Comparison of Harlan, KY to Proctorville, OH

When reading the beginning chapter six in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, in which he describes the basic environment of the small town of Harlan, an image of Proctorville,OH did cross my mind.  It was specifically the narrow roads and the characteristic of it being a “remote and strange place , unknown by the larger society around it” (Gladwell 162) which painted a picture of Proctorville in my mind.  However, when Gladwell goes on to mention the violence and family feuds in Harlan, KY, the similarities between my hometown and Harlan seemed to diminish.  Like Harlan, Proctorville has its share of families that most everyone knows about, but this is not due to a history of violence among them.  The only reason that certain families are well-known in Proctorville is because it is such a small place and certain families play a larger role in the community. Whether that role is positive or negative is different from family to family.

                That is not to say that occasional disputes don’t occur in a place like Proctorville.  I feel like that “code of honor” which Gladwell speaks of still exists in Proctorville, but definitely not to the same extreme.  I remember in high school that occasional physical altercations occurred between certain people simply from the exchange of a few harsh words.  Now whether these disputes are just the result of teenagers being immature or because of the “code of honor” is debatable.  But then there have been times when I have seen adults around Proctorville get into arguments in public places too.  But they are not teenagers.  Are they simply acting by the “code of honor” which may have been brought to the states by their ancestors or are they just as immature as their children?