Is the title hillbilly elegy a type of self hatred?

[jennifer_bloom]

[buzzword]

Nope. A billy or billie is a brother at arms. The hills are obviously the Piedmont and Smoky Mountains of Appalachia. An elegy is a poem or song of a sad nostalgic memory. Hillbillies were rough and tumble free people that worked hard and weren't afraid of a fight. If you had ever read Hillbilly Elegy you'd know he looked up to the Greatest Generation (those who fought in WWII). He sees them as Hillbillies, and he admires their work ethic and free spirit. He feels that Appalachia has been demoralized as factories have been outsourced, mines have closed, and so on. People use to have a purpose. Now they have opioids. What once was, has been lost. It's been eroded away and that is sad. This is why he's motivated to bring American manufacturing back, to reignite the spark in the Hillbilly heart. He wants to get them back to work, help them remember who they are, and to stop opioids from coming across the border that are poisoning and killing many Americans. Blue collar America matters to him, because it's his heritage and it is being erased...