Overview Of Barbara Ehrenreich´s Nickle And Dimed

Her boss insisted that she was fine to work even though the rash became so severe that she had to break a rule and call her dermatologist for a prescription. In Maine, Ehrenreich also learned what it felt like to endure the judgment and cruelty inflicted on low-wage workers. She discovered that there are a variety of services provided for low-wage workers; they are often only available during working hours,

In Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, Barbara Ehrenreich uses precise language to paint a picture of Holly, an underprivileged woman working at The Maids. While working at The Maids, Ehrenreich provides the audience with numerous descriptions and characteristics of Holly. First off, Holly is a twenty-three year old who feeds not only herself, but also her husband and an elderly relative; astonishingly, she manages to do so with a salary of thirty to fifty dollars per week. Specifically, Ehrenreich writes, “She is visibly unwell-possibly whiter, on a daily basis than anyone else in the state… think bridal gowns, tuberculosis, and death” (Ehrenreich 95). Furthermore, the author describes Holly’s meager eating habits by asserting,

Discrimination definitely shaped Ehrenreich’s story. She had many advantages compared to others who actually live in this life style. One of her advantages was her race, another big advantage was not having any children. All these play a role in her story/ experience. She becomes aware at the end of her experiment that the living situation of minimum wage earners are nothing like those of upper class, such as herself.

From the title “The Minimum-Wage War”, it may seem that Ehrenreich’s recollection of minimum wage work may not be as accurate as someone who faces the true pressures of working two minimum wage jobs a week; However, because she put herself in the same conditions, she created a credible experiment. Ehrenreich’s experiment was derived from the question “could match income to expenses, as the truly poor attempt to do every day.” She worked in various minimum wage environments, such as restaurants, a hotel, a cleaning service, and a nursing home. By working under the harsh conditions of minimum wage work, Ehrenreich discovered the difficulties of managing living expenses with such a limited budget. Despite the harsh nature of the work, there are still skeptics who feel that raising the minimum wage will reduce the number of jobs available to minimum wage workers.

Pathos dominates the article when Ehrenreich allows her nephews mother in law, grandchildren, and daughter to move into her house. The situation focuses on pathos because in Ehrenreich’s personal story she includes that “Peg, was, like several million other Americans, about to lose her home to foreclosure” (338). She is effective in her writing by appealing to the readers’ emotions through visual concepts and personal experiences. When I read the article, I felt emotional because the working poor are not fortunate to know if they will have a house or food the next day. I agree with Ehrenreich in which the poor are as important as the wealthy group who get more recognition.

In the article “How I Discovered the Truth about Poverty” Barbara Ehrenreich gives her view in poverty and explains why she think Michael Harington’s book “The Other American” gives a wrong view on poverty. She explained that Harrington believes that the poor thought and felt differently and what divides the poor was their different “culture of poverty.” Ehrenreich goes on to explain on how the book that became a best seller caused so many bad stereotypes on the poor that by the Reagan era poverty was seen as “bad attitudes” and “faulty lifestyles” and not by the lack of jobs or low paying jobs. And they also viewed the poor as “Dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to “defer gratification,” or possibly even set an alarm clock.”

Thesis: I believe that Ehrenreich’s thesis is that no matter how hard you work or how chipper you act, it is nearly impossible to make a living for oneself in minimum wage conditions such as those of her coworkers. Narration: Narration is present on page 765 where through the narrator we are told Gail’s story about how her husband died and her what has led up to her current situation. Report: Paragraph 2 is an example of report writing where she details the types of housing in the area and the possible houses she can afford because she is being illustrative and informational about the topic of real estate in Key West. Analysis: The section on pages 771-772 is an analysis because she is breaking down the housing situations of her coworkers based upon her prediction of their salaries.

No Nickels or Dimes To Spare In the book, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich writes the story, “Serving in Florida.” She describes her experience living as an undercover waitress when in reality she’s a journalist for culture and politics with a doctorate in biology. Ehrenreich experiences trying to survive on multiple low income jobs to understand what it is like to be in their shoes instead of being apart of the higher middle class.

The article talks about poverty within america and the issues and resolutions connected to the economy. In “It is Expensive To Be Poor” Ehrenreich claim is that people in poverty are not in that situation because of self habits but because they simply do not have money at the moment. she explains that anyone

Nevertheless, she concludes that their socioeconomic class is burdened with even more events. Listing off each of her co-workers, Ehrenreich discovers the majority live in overcrowded situations, with relatives or in pay-as-you-go standards; others, like one particular co-worker share rent with people who are not of good character, but can alleviate the financial strain; finally, to her surprise, the hostess who were paid the most was living in the worst standard, in her vehicle (Ehrenreich, 20-21). This is one of the focal points of Ehrenreich’s investigation: while some might obtain “aid” from the government, it does not prevent consequences that the middle class does not see. As Ehrenreich discovers from Gail’s breakdown of payments for surviving by herself versus staying with her sexually harassing roommate, she beings to understand the financial discrimination that the poor

One of the best-selling authors, Barbara Ehrenreich, in her narrative essay, “Serving in Florida,” describes her personal experience working in a local restaurant called Jerry’s. Ehrenreich’s purpose is to attach importance to the low-wage America workplace. Using rhetorical strategies such as negative diction, simile, images, and pathos, Ehrenreich attempts to raise public awareness of the low-wage workers’ life in her readers. Firstly, Barbara Ehrenreich exploits connotation of words and simile to emphasize the difficult life of the lower class.

Argumentative Text Essay In the book Nickel and Dimed, written by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author argues how challenging it is to live in a life of poverty. To prove to herself as well as others that this statement is accurate, she makes the decision to experience this lifestyle firsthand by taking low-wage jobs and recording the results. Ehrenreich took on jobs including a maid service, waitressing, and assisting the nursing home to make enough money for a place to sleep and food to eat. The work’s central argument is the fact that minimum and low wage workers face a myriad of difficulties in getting by in America; they receive very low pay, harsh treatments from their employers, and the inability to have an actual life.

Jack Nguyen AP English 3 30, July 2015 Nickel and Dimed Rhetorical Strategies and Notes Thesis: Ehrenreich’s personal use of varied rhetorical strategies allowed her to divulge the working conditions and struggles of the poverty-stricken class to the readers in order to provoke them to realize that something has to be done about poverty.. First Body: What: Allusion Pg. 2, Logos Pg. 37. How & Effect: Ehrenreich uses these personal, rhetorical strategies based on her experiences as a low-wage worker in the poor working class. The effect is that Ehrenreich is able to show the readers the conditions in which the impoverished work in and the daily obstacles that they face in life; also there is an appeal to logic and a reference of a poverty idiom. Why: Ehrenreich is deliberately using these rhetorical strategies to incite the readers about the fact that changes need to be done to poverty because it is a detrimental thing to society.

There are people who work 40 hours a week and are still in poverty; this is a highly prominent issue. The uneven distribution of wealth, known as wealth inequality, is a problem that plagues not only America but also the world. With wealth inequality, there are two main issues and one solution to those issues. The problems are that the wealth in America is unevenly distributed and there people in America who work 40 hours a week and still have very little money. Wealth inequality is the root of all problems faced in America.

As a saying always told to the less intelligent, “All that glitter, isn’t gold”. During a time period of unemployment and growing poverty, many looked for jobs to continuously raise their families. Most businesses were closed or in the process of closing, and this made it possible for millions of layoffs resulting in the growth of the poverty line in society. As people were getting laid off losing money, people were becoming millionaires and billionaires as well making money. Because of the unemployment rates rising every second, most became desperate to work and make any little change they could come across.