes. “But the president feels like an alien to many Middletonians for reasons that have nothing to do with skin color.” He proceeds by arguing that working-class whites distrust Obama because he attended two Ivy League schools, “is brilliant, wealthy, and speaks like a constitutional law professor.” This, in combination with the fact that Obama “is a good father” and “wears suits to his job,” makes it impossible for working-class whites to identify or relate to him; he is so far removed from the hillbilly life, Vance maintains, that hillbillies are inclined to distrust him.

Vance outlines the idea that the “anger and cynicism of working-class whites” has to do with misinformation. He notes that a mere 6% of American voters think the media is “very trustworthy.” As a result, people turn to the internet, where conspiracy theories run rampant. According to Vance, if a community doesn’t trust the evening news or its politicians—or any of its other core institutions—it is unlikely to succeed. A narrative of isolation and pessimism has proliferated throughout the white working-class, one that seems to ask: “if you think it’s hard to get ahead even when you try, then why try at all?”