Vance speaks with piercing sincerity about the life of a provincial American white working-class family (hillbillies) living in the Rusty (Factory) Belt. The hero manages to pull himself out of the abyss and begin a new life—but the ghosts of the past still remind him.
Where can you look for an escape when your entire life has long been predetermined? Support from loved ones, examples of success, and a good education helped the hero permanently escape poverty. Yet the demons of the past still interfere with his present.