Hillbilly Elegy

without much warning. Mothers would
tell their daughters how to raise their
children. Fathers would tell sons how to
do their jobs. Brothers would tell
brothers-in-law how to treat their wives.
Family life was something people
learned on the fly with a lot of help from
their neighbors. In Middletown, a man’s
home was his castle.
However, that castle was empty for
Mamaw and Papaw. They brought an
ancient family structure from the hills
and tried to make it work in a world of
privacy and nuclear families. They were
newlyweds, but they didn’t have anyone
to teach them about marriage. They were
parents, but there were no grandparents,