Religion and Education Theme Analysis

Hillbilly Elegy is first and foremost a memoir about J.D. Vance’s life growing up in working-class Ohio with hillbilly grandparents. This means that his primary aim is to openly examine the path he took to rise out of poverty, a path that took him to college, the Marines, and to Yale Law School. It also means that the book’s key purpose is not to provide answers regarding how to help the poor. However, Vance does gesture toward two institutions that have a chance of improving the lives of otherwise disenfranchised working-class young people: religion and the education system. To Vance, the church is a place that can provide stability to children seeking something dependable in their lives, and education can be the first step toward upward mobility. Since Vance avoids suggesting changes to government policies, which he believes are unable to address the working class’s plight, his endorsement of religion and education is the book’s only tangible solution to the problems he raises.

Vance does not speak at length about organized religion in Hillbilly Elegy because it did not factor very much into his young life. Mamaw was religious, but she followed her own kind of spirituality. This, Vance notes, is common in Appalachia, a region in which, according to some studies, people report that they go to church more than they actually do. As such, the communities are heavily influenced by religious doctrine but lack the communal element of a churchgoing society. Still, Vance encountered serious religion when—as a teenager—he got to know his biological father, who was a devout evangelist. Witnessing his father’s involvement with the church, he observed a cohesive society, in which the church didn’t only offer emotional support to its members—it also offered real, substantial support that might even lead to a job. In this way, Vance frames the church as a place that creates a dependable community willing to share its resources, unlike the greater Appalachian working-class society, which lacks any kind of communal support system.

Because Vance didn’t end up continuing his relationship with his biological father, he didn’t use religion as his means of stability as a young man. Instead, he made his way into the Marines, which taught him discipline while also giving him a dependable community of people who weren’t unemployed, using drugs, and blaming everybody but themselves for their misfortune. Later in his life, though, he came back to Christianity.

Although he doesn’t spend much time in Hillbilly Elegy describing his return to the church, he does emphasize the benefits religion has to offer young working-class people struggling to attain stability. When he considers a young man named Brian, who reminds him of himself at a younger age, Vance writes, “Any chance he has lies with the people around him […]. Brian’s mom’s death was another shitty card in an already abysmal hand, but there are many cards left to deal: whether his community empowers him with a sense that he can control his own destiny or encourages him to take refuge in resentment at forces beyond his control; whether he can access a church that teaches him a lesson of Christian love, family, and purpose; whether those people who do step up to positively influence Brian find emotional and spiritual support from their neighbors.” According to Vance, religion and the churchgoing community are central to the prospect of Brian’s wellbeing. It’s notable that he says a church might provide the young man with “family,” since Brian no longer has any family left. In order to attain upward mobility—in order to identify a “purpose” in life—it is clear that Vance believes one needs a dependable network. For somebody who has nobody else to turn to, it would make sense that this network would be the church.

Vance frames education as one of the first steps toward upward mobility, but he also recognizes the challenge Appalachian children face when it comes to investing themselves in their studies. Unfortunately, the community doesn’t tend to stress the importance of hard intellectual work, and the narrative surrounding education in working-class Appalachia sometimes even discourages otherwise bright students from fully applying themselves in the classroom. Vance explains that academic success is too often ridiculed rather than rewarded, especially for boys who are frequently called “sissies” or “faggots” if they do well in school. To understand why this misogynistic, homophobic mentality would so negatively affect young working-class boys, it’s worth considering the extent to which hillbilly culture prides itself in the alpha-male behavior associated with protecting one’s honor. iI a community that champions macho violence and “a willingness to fight,” it’s unsurprising that being called a “sissy” would be enough to discourage a young boy from fully applying himself to his studies.

Despite Appalachia’s unfortunate view of education, though, Vance strongly believes that academia is one of the most worthwhile things a young working-class person can pursue. Of course, he himself is a living example of how education can lift somebody out of unfortunate circumstances. Having been raised by an abusive, drug-addicted mother with seemingly no resources, Vance was statistically destined for mediocrity at best (or, at worst, an early death due to an overdose). Luckily, he did have one form of support: Mamaw. When he was deciding whether or not he should pursue higher education, his grandmother told him, “It’s the only damned thing worth spending money on right now.” This reinforced to him that going to college would be “an investment in [his] future.” And though his mother was otherwise a difficult, harmful presence in his life, the one thing that can be said in her favor is that she taught him the importance of education. In fact, although his elders themselves weren’t positive role models, they all took pains to instill in Vance a sense of academic rigor. Above all else, Vance sees this encouragement toward education as the primary means by which he attained upward mobility and, thus, a happy life free from the violence and chaos that so often plagues hillbilly life.