The Allure of Humility: J.D. Vance's Sympathetic Perspective Anonymous 12th Grade

In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, J. D. Vance tells of how he advanced from a hillbilly to a relatively wealthy author. From a family and culture of drug abuse and instability, Vance made his way to one of the country’s most elite law schools and built a much more stable and sustainable life for himself. Vance uses his own success story as a paradigm for the attainability of 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 barriers to achieving the American Dream are an outsider culture that snub working-class individuals making their way up the class ladder and self-doubt. J. D. Vance’s humble tone keeps him from appearing arrogant or traitor to his hillbilly heritage and makes him more effective as he fosters in his readers the same hyper-awareness of poverty that he believes is the key to upwards social mobility.

Vance’s current life as a wealthy author distances him in a crucial way from the very people he tries to represent. Vance, however, is quick to insist on his similarity to the other “hillbillies.” He claims that he has “accomplished nothing great in...