Hillbilly Elegy

to it were not.
Identity is an odd thing, and I didn’t
understand at the time why I felt such
kinship with these strangers. A few
months later, during my first trip to
California, I began to understand. Uncle
Jimmy flew Lindsay and me to his home
in Napa, California. Knowing that I’d be
visiting him, I told every person I could
that I was headed to California in the
summer and, what was more, flying for
the first time. The main reaction was
disbelief that my uncle had enough
money to fly two people—neither of
whom were his children—out to
California. It is a testament to the class
consciousness of my youth that my