Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture

In chapter 14, Vance details how his upbringing makes him, in moments of stress, withdraw into himself, a character trait Usha calls him out on. The two argue while in Washington, D.C., interviewing for law firms, but are able to reconcile. Vance provides information on “adverse childhood experiences,” or ACEs, noting how his own childhood traumas have shaped who he is as an adult.

At the end of his time at Yale Law School, Vance learns from his sister that their mom has started using heroin. Usha and Vance marry in eastern Kentucky. Vance returns to Middletown to pay for a hotel room for his mother, so she will not be homeless. He offers the story of his cousin, Gail, as an example of another Appalachian who survived a difficult upbringing and prospered.

Vance cites a study by a team of economists, saying the study found two chief factors which “explained the uneven geographic distribution of opportunity: the prevalence of single parents and income segregation” (242). If one grows up poor, and around chiefly poor people, and is raised by only one parent, says Vance, it “really narrows the realm of possibilities” (242).