The Importance Of Life In Matthew Desmond's Hillbilly Elegy

A life that keeps one guessing, a life that has no certainty, a life full of struggle and pain. In poor rural and urban areas in America, this is what life consists of, nothing is planned out and everything is complicated for the families in the books Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance and Evicted, written by Matthew Desmond. Complications of life take an impact on the futures, families, housing, and the finances of those in the books by Vance and Desmond. Violence in families leads to adulthood obstacles, mental and physical difficulties, and influences those entangled in the violence.The stresses of life such as getting a job, paying for rent or college, where to live and where one's next meal is going to come from are predicaments poor people

Family is one of the most important parts of life growing up. A strong family, is what growing children need to become successful and grow to have a bright future. Growing up in a family that is weak, does not include strong family ties and is violent leads to problems for the children and the parents, which is visible in Hillbilly Elegy and Evicted. Chaos in families affects children considerably, it leads to second generations of poor communication between spouses and can be overall unhealthy for those living in the environment. J.D. Vance is immensely affected by his mother's violent outbursts and multiple relationships. Since the beginning J.D.’s mother was in and out of relationships and marriages, her second husband was Vance’s biological father, but in 1983 they divorced and a few years later his mother met Bob Hamel. J.D. Vance would grow close to the men his mom was with, but they would be ripped away and that impacts Vance. Children need parents to be there for them, they require support and strong relationships with their parents to advance in confidence and positivity, but Vance was not allowed this. Multiple times he describes how he hated his mom for

Stress can alter the mind of a child's brain chemistry, it can lead to excessive amounts of adrenaline flooding he body and it permanently keeps individuals in fight-or-flight mode. This is exhausting and strenuous on the body, but this is what those in Hillbilly Elegy and Evicted live with every single day. Not knowing where the next check will come from, or the next meal, not having a stable home and not having a job was what the people in Evicted went through everyday. In Hillbilly Elegy, the focus was on J.D. Vance and his family who were all white, but in Evicted, there was a mix of white and African American families focused on in the book. In Urban areas the emphasize of poor and homeless falls onto the laps of a large number of African Americans. Desmond, focused on the Milwaukee area and explained that during the second half of the twentieth century, manufacturing jobs moved overseas because of cheaper labor, this affected countless African Americans because half of them had jobs in manufacturing (24). Lamar, who lost his legs and lived in an apartment that was falling apart, was unable to get SSI and could not find decent job in his condition. With no decent income and a rent to pay how does one survive? Gathering enough money to pay for a roof over one's head is a huge priority in Evicted. Arleen a single mother was evicted and had to find a