Nickel and Dimed was published in 2001 during the blow up of the internet. The book was spreading and a group of college freshmen were even assigned to read it. Ehrenreich even learned that a young man set out himself to try what she did but he started out in a homeless shelter and at the end‚ he had an apartment and thousands of dollars saved. He went on to write his own book and actually accuse Ehrenreich about her lack of motivation to succeed. She was even called “The Antichrist of North Carolina”
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place herself in the position of her subjects‚ Ehrenreich strived to see if she were able to survive on the minimal income provided by a series of low level and low paying jobs. In was her foreknowledge of laws and the inclusion of these laws in Nickel and Dimed that brought about exposing historical and present-day 21st century contradictory practices‚ laws‚ and regulations that exploit the poor working class (if not through her experiment but by the subjects’ honest experience). In addition to exposing
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The primary purpose for Nickel and Dimed are for literary purposes‚ as the author seems to write with the goal of entertaining the reader. Throughout the story‚ the author regularly uses humor with the express purpose to entertain the reader. "It’s good to know that something is cheaper than my time‚ or that in the hierarchy of the company’s values I rank above Windex." (Page 307) The author also employs the use of figurative language a couple of times‚ for example when portraying the image of
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Investigative journalist‚ Barbara Ehrenreich‚ in her article‚ “It Is Expensive to Be Poor”‚ expounds on the repercussions the lower-class face on a daily basis. Ehrenreich’s purpose is to educate the audience about the reality the poor face day-to-day. The author creates a formal tone in order to have middle-class and older Americans understand the unfortunate reasons as to why the lower class is in their position and the difficulties they face to move on. In the beginning of the article Ehrenreich
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Jack Nguyen Mrs. Wright 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
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Analysis on “Serving in Florida” In the essay‚ “Serving in Florida‚” by Barbara Ehrenreich‚ the author shares her experiences of how it is for an unskilled person to live on minimum wage in Florida. She wanted to see if she could maintain a lifestyle working low wage paying jobs the way millions of women were. By the authors use of ethos‚ pathos and logos‚ one can feel and understand the stress that many of these Americans have. There are three types of persuasion; ethos: the credibility that
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26 April 2010 Nickel and Dimed – Book Report America encourages the value of self-reliance to achieving one’s goals and dreams. There is a common belief that poverty can be defeated with hard work and that the poor are simply too lazy to earn a better living. The idea of self-sufficiency is the cause of controversy for welfare programs. Poor single mothers were looked down upon for having the option to be unemployed and living solely off welfare. When President Clinton’s 1996 Welfare Reform was
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In Nickel and Dimed‚ Barbara Ehreneich states the tolls on low-wage workers but not how poverty correlates to their mental illnesses. An increase in money provided to low-income workers can help their health and state of mind. Mental illnesses prevent parents from raising their children well and could result to having a child with mental health problems‚ learning disabilities‚ and behavioral deficiency. It is because low-income families that are in poverty are stressed from only making minimum wage
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low-income jobs for different reasons. Ehrenreich believes minimum wage work is challenging in all aspects of the employment. She has the option to remove herself from this lifestyle but continues to stay in order to gain experience for her book "Nickel and Dimed". Crawford on the other hand finds a deeper appreciation for the working class‚ and even though he has an option to pursue a higher education career with his college degree he chooses to work as a mechanic for the love he has for the work. With
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Barbara Ehrenreich is a journalist who posed as an unskilled worker in 1998 to highlight the struggles encountered every day by Americans attempting to live on minimum wage. Ms Ehrenreich had always been interested in poverty. As the result of the new law‚ people would be expected to leave welfare and get jobs‚ sounds good. Unfortunately‚ the jobs they were able to get really didn’t pay enough to live on. Serving in Florida is about her experience as waitress trying to make ends meet just like millions
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