Comparison of 'Hillbilly Elegy' and 'Between The World and Me'

Hillbilly Elegy and Between the World and Me both tell the story of two men finding themselves in the midst of a troublesome world, while they both do not accept themselves. The story of their characters changing throughout the circumstances is a great example for the readers to evaluate their own hearts and to work hard with what is given to them!

Vance’s story starts off by a basic biography. He grew up in a small city in the Appalachia of America, where he was located closely to his family members. He faced many hardships throughout his childhood, including the absence of his father, his mother’s mental health and abuse, as well as her countless boyfriends. The only people Vance really had to rely on were his grandparents and his sister Lindsay. Once his grandparents passed away and Lindsay had a family, many times Vance seemed stuck like he did not know where to go next. He realized it was all a process of growing up and dealing with the things life has thrown at him. He was obviously hurt by not having his dad around, although they were reconnected later. The constancy of father figures passing through his life was really hard on Vance, but he put up with it. Vance’s family struggled financially a lot which makes sense for the region they were in, and the fact that they were a one income tax family. Vance had a regular schooling career. After his graduation he joined the Navy where he learned many great qualities. When he returned home, he seemed to be a completely different person. After the Navy, he went to a prestigious law school, which was very uncommon for people in his family to be so successful as he. This put a lot of stress on him, because his family was in disbelief that he could ever succeed, since they had not.

Vance’s struggles throughout his life changed his character, but definitely for the better. Although he might have thought he would not gain anything from so much pain, he did. He gained more empathy and understanding. He learned to accept himself and his family just the way they were no matter what anyone else said. He also understood the Appalachia people more and wanted to make change happen. Writing Hillbilly Elegy gave Vance a platform to reach out and to teach people about the struggle in Appalachia culture. The book gives much insight on how the Appalachia people need help and what needs to be done for change to happen.

Coates’ Between the World and Me is similar to Vance’s in some ways. Coates’ story is a little bit different than a traditional biography. He grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. He did not always attend traditional school. Often times he would go to the library to research and learn for himself. This way of learning is actually very smart because he did not want any ones opinion to sway that of his own. His book is written to his son, who had grown up during the time of many black Americans being murdered. After the Brown case, his son was extremely upset but his father basically told him to get used to it, this is America. He had to be blunt with his son because unfortunately we live in a crazy world. The whole point of his book was not to sugar coat it, but to bluntly teach his son how black Americans should carry themselves and he taught about the civil unrest that still stands today.

Furthermore, Coates’, multiple times, addresses his body like it is not his own. This analogy gives light to the inside of his mind. It is like his mind and his body are not connected. He addresses his body as if it has committed a great crime against him, which is not the case. As he says in the book, he speaks of his body this way because that is how others would talk to him. As the book progresses, Coates’ learns how to appreciate his body and he expresses how black Americans should carry themselves. Coates’ describes how they should carefully act or a bad situation would come up. Between the World and Me was written for Coates’ son, but we see Coates learning still from situations he had experienced. He states regret from handling situations a certain way because he did not want his son doing the same. This book also teaches people of the struggles of black Americans in America today.

In both of these selections, the protagonists both learned a great deal from their struggle, but they also taught others of the troubles that they or many face. Although the stories are very different, the two books have many similarities. Now that they have written their stories down, it is the readers job to pass down the knowledge of the book so we can move towards a better society in America.