In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, JD Vance recounts how he went from being a hillbilly to being a relatively wealthy author. Coming from a family and culture of substance abuse and instability, Vance worked his way to one of the most elite law schools in the country and built a much more stable and lasting life. Vance uses his own success as a paradigm for the possibility of upward social mobility – the American dream – and this strategy relies largely on his ability to interact with his audience, which he achieves through his humility. Throughout his memoir, Vance argues that the two greatest obstacles to achieving the American dream are a foreign culture that looks down on working-class individuals moving up the class ladder and self-doubt. JD Vance's humble tone keeps him from seeming arrogant or a traitor to his mountain heritage and makes him more effective because he fosters in his readers the same hyper-awareness of poverty that he believes is the key to upward mobility . Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Vance's current life as a wealthy author crucially alienates him from the very people he is trying to represent . Vance, however, is quick to emphasize his similarity to the other “mountain men.” He claims that he has "accomplished nothing great in [his] life", immediately dismantling any preconceived notions of his readers regarding him as arrogant or snobbish due to his newfound distance from the white working class (1 ). Vance denies any distance from the white working class and instead speaks of his "intense sense of loyalty" to the "cultural tradition" of the mountain people (3). Living and writing to a wide range of people, some of whom undoubtedly have a low opinion of hillbillies, identifying with those whom "Americans call hillbillies, rednecks, or white trash" and redefining these people as his "neighbors , friends and family. (3). By openly identifying with a demographic that much of his audience clearly doesn't think very highly of, Vance demonstrates a humility that makes him seem more authentic to his audience. He also shows his personal connections to his subject while adding a bit of diversity of opinion and remaining receptive to the perspectives of people outside of his cultural bubble. His ability to maintain these personal connections to the mountain community while considering a counterargument shows a humility and relatability that endears him to his audience, a crucial element of an argument that relies largely on Vance's ability to engage his audience. on a personal level. Having established this trust, Vance then tells his own success story. Although he recounts his academic achievements, he is much more careful to highlight times when he or another member of his family "has a huge blind spot in the way [they] perceive the world" (122). ). This blindness, along with feelings of self-doubt, effectively characterize Vance's initial relationship with his upbringing and constitute, according to Vance, the most difficult obstacle facing white, working-class children in realizing their own versions of the American dream. Vance introduces the subject through his own experiences at Yale which “sow seeds of doubt in my mind as to where he belongs” (202). While studying at Yale, he struggles to define himself as "a Yale law student, or [...] a kid from Middletown with mountain grandparents" (205). He first and instinctively views the two as mutually exclusive. The moment in.