Elis - Heart In Chains

The desire to instill in him good manners for him to climb the social ladder was tenfold under the scornful glances that the local petty bourgeoisie threw at the "white scum" from East Tupelo. Despite the Great Depression and poor origin, despite her own craving for alcohol and domestic violence, Gladys Presley was going to make her son a model of decency and courtesy, demanding that he address everyone without stinting on “ma'am” and “sir”, because this and lies the legendary southern courtesy and the concept of social hierarchy, hammered by the old aristocracy of the South to the lower classes. As Dr. Hunt eagerly repeats when he gives the Laws of God in Tupelo on Sunday mornings, politeness is the best atonement for poverty.