Well, now listen here, folks. You want to know what’s going on in that book “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance, huh? Alright, let me tell ya, this ain’t no fancy talk, it’s just me tellin’ ya what I see in them pages, plain and simple. So, on page 143 of that there book, J.D. talks about a whole mess of things, but one thing really stands out to me: it’s about expectations. Yessir, expectations. You see, people like us, from where I come from, we don’t have them highfalutin ideas that things can get better. That’s why a lot of us don’t try to rise up much. We don’t know how, and sometimes, we don’t even know what it means to dream big.
Now, the thing with expectations, that’s a real kicker. Folks who grow up like J.D. did, in them small towns, poor folks with not much goin’ for ‘em, they don’t expect much. And that makes a big difference in life. It’s like when you’re plantin’ a garden, you gotta expect them seeds to grow, or else they ain’t gonna make it. But if you plant ’em and just forget about ’em, well, that’s how life can be too. You don’t expect much, and you ain’t gonna get much.
J.D. talks ‘bout his mama and his family, and I reckon there’s a whole lotta people who can relate. Sometimes, the family can be the one thing that either lifts you up or holds you back. They ain’t always bad folks, no, but sometimes they’re just stuck in their ways, like a dog chasing its tail. You can’t help ’em, not until they want to help themselves. J.D. says a lot about how people from where he’s from just don’t have the tools to fix what’s broken in their lives. It’s like tryin’ to fix a leaky roof with nothin’ but a bucket and some old rags. It just don’t work.
Now, I ain’t saying life don’t have its good times. There’s laughs and love too, and that’s what keeps folks goin’. But when you grow up with nothin’, it’s hard to believe there’s more out there for ya. And that’s what J.D. wrestles with on page 143. He’s tryin’ to figure out how come some folks make it out, and some just stay stuck, like mud in a pig pen.
It’s also a big ol’ mess of what he calls the “culture of poverty,” and let me tell ya, it ain’t pretty. Some folks just get used to livin’ like that. You can tell ‘em about dreams, and they’ll nod their heads, but deep down they don’t really believe it. They don’t think it’s possible. And that’s part of the sadness in this book. It’s not just about how people live, but about how they see their lives and their futures. There’s a big difference between thinkin’ you can change and knowin’ you can’t.
Now, you got these big folks in the world, politicians and fancy folks, who think they know all about people like J.D. and his kin. But they don’t, not really. They think it’s all about willpower and choice. But shoot, I say it’s more complicated than that. It’s about where you start from. You can work your tail off, but if you ain’t got the same chances as the next feller, well, it’s like a race where everyone else is already a step ahead of you.
Page 143 has a lot to chew on, and it ain’t the easiest read. But it’s honest. You can see the hurt and the hope in what J.D. says, and how he’s tryin’ to make sense of all the mess his family went through. I don’t know if he found all the answers, but I reckon he found something worth thinkin’ about. And maybe, just maybe, that’s what we all need—more folks willing to think about things different and try to make life better, even when it seems like it’s just too tough to change.
In the end, I reckon it’s all about what you expect from life, and how much you’re willin’ to fight for them expectations. If you don’t expect anything, well, that’s what you’ll get—nothing. But if you believe there’s a way to rise above it all, then you just might find a way to climb out of that hole.
Tags：[Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance, expectations, culture of poverty, family struggles, memoir, rural life, overcoming adversity, book summary]
