Description
Howard has managed to capture all of the drama and the feelings of hopelessness, despair, and terror in his novel. It functions, and it functions in the majority of scenes because no unnecessary background information or needless investigation into reasons is required in Hillbilly Elegy on Afdah. As the young JD perceives it, the audience is presented with a status quo inside the stressed familial system. He is not yet able to understand the connections. And by the time he realizes it later in life, he's already attuned his empathy to that of the rest of his family, his neighborhood, and his early surroundings. The youth have hope, but they have no one to help them. The adults, who are unaware of the economy's decline and unemployment, feel increasingly hopeless and resigned.