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

Racism, inequality, bias, cultural background, stereotypes, trials, discrimination, a small list of hardships that both J.D. Vance and Ta-Nehisi Coates had to endure over the course of their lives. Some of these still haunt them to this day, but they do not let it stop them as they strive to educate others. The books they have written, Hillbilly Elegy and Between the World and Me, respectively, work as letters, memoirs, to their prodigy, both blood and reader alike. From the day they were born, until this very day, and even beyond, both Coates and Vance have dealt with hardships that shaped them into the respectable men that they are today. No matter one’s upbringing, the empathy both authors convey through their experiences rings true in each person’s life.

Each of them grew up in similar, yet different, communities, where the largest difference between the two were the ideas of race and financial standings. Coates grew up seeing the effects of racism on his community for decades, while Vance grew up with the ideology of a “hillbilly” being a “lower class” individual that is prone to a certain lifestyle. As a child, Coates’ father always wanted the best for him, even considering the harsh effects of racism on his family and those close to him. As such, each of them had to push forward, in order to progress beyond the confines of the situations they grew up in.

In a CBS News story, Ta-Nehisi’s father, Paul, was said to take young Ta-Nehisi to work at Howard University, so that Ta-Nehisi could be surrounded by books to improve his life. Paul Coates told the interviewer, “I wanted him to get back and understand that he was not separate from his community. That his successes could only be the successes of his community, and that his community was actually his life-blood.” Those words ring true when one looks back at Ta-Nehisi’s childhood. Even though he, was burdened by the raging fires of racism, he burned with his own passion, that was continuously kindled by his father. Each situation that rose around him fueled his personal fire, when it came to identifying the effects of “white supremacy,” and the damaging effects it has had on the African American community.

All throughout his youth, Coates was on guard, as he had learned that the police had been “endowed with the authority to destroy your body,” a piece of information he passed to his son. He heard of many instances of police brutality, from early racism, to the killing of Michael Brown, to Prince Jones, acts that get lost to the world, things that become lost to the passage of time. He ingrained these memories into his body, and immortalized them in his works. Though times have changed, and it is illegal to do so, a number of officers use poor judgement, unnecessary force, and abuse their power to do exactly that. Coates wanted to be sure that his readers and his son never forgot. Coates had to take the idea of police being “endowed with the authority to destroy your body” to heart, as his father reminded him through punishments when he acted “out of line” at any time.

While J.D. Vance didn’t experience the bouts with racism, he had many of his own trials, having grown up in Appalachia. Growing up, Vance had to push himself in school, as his home life was not ideal. He gained much assistance from his sister and his grandparents. This spanned all throughout his life, all the way until both of his grandparents passed away. His mother, on the other hand, was not much of a mother to him, as she had many issues with drugs and it really showed. She would use him to falsify drug tests, while giving the false promise that she would stop and get clean. The violence and negativity that Vance endured at home, made even study difficult for him, but it did not stop him.

In his TED Talk, Vance recounts, briefly, his life growing up in Appalachia. He spoke on how he was almost expected to just fall in the same path that those around him were following. He broke out of that mold that had been created in the minds of his community. He graduated high school, college, law school, and made a name for himself as he did so. That’s not to say that his community did not provide him with some sort of knowledge or assistance. He stated that the “social capital” he obtained “wasn’t built for 21st century America…” He learned how to shoot a gun, how to make a “damn good biscuit” amongst other skills that are not widely taught in schools in America.

In his youth, Vance grew up with different examples of childhood trauma, similar to Coates, but unique due to the area he grew up in. Vance’s mother was a drug addict who would become violent when it things did not go her way. Though, when she was not “shooting up” or “popping pills,” she pushed Vance to improve himself in school, to make something of himself. Quite a difference from how she would normally act around Vance or his sister. There were statistics stated that those who encountered these forms of childhood trauma were more likely to repeat the same acts with their own children that they experienced, themselves.

Both Vance and Coates experienced their own versions of childhood trauma, but they both overcame the circumstances, making themselves into the best version of themselves that they could. They both aimed to inspire the people of America with the recounting of their lives, and the true personalization of many of society’s fallacies. For Coates, it was, and still is, the racism that he experienced in his hometown, and throughout the cities that he’s lived in. The brutal police actions that go ignored by many, due to the stereotype of African Americans being “good-for-nothings” that only seek to do harm or steal. For Vance, it was because he grew up in a low-income family. People who come from those background were not meant to really get anywhere in life, as statistically they were more prone to sticking to the same rut that their predecessors were in.

For each of them, dealing with the childhood trauma was a different method for each. Coates took notice and complained about it, while improving himself. He offered no ideas or methods by which someone could deal with the issues at hand. His self-improvement put him into the future that he wanted, though he wanted something better for his own son. He focused on his son having to better his own situation, rather than expect everything around him to change for his own benefit. Vance, on the other hand, posed varying methods by which one could change their own future for the better. His mother was a drug addict that was prone to violence, but he persevered, with the help of his grandmother and his sister, to finish high school, go to college, go to Yale, and improve his situation. Vance was direct in speaking of methods by which he improved his life, and in those methods, one can derive their own meticulous methods of improvement.

Each of these men have been able to attribute their growth in life, to different people that they have come across. For Coates, it was his own father, and many of his friends that he met both in the USA, as well as those he met overseas. There was also his wife, who helped him to be a better version of himself than he had originally been doing, once she had become pregnant with their son. For Vance, it was his grandparents, his sister, and his instructors and officers while he served in the Marine Corps. Through the guidance they received, they did not let anything stop them from living the lives that they so wanted to live.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, and J.D. Vance, though different in many aspects, both demonstrated personal resolve to overcome the issues that plagued them both. In many respects, two very different people, two very different situations, but at the same time, they both were encumbered by life and stress factors that cause many to shut down and let themselves be walked all over. Coates took the opportunity to travel overseas, though his preconceived notions about how white skinned people made it slightly difficult, at first, to enjoy his surroundings. Vance took note, of the sudden change of the South and Appalachian areas, from a primarily Democratic area, to a Nearly completely Republican area. Jennifer Senior of the NY Times, says that he attributes this to the election of Donald J. Trump into office. Accusations from both Vance and Coates show somewhat of a bias to the choices people have made, regardless of whether or not the person acts a particular way, of their own accord. One can not help but respect these men for having overcome the trials that they have been faced with.