J.D. (James Donald) Vance
J.D. Vance is the author and narrator of Hillbilly Elegy. The work describes his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio and his roots in the Appalachian region of Jackson, Kentucky. He and his sister struggle in dire economic conditions while his mother undergoes various drug-related issues. As a result, he is raised by his grandma (Mamaw), who is a tough, loyal, and loving woman. He recounts the story of his troubled upbringing through the lives of the family around him. Working at Dillman’s grocery store, he grows jaded with the customer’s on social assistance who buy better food than he can afford. To afford college and learn work ethic, he signs up for the Marines. His time with the Marines was both incredibly grueling, though as he’ll admit, it also provided him with a good work ethic. He later enrolls in Ohio State University and works several jobs to pay his way through. He is then offered nearly a full ride to Yale Law School. He marries a fellow law student, Usha, and struggles to overcome the effects of his upbringing, exploring above all whether a hillbilly can ever truly be upwardly mobile.
Bev (J.D.’s Mother)
J.D’s mother is a tough but troubled woman. She gave birth to Lindsay, J.D.’s sister, shortly after graduating from high school. She works as a nurse before she loses her job to addiction issues. She shows compassion towards gay people despite her hillbilly characteristics and encourages her children to pursue education. She fights often with her husbands and becomes violent on occasion. She attempts suicide after the death of her father and an attempt to leave her husband Bob for another man. She grows abusive with J.D. and at one point is arrested and is forced to go to court, where J.D. lies to keep her out of jail. After the death of her father, Papaw, she is admitted to rehab. Her relationship with J.D. remains strained, particularly as he has begun helping her fight her addiction to heroin.
Lindsay
J.D’s half-sister, who is five years older than him. J.D. is so close to Lindsay that one of his earliest unpleasant memories is of Mamaw informing him that Lindsay was only his half-sister. He treats her as a full-fledged sister, as she often protected J.D. from their turbulent home life, for which J.D. admires her deeply. She had youthful dreams of being a model. She marries shortly after high school and has a child.
Mamaw (Bonnie Vance)
J.D.’s grandmother, who played a central role in raising him. She was raised with seven siblings. She married Jim (Vance's grandfather) just after he left Kentucky to find work in the 1940s. She is a fiery woman who is said to have almost killed a man who tried to steal her family’s cow. Mamaw got pregnant at the age of 13, though the child died in infancy. In 1951, Papaw and Mamaw had their first child, followed by J.D.’s mother in 1961 and his Aunt Lori in 1963. Much of Mamaw's married life was marred by her husband’s drinking problems and the marital/familial conflicts that resulted, but she and Papaw remained close and lived nearby each other even after they separated. She dies while J.D. is enlisted in the Marines. He considers her more of a mother figure than his real mother.
Papaw (James Lee Vance)
J.D.'s grandfather. Born in 1929, James married Mamaw in 1947. He worked at the Armco steel plant in Ohio. J.D. Vance writes that they struggled to adjust to life in the North. Papaw was also a hard drinker for much of his life, leading to the dissolution of his marriage. At one point, his wife grew so upset with his drinking that she lit him on fire, though one of his children was quick to extinguish the blaze. He eventually quit drinking in 1983 and separated from Mamaw. He dies when J.D. is a teenager.
Donald Bowman
J.D.’s father and his mother’s second husband. They were divorced in J.D’s infancy, and Donald offered his son up for adoption. He later converted to Pentecostal Christianity and maintained a distant relationship with his son, although J.D. came to live with him one summer. Vance fears being himself around Donald, as Donald's strict religious beliefs conflict with some of J.D.'s hobbies and opinions.
Bob Hamel
J.D.’s stepfather and his mother’s third husband. J.D. characterizes him as a “walking hillbilly stereotype.” He was missing many teeth and consumed large quantities of Mountain Dew. He dropped out of high school and drove a truck for a living. He eventually became J.D.’s legal father but stopped taking his son's calls on his eleventh birthday.
Ken
The fourth husband of J.D.’s mother. He was born in Korea and had three children from a previous marriage.
Lori (Aunt Wee)
J.D’s aunt. He reveals that she struggled in school and dropped out to get married at the age of 16. Her husband was abusive, but her current marriage is a peaceful, functional one.
Jimmy
J.D.’s uncle. The oldest of his siblings, he graduated high school and worked as a salesman for Johnson and Johnson. He later moves to Napa, California, where J.D. visits from time to time. Jimmy loses all sympathy for J.D.'s mother when he realizes how much of Mamaw's money was spent on bailing Bev out of trouble.
Usha
J.D. Vance's law-school girlfriend and eventual wife. Usha comes from a peaceful family, unlike Vance's, and initially struggles to cope with Vance's learned tendencies towards fighting when a conflict arises. As a Yale graduate, she also helps him navigate Yale Law School, where Vance must learn the ropes in order to gain the social capital that will allow him to be upwardly mobile.
Matt
Another boyfriend of Vance's mother. He stuck by her side during some of the worst times for her, from public outbursts stemming from her addiction to her losing Papaw. She ultimately dumps him so she can marry Ken.
Uncle Teaberry
Vance's great-uncle and one of the Blanton Men. Nicknamed for his favorite flavor of chewing gum.
Uncle Pet
Vance's other great-uncle and one of the Blanton Men. Although he was the most economically successful of Vance's great-uncles, he had a biting temper and once nearly killed a trucker because the man insulted Pet's mother. Uncle Pet never went to jail for this crime, as the trucker likewise believed in a hillbilly honor code.
Uncle David
Another of Vance's great-uncles and one of the Blanton Men. He was the rebel of the family, growing marijuana and cultivating a long, flowing beard.
