Hillbilly Elegy, How J.D Vance’s Critically Acclaimed Work Helped Me Understand the People and Issues of Importance in Georgia’s Ninth Congressional District.

Abstract

In the Winter and Spring of 2017-2018, I had the opportunity intern at Doug Collin’s Ninth District Congressional office. During this time, I was required to read a book that related back to the work I was doing at my internship. I decided on the book Hillbilly Elegywritten by JD Vance. The book taught many things about my internship, and in turn my internship helped me to better understand the book. JD writes about his childhood and the Appalachian people that surrounded him. The people very closely relate back to the constituents I was in contact with daily at my internship. The people of both JD’s book and the ninth district, are going through some of the same issues and have the same thoughts about issues. The book taught me the necessities to deal with the rogue people, such as the office’s constituents, and the way the people see certain issues. This paper addresses the situation I experienced in the congressman’s office, the way the people of Middletown, Ohio and the ninth district relate, and Hillbilly Elegy’seffect on me.