The first thing that while reading Hillbilly Elegy that stood out to me was the lack of stability that JD has growing up. He said “I could always distinguish my address from my home” (Vance, 1). His address was where they lives, got mail, just a house that they were able to sleep in every night but his home was a place of security, familiarity, and stability. JD’s home was mamaw and papaws house. This told me that there was some lack of stability with his mom whom he resided with, he also made mention of the men that came in and out of his mothers life so Vance also lacked a father figure, in turn he grew to idolizes his uncles the Blanton uncles “I once over heard mamaw tell her mother that I loved the Blanton men because so many father figures had come and gone, but the Blanton men were always there” (17) that probably weren’t he best people to look up to. In them he learned what I meant to be loyal to your family and to honor your family that inevitably lead to violence. …show more content…
Violence was just a way to top enforce there way of thinking and the Hillbilly laws that there culture came up with. Instead of trusting the judicial system they took matters into their own hands instead of refraining from fighting. Vance never seemed to see that there was anything wrong with the way the “hill people” handled things, he thought they were on the “right side of defending their families honor”