DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Hillbilly Elegy |
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The book is about what goes on in the lives of real people when the industrial economy goes south. It’s about reacting to bad circumstances in the worst way possible. It’s about a culture that increasingly encourages social decay instead of counteracting it .2. Follow-up to Question 1: Vance
suggests that unemployment and addiction are self-inflicted and that the
Appalachian culture is one of "learned helplessness"—individuals feel
they can do nothing to improve their circumstances. Do you agree with
Vance's assessment? What could individuals do to improve their
circumstances? Or are the problems so overwhelming they can't be
surmounted? Political scientists have spent millions of words trying to explain how Appalachia and the South went from staunchly Democratic to staunchly Republican in less than a generation.... I could never understand why our lives felt like a struggle while those living off of government largess enjoyed trinkets that I only dreamed about .Does his book address those two separate but related issues satisfactorily? 7. Critics of Hillbilly Elegy accuse
Vance of "blaming the victim" rather than providing a sound analysis of
the structural issues left unaddressed by government. What do you think? * Some questions from LitLovers.com |