Nickel And Dimed Analysis

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass are both books that experience more than one “face” from the “Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris Young. The “ Five Faces of Oppression” include Exploitation( the act of using people's labors to produce profit while not contemplating them fairly). Marginalization ( the act of relegating or confining a group to a lower social standing or edge of society) . Powerlessness( the upper or ruling class are situated to give orders and the lower class must take orders) . Violence( the most obvious form of oppression which is meant to damage or destroy the person) . Lastly, Cultural Imperialism (taking the culture from the upper …show more content…
Ehrenreich had to deal with getting set in a lower social group because it's true. A maid’s job is one of the lower social groups because they are mostly women and women get looked down upon. She also had a maid job where she would have to get on her hands and knees and scrub the floors for rich people who pays people to do everyday task. With Douglass’ parents being slaves he was one as well and slaves are one of the lowest social groups with zero money. “ Thus is slavery the enemy of both the slave and the slaveholder.” (Douglass 31) Douglass is trying to make a point on how slaves faced estrangement from family and friends . However, slaveowners were affected as well by the peculiar institution because they fell prey to the vices of …show more content…
Violence is pretty obviously when it comes to Douglass because he grew up watching/ experiencing violence happen around him. “So ours is a world by Excedrin and Advil compensated for with cigarettes and, in one or two cases and then only on weekends, with booze. Do the owners have any idea of the misery that goes into rendering their homes motel-perfect? Would they be bothered if they did know, or would they take sadistic pride in what they have purchased- boasting to dinner guests, for example, that their floors are cleaned only with the purest of fresh human tears?”( Ehrenreich 89). Ehrenreich's message from this quote is no one knows how much pain she goes to maiding for people. She starts asking the audience questions about how they would feel if they worked so hard to get paid so little. In conclusion both Barbara Ehrenreich and Frederick Douglass lived hard lives. They both experienced four out of “ Five Faces and of Oppression “ , and didn't give up . The one “face” that does not relate to the authors is Cultural Imperialism because it relates to the antagonist in the