Nickel and Dimed

This essay is about the Nickel and Dimed book that was written by Barbara Ehrenreich. Here is a quote found from the book, “Of all the nasty outcomes predicted for women's liberation...none was more alarming than the suggestion that women would eventually become just like men.” Nickel and Dimed was published in May 2001. The following is cited after this paragraph, “Barbara has written many other books that have awards. She is the author of twelve books, including the New York Times bestseller…

After reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, the arising response of outrage is germane. It all started when she wondered how the roughly four million women who were about to be booted into the labor force would make ends meet with their six or seven dollar an hour salary. This ended up sparking her project, spanning multiple months, where she put her life on hold and left everything behind to enter the field of service work. Travelling to various states working different minimum wage…

Barbara Ehrenreich’s in her book, Nickel, and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, argues that it is nearly impossible to live in America, work a minimum wage job, and make enough money to feed, clothe, and house a family. Ehrenreich reveals the problems of economic issues that the working class faces. A family “. . . earning nearly $40,000 a year, which makes them officially ‘middle class’ . . .” (Ehrenreich 131) should not be living in a poor neighborhood. The block is infested with drug…

Barbara Ehrenreich, in her book Nickel and Dimed, brings attention to and informs readers of the issues she faced throughout her experiment regarding nutrition and health - an often overlooked byproduct of poverty. Ehrenreich often speaks of dietary and nutritional matters throughout Nickel and Dimed because that issue becomes a byproduct of working low wage jobs which she experiences directly. For example, in Florida, Ehrenreich mentions how her daily lunch consists of the same, small sandwich…

a) What was your personal response to reading the book? My personal response to Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich is that it was an excellent read and an interesting one. I for one have never given much thought about the struggles of working low wage jobs. And since I haven't worked yet in my life or had any money issues. Thus, to understand what it means to truly struggle and have to work day in and day out at a job that pays barely enough to feed and shelter you is an alien thought. Not…

Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, Serving in Florida details the struggles of low wage work and the lack of social mobility. Barbara tries to find work and believes she can afford to live in the Key West area of Florida, a rather cheap part of the country. She eventually receives a job at Hearthside, and learns how to be a waitress from a nice lady named Gail. Barbara feels like the job is okay and that she can live on the low wages for a while. But, there are several problems, which…

Barbara Ehrenreich spend a month in each of three places—Key West, Portland-Maine, and Minneapolis The novel Nickel and Dimed is written by researcher Barbara Ehrenreich, a middle aged upper-class woman. This novel details Ehrenreich’s study of the average, lower class, working woman. The author knows though, that she truly couldn't perfectly conduct this experiment to replicate her life as the “average woman”. She did not have children to bog her down and deplete her salary. The main point of…

While writing my book review of Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, I discovered that there are a few occasions where I can relate to what the author is trying to portray. A person working for minimum wage can also relate to this, because it’s about the people working low-wage jobs in America. I learned a lot while writing this paper. I learned about how we don’t pay attention to the people working minimum wage and how they try to survive with making that sort of wage. I mostly learned how…

Ehrenreich and Co-workers In the novel, Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, she leaves her life as a well off journalist to become a low- wage worker. Throughout her experience she comes to realize it is much tougher to maintain herself with minimum wage, than she thought it would be. At first she doesn’t see herself the same as the other blue collar workers but then realizes she has become exactly like them. Although Barbara Ehrenreich begins her journey as a low-wage worker with advantages…

In the novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbara is an undercover journalist looking to write on how people in the lower class get by on minimum wage. She finds out through her journey, that most of them don’t. She has many different experiences, but she really evolves toward the end of her journey. She realises that the managers, and the bigger companies treat the employees like suspected criminals. I believe that this influences the employees morale negatively and therefore…