Hillbilly Elegy

unimportant your fist is when it comes to
hitting someone.
Despite her admonition not to start
fights, our unspoken honor code made it
easy to convince someone else to start a
fight for you. If you really wanted to get
into it with someone, all you needed to
do was insult his mom. No amount of
self-control could withstand a well-
played maternal criticism. “Your mom’s
so fat that her ass has its own zip code”;
“Your mom’s such a hillbilly that her
false teeth have cavities”; or a simple
“Yo’ mama!” These were fighting words,
whether you wanted them to be or not.
To shirk from avenging a string of insults
was to lose your honor, your dignity, or