I just finished reading “Appalachian Values” written by Loyal Jones, former director of the Appalachian Center at Berea College. Being from Appalachia, I can relate to most of the values he lists (religion, individualism, neighborliness and hospitality, familism, personalism, love of place, modesty, sense of beauty, and sense of humor). I believe Mr. Jones “hit the nail on the head” in his description of Appalachian people.
One of my first reactions after reading his article was, “wow I didn’t have to look up a single word he wrote!” It bothers me to come across a word I am unfamiliar with, so I have my dictionary nearby to look up words. This article, however, did not have any hard words. One thing I can say about Appalachian people, or at least myself, is that we write how we talk (not verbatim; I don’t include words like “ain’t” and “you’ns” when writing for a scholarly assignments). I suppose Loyal Jones didn’t feel the need to use any pompous words, making his writing a breeze to read and his point come across well.
Jones’s first point is religion, and I agree with most everything he stated. Mountaineers have deep roots in faith, which has shaped the mountaineer culture. From the viewpoint of nonbelievers, religion is a “hindrance to social progress”. However, from the Appalachians’ viewpoint, social progress (if there is any at all) is only in this life and is not worth sacrificing their faith. I personally am also a Baptist like the ones that Jones refers to. I believe earth “shall pass away” and relate to his next point about accepting Jesus as a personal savior.
Next is individualism and pride. One example I have of this is probably my dad. He is more characteristic of Appalachian people than me! He is very self reliant and hardly asks anyone for help unless it is something outside his knowledge, such as computers and technology. I see satisfaction in being able to do tasks myself.
I see neighborliness and hospitality every day here in the Avery/Mitchell area where I live. Just like Jones says in the article about the host saying, “Just reach and get anything you want,” so does my family and my girlfriend’s family when they have big dinners or cookouts. Another example I can think of is when I went to my girlfriend’s great uncle’s funeral. On the way we picked up her 60-year old 3rd cousin to go with us. When we came back that night and dropped her off, at 9 something o’clock, she asked each one of us to come in for a while. Now she probably wasn’t serious, just as none of us wanted to go in either. She was being hospitable and polite.
As for personalism, we Appalachians do care a great deal about our relationships with people, some more than others. This is important because here in the mountains we see and interact with the same people daily. Whether going to a local restaurant, grocery store, or bank, etc, chances are that we will be waited on by people we know and/or have known our whole lives.
Another important part of being Appalachian is knowing our way around (I can’t say much, I don’t have a good sense of direction). However most mountaineers know most of the roads, lanes, and “hollars” in the county, not to mention four-wheeler trails! Our way of giving directions can be confusing to the passersby.
We are modest in that we don’t shout the stereotypical “well I never!” when somebody puts their elbows on the table or forgets which fork to use. Like Jones says, we don’t “put on airs.” We realize nobody is perfect and that allows us to be at peace and be happy with ourselves.
Our sense of beauty is in our culture, our language, building things, and simply how we interact with others. For example, it is richer to us eating a simple homemade supper at home with family than going out to an exquisite restaurant dining with unfamiliar people.
Finally we have a sense of humor. Probably because we can aim the target of the jokes at ourselves is what makes our sense of humor seem more harmless and everybody laughs. I believe that in Appalachia it would be harder to find a person so mature that he or she can hardly laugh at anything besides a political cartoon.
I really enjoyed this article because I felt it had a lot to say about who I am and about the culture of my people. Therefore, reflecting upon it was very easy.
