In her bestselling book‚ “Nickel and Dimed‚” author Barbara Ehrenreich aims to give the reader a firsthand account of life as a worker on the poverty level. For her story‚ Ehrenreich‚ a writer from an upper-class family‚ decided to live the existence of a minimum wage worker‚ taking five low-level jobs at various locations around the United States‚ including positions as a waitress‚ health care aide‚ and Wal-Mart associate. To fulfill her objective‚ the author tried to obtain food‚ shelter and miscellaneous
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and Dimed‚ Barbara Ehrenreich takes some time out of her normal life and tries to experience life working as a low-wage worker. Ehrenreich begins with the goal‚ “to see whether she could match income to expenses‚ as the truly poor attempt to do every day.” (Ehrenreich 6) Ehrenreich salary is always low‚ and a few times along the way she has to ask for help. At the end of her journey‚ she has discovered that no job‚ no matter how lowly‚ is truly “unskilled.” (Ehrenreich 193) Ehrenreich realizes
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book Nickel and Dimed I have come to realize how much work low wage workers actually do. I have worked in a fast food restaurant only once and it was hard work but I did not get a major feel for the field because I was not there for very long. Barbara Ehrenreich did a good job as far as showing people‚ or telling people how it is to work in the low wage field but it was hard for me to get a real perception of everything because I knew in the back of my mind that she was not really a low wage worker
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1 SOC 310 12/03/12 Nickel and Dimed Book Analysis Looking at whether or not individuals living in poverty are considered to be a minority group by our contemporary culture is an interesting scenario. I’m a social work major so of course I want to think‚ yes‚ individuals living poverty are most definitely an oppressed group in society. Minimum wage is nowhere near to what could be classified as a living wage‚ and these positions often have little room for career advancement within the company
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form. You must cite your sources using APA style!! Points: 40 Part III Choose one of the following prompts to write an effective 2 full page double spaced 12” font AP level essay. 1. In “Evaluation‚” the final chapter of Nickel and Dimed‚ Ehrenreich observes: Some odd optical property of our highly polarized and unequal society makes the poor almost invisible to their economic superiors. The poor can see the affluent easily enough-on television‚ for example‚ or on the covers of magazines
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on their own or with their children. It may come in the form of saving money and buying cheaper food or receiving help from the government for a small amount of time. People in these conditions struggle each day to feed and shelter themselves. Ehrenreich has a Ph.D. in biology and is an experienced writer. This would cause her to earn more than the average person on the street. She would not automatically know the struggles of the people around her‚ but she would have an insight on it. She does
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Humor is a very Powerful Language Humor can light up any situation if you use it at the right time it can make an experience more interesting. When you have a more positive attitude towards something it can make almost any situation better. Barbara Ehrenreich uses a lot of humor when she wrote Nickel and Dimed even though it was covering the economic difficulties in America and how people are just barely getting by she manages to use humor to lighten up her story and to engage the reader. People
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the book of Nickel and Dimed‚ the author Barbara Ehrenreich‚ decided to go undercover as a low wage worker. She wanted to find out how non-skilled workers made ends meet. Barbara’s goal was to find if she would be able to live off the money she earned‚ and by also having enough money to pay the monthly rent. This was not going to be an easy task for her; she was used to having a home‚ a companion‚ reputation‚ and of course an ATM card. In June 1998‚ Barbara left behind everything that was either meaningful
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Nickel and Dimed 1) According to Ehrenreich‚ people who work jobs that are subsidized almost entirely by tips should be either paid more to begin with or offered more services such as housing and food like European countries do. For example‚ the typical 10% tip is considered borderline excessive at table service restaurants because waiters and waitresses are already paid substantially. Also‚ it is common especially in Mediterranean countries for the 10-15% service charge to already be included in
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I’ve Learned from Men” the author Barbara Ehrenreich is willing to admit that there are some useful things to learn from men; basically she thinks that women could learn how to get strong and tough. In the article‚ the author achieves her purpose and convinces her readers that women need to get tougher and learn how stand up for themselves. To sum up‚ the article “What I’V Learned from Men” claims that women don’t have the same power as men. Therefore‚ Ehrenreich claims that there are some useful
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