Evening Folks,
A few questions to ponder ......

1.  Why does Vance feel the cycle of generational poverty is persistent in the Appalachian Region and the cities nearby?

 2. While Vance’s income bracket has clearly shifted has he become one of “these people”or do his childhood experiences excuse him from acknowledging his current privilege?

3. Do you think it is possible to completely shift one’s identity from one class to another?
What are the factors that define social class and how is membership determined?

4. Is it possible to look at how class and family affect the poor without considering race?
What does Vance mean when he says “filtering their views through a racial prism”?

5. How does Vance portray people receiving government asssistance?
How does this compare with his portrayal  of his own family’s poverty?
What other factors might impact the way people prioritise their spending?

6. What role does globalisation play in industrialised communities like Middletown?

7. Were Vance and Mamaw enabling his mother to continue using drugs by helping her pass the drug test?
Does his analysis of the drug epidemic provide a clear portrait of the problems facing America?

8. Throughout the book Vance draws repeated attention to the element of personal responsibility, perhaps nowhere so clearly as relating Mamaw’s. flood parable “God helps those who help themselves”.
Where else do you see this tension between personal responsibility and the need for familial, governmental or social support?

9. Pg 205 “ I had lied to a stranger to avoid feeling like a traitor”

Vance has achieved everything Mamaw wished for him so why does his success feel like a betrayal?

10. Vance suggests that unemployment and addiction are self inflicted and the Appalachian culture is one of learned helplessness.
Do you agree with Vance’s assessment?
How do systems work to discourage upward mobility and keep people in their social groups?

11. Can one persons experience represent an entire group?
Is Vance’s book more successful as a memoir or as a cultural analysis? Why/Why not?

I could go on but I think that may be enough for one night!! See you all at Tahnee’s 7th Aug.
Irene