We’ve put together discussion questions for Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance that you can use with a book club or a class at school. We include sample answers, book club activities that will help you get more out of what you’ve read, and recommendations for more reading if you like this book.
Table of Contents
Book Synopsis
Hillbilly Elegy is JD Vance’s 2016 memoir chronicling his upbringing in the white working-class Appalachian culture of Middletown, Ohio, and Jackson, Kentucky. Vance describes growing up amid poverty, family instability, and dysfunction—including his mother’s struggles with drug addiction and a revolving door of father figures. Despite these challenges, he was profoundly influenced by his fierce, protective grandmother (“Mamaw”) and eventually escaped the cycle of poverty by joining the Marines and later attending Ohio State University and Yale Law School.
The book interweaves personal narrative with social commentary, as Vance examines the broader crisis facing America’s white working class, including declining economic opportunity, family breakdown, and a culture he argues has become self-defeating. He explores themes of social mobility, personal responsibility, and the tensions between individual agency and systemic challenges. The memoir became a bestseller and sparked considerable debate about poverty, class, and politics in America—with some praising its insider perspective on an often-overlooked community and others criticizing its conclusions about cultural pathology and its political implications.
Read Shortform’s comprehensive guide to this book.
Hillbilly Elegy Discussion Questions & Sample Answers
Along with discussion questions for Hillbilly Elegy, we include sample answers you can use as prompts.
- What role does Mamaw play in JD’s life, and why is she so important to his success?
- Sample answer: I think Mamaw is really the hero of this story. She gave JD the stability and love he desperately needed when everything else in his life was chaotic. She set boundaries, showed him what unconditional support looked like, and basically saved him from the path his mother was on. Without her fierce protectiveness and belief in him, I don’t think he would have made it out.
- How does Vance’s portrayal of his mother complicate our understanding of addiction and poverty?
- Sample answer: It’s such a complicated portrait because you can see she genuinely loves her kids, but she’s also incredibly destructive and abusive. I think Vance shows how addiction doesn’t happen in a vacuum—she had her own traumatic childhood. But he also doesn’t excuse her behavior or pretend it didn’t damage him. It made me think about how we can have compassion for people struggling with addiction while also acknowledging the real harm they cause.
- What does the book suggest about the relationship between personal responsibility and systemic factors in poverty?
- Sample answer: This is where the book gets really controversial for me. Vance clearly believes people need to take responsibility for their choices, and he’s critical of what he sees as a victim mentality. But he also acknowledges the real economic decline and lack of opportunity. I think he leans more toward the personal responsibility side than I’m comfortable with, but I appreciate that he doesn’t ignore the systemic issues entirely.
- How does the military experience shape JD’s trajectory, and what does this suggest about pathways out of poverty?
- Sample answer: The Marine Corps gave him structure and discipline, and it got him out of his environment. It’s interesting because the military can be one of the few institutions that still offers real upward mobility for people from poor backgrounds. I wonder how much we rely on military service as an escape route. What other options are there? Should there be more?
- What does Vance mean by “social capital,” and how does his lack of it affect his experiences at Yale?
- Sample answer: He’s talking about all those unwritten rules and connections that middle-class and wealthy people just absorb growing up. Like when he goes to that dinner at Yale and doesn’t know which fork to use or that you’re supposed to network at fancy events. It really highlighted for me how much of success isn’t just about intelligence or hard work; it’s about knowing how to navigate social situations that are totally foreign if you didn’t grow up in that world.
- How does geography (particularly the contrast between Ohio and Kentucky) function in the memoir?
- Sample answer: I found it fascinating that, even though his family had left Kentucky generations before, they still identified so strongly as Appalachian. It’s like they brought the culture with them but lost some of the community benefits. They were stuck between worlds—not really fitting in in Ohio but not able to return to Kentucky either. That sense of rootlessness seems really important to understanding their struggles.
- What does the book reveal about the importance of stable adult relationships and marriage?
- Sample answer: The contrast between his grandparents’ dysfunctional but ultimately committed relationship and his mother’s string of marriages and boyfriends is pretty stark. Vance clearly thinks family stability matters a lot, and—seeing the chaos those revolving-door relationships caused for him as a kid—it’s hard to disagree. Though I wish he’d engaged more with why stable marriages are harder to maintain when you’re dealing with economic stress and trauma.
- How does Vance’s relationship with his sister Lindsay demonstrate resilience within the family?
- Sample answer: Lindsay is such an unsung hero in this book. She basically became a parent figure to JD when she was barely an adult herself. What struck me is how they both made it despite the odds, which makes you wonder what was different about them compared to other kids in similar situations. Was it Mamaw’s influence? Just luck? I think their bond with each other probably helped them both survive.
- Was Vance’s analysis of hillbilly culture fair?
- Sample answer: Well, some people have said he’s too harsh on his own community and that his analysis gives conservative politicians ammunition to cut social programs. I can see that concern. There’s also the question of whether one person’s story can really represent a whole culture. And he wrote this as a successful Yale Law graduate looking back: Does that distance change how he sees things?
- How does education function as a theme throughout the memoir?
- Sample answer: Education is clearly his ticket out, but it’s also really complicated. He struggles academically at times, and college (especially Yale) is this alienating experience where he feels like an outsider. I think the book shows that education can change your life, but it also can separate you from where you came from. There’s a real sense of loss that comes with that social mobility.
- What does Vance’s experience suggest about the concept of the American Dream?
- Sample answer: On one hand, his story seems like proof that the American Dream is alive: Poor kid makes it to Yale and becomes successful. On the other hand, he needed so many things to go right: Mamaw stepping in, the Marines accepting him, getting into good schools. It makes you wonder how many equally smart, hardworking kids don’t have those lucky breaks. Is it really a dream if it requires that much luck?
- How does violence function in the memoir, both as trauma and as a cultural norm?
- Sample answer: The violence is shocking—Mamaw lighting Papaw on fire, his mom’s rages, the way physical fighting is just accepted. But Vance presents some of it almost with pride, like the hillbilly honor code. That was unsettling to me. I think he’s trying to show how violence gets normalized in certain environments, but I’m not sure he’s critical enough of it. It has clearly traumatized him, even if he doesn’t always frame it that way.
- What role does shame play in the hillbilly culture Vance describes?
- Sample answer: There’s so much shame throughout this book—shame about being poor, about family dysfunction, about not fitting in at Yale. And it seems like that shame keeps people from asking for help or admitting struggles. The whole “we take care of our own” mentality has a dark side where people suffer in silence. I think shame might be one of the most destructive forces in the culture he describes.
- How does Vance’s account of his mother’s boyfriends and husbands illuminate the instability of his childhood?
- Sample answer: Those rotating father figures are heartbreaking. Just when JD would get attached to someone, they’d be gone. And some of them were decent guys who genuinely cared about him, which makes it worse in a way. You really see how that instability affects a kid’s ability to trust people and form relationships. It’s no wonder he had problems with anxiety.
- What does the book suggest about the role of government assistance and welfare?
- Sample answer: This is tricky because Vance benefits from some programs but is critical of welfare dependency. I think his point is that government help alone can’t fix cultural problems, and sometimes it enables dysfunction. But I wonder whether he underestimates how much worse things could be without that safety net. His family would have been destitute without some of those programs.
- How does Vance’s experience at Yale expose class divisions in America?
- Sample answer: The Yale chapters really opened my eyes to how separate wealthy and poor Americans are. His classmates had no frame of reference for his life, and he felt like an anthropologist studying them. The networking, the internships their parents set up, the assumption of certain knowledge. It’s a completely different world. It makes you realize how hard it is to have a true meritocracy when people start from such different places—the wealthy kids have so many advantages that have nothing to do with merit.
- What does the memoir reveal about the relationship between hope and despair in struggling communities?
- Sample answer: There’s this pervasive sense of hopelessness in the community Vance describes—people who’ve given up, who assume their kids won’t do better. But then there’s Mamaw’s fierce determination and JD’s own drive. I think the book shows that individual hope matters, but it’s also incredibly hard to maintain when everything around you is falling apart. Hope almost seems like an act of defiance.
- How does Vance’s account challenge or reinforce stereotypes about Appalachian people?
- Sample answer: I went back and forth on this. On one hand, he’s writing from inside the culture with love and understanding. On the other hand, some of his descriptions felt like they could reinforce negative stereotypes—lazy, violent, drug-addicted. I think his intent was to explain rather than judge, but there’s always the matter of how readers outside the culture might interpret it.
- What does the book suggest about the possibility of escaping one’s background, and what gets lost in the process?
- Sample answer: JD clearly escapes poverty, but there’s a real sense of alienation that comes with it. He doesn’t fully belong at Yale, but he probably doesn’t fully belong in Middletown anymore either. There’s this moment where he talks about code-switching and feeling like he’s between worlds. It makes you wonder if you can ever really escape where you came from or if you just learn to navigate multiple worlds while never feeling completely at home in any of them.
- How might this book’s reception and impact have differed if it had been published at a different time?
- Sample answer: It came out right before the 2016 election, and I think that timing made it huge because people were trying to understand Trump voters and white working-class Americans. If it had come out now, after Vance entered politics, I think it would be read very differently—more skeptically, maybe. The political context really shapes how we interpret personal memoirs, which is interesting in itself.
Book Club Activities for This Book
Discussing Hillbilly Elegy can be just the beginning! Use these activities to get even more out of the book and create unforgettable experiences.
Mapping Your Own Social Capital
Take some time to map out the “invisible advantages” or “social capital” you had (or didn’t have) growing up. Create two columns:
- List unwritten rules or knowledge you absorbed from your family/community (such as how to dress for job interviews, understanding how college applications work, knowing people who could offer career advice)
- List things you had to figure out on your own or still don’t fully understand.
If doing this as a group, share examples and discuss how these differences shape opportunities. This exercise helps readers recognize their own position in the class landscape Vance describes and develop empathy for those navigating unfamiliar social terrain.
Community Comparison Research
Choose a community (your own or another), and research what resources exist for economic mobility: quality of public schools, job training programs, mental health services, after-school programs, etc. Compare this to what Vance describes in Middletown. What’s present or absent?
Dig deeper by interviewing someone who works in social services, education, or community development to understand challenges on the ground. This moves the conversation from abstract policy debates to concrete realities and helps readers think critically about what struggling communities actually need.
Exploring Counter-Narratives
Create a timeline of the key moments in JD Vance’s life that altered his trajectory—both positive turning points and potential negative ones he narrowly avoided:
- For each turning point, identify what factors were involved: Was it his own decision, someone else’s intervention, institutional support, or luck?
- Reflect on or discuss what this pattern reveals about what it takes to escape poverty.
If you’re doing this in a group, members can also create timelines of turning points in their own lives and compare what resources or relationships made the difference. This activity helps readers think concretely about how change happens and whether Vance’s path could be replicated—and what would need to be in place for more people to have similar opportunities.
If You Like Hillbilly Elegy
If you want to read more books like Hillbilly Elegy, check out these titles:
- Educated—This memoir by Tara Westove shares significant thematic overlap with Hillbilly Elegy. It’s another story of escaping a difficult family situation and poverty through education, ultimately ending up at elite universities. Westover grew up in a survivalist Mormon family in rural Idaho with no formal schooling, an abusive brother, and parents who distrusted mainstream society. Like Vance, she grapples with the cost of leaving her family and culture behind, the alienation of entering academic spaces, and the complicated love she still feels for her family despite their dysfunction. Readers who appreciated Vance’s personal story of resilience and transformation will find similar themes here, though Westover’s isolation was even more extreme.
- Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth—Sarah Smarsh offers a compelling counterpoint to Vance’s perspective. She also grew up in working-class America (Kansas farming communities) and writes about poverty, but her analysis focuses more on systemic economic factors and less on cultural pathology. She examines class prejudice, the dignity of working-class people, and how policy decisions have hollowed out rural America. Readers who want to continue thinking about working-class struggles but from a different political and analytical angle will appreciate this beautifully written memoir. It’s an important companion read that challenges some of Vance’s conclusions while covering similar terrain.
- The Glass Castle—This bestselling memoir tells the story of Jeannette Walls’s deeply unconventional and impoverished childhood with brilliant but deeply irresponsible parents who moved the family around constantly, often living without electricity or adequate food. Like Vance’s mother, Walls’s parents loved their children but were unable to provide stability or safety. The book explores similar themes of family loyalty despite dysfunction, the resilience required to overcome a chaotic childhood, and the mixed feelings that come with achieving success while your family remains stuck. Readers drawn to the raw family dynamics and survival story in Hillbilly Elegy will find The Glass Castle equally compelling and emotionally complex.
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