Amber NanD Argumentive Paragraph
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Amber Hups
Mrs. Clinton
AP Language
11 September 2014
Nickel and Dimed: Summer Reading Choice Novel
Barbara Ehenreich, in the book Nickel and Dimed, argues that America’s working poor need to be paid higher wages. Ehenreich supports her argument by using precise details and unique point of view to present her experiences as a low paid, low class worker. The author’s purpose is to suggest no one can survive on minimum wage in order to gain support for raising the current standard salary in the United States.
To aid her argument, Ehenreich uses precise details to photograph the difficult aspects of a minimum wage workers daily life, and comes to the conclusion that while some jobs may be called
“unskilled”, many require not only a lot of mental capacity, but also physical strain. When Ehenreich is working as a maid as well as a part time caretaker at a nursing home, she is confronted by how truly demanding juggling both jobs, her finances, and proper health become. “Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don't need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and rents too high. The problem of rents is easy for a noneconomist, even a sparsely educated low-wage worker, to grasp: it's the market, stupid.” While staying in Maine, she fears what will happen if she were to become ill, or if something were to happen to her car. Ehenreich can’t even afford an apartment, and instead sleeps in a hotel every night to fit her budget. Her words in the quote mentioned opens the eyes of many middle class Americans that assume that the poor
Hups 2
have no struggle getting by, as long as they cut back and settle for less than others. Ehrenreich uses the precise details of her experiences in common working conditions on to expose the truth to the rest of society. The fact that Ehrenreich wrote from fact and from a point of view
Amber Hups
Mrs. Clinton
AP Language
11 September 2014
Nickel and Dimed: Summer Reading Choice Novel
Barbara Ehenreich, in the book Nickel and Dimed, argues that America’s working poor need to be paid higher wages. Ehenreich supports her argument by using precise details and unique point of view to present her experiences as a low paid, low class worker. The author’s purpose is to suggest no one can survive on minimum wage in order to gain support for raising the current standard salary in the United States.
To aid her argument, Ehenreich uses precise details to photograph the difficult aspects of a minimum wage workers daily life, and comes to the conclusion that while some jobs may be called
“unskilled”, many require not only a lot of mental capacity, but also physical strain. When Ehenreich is working as a maid as well as a part time caretaker at a nursing home, she is confronted by how truly demanding juggling both jobs, her finances, and proper health become. “Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don't need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and rents too high. The problem of rents is easy for a noneconomist, even a sparsely educated low-wage worker, to grasp: it's the market, stupid.” While staying in Maine, she fears what will happen if she were to become ill, or if something were to happen to her car. Ehenreich can’t even afford an apartment, and instead sleeps in a hotel every night to fit her budget. Her words in the quote mentioned opens the eyes of many middle class Americans that assume that the poor
Hups 2
have no struggle getting by, as long as they cut back and settle for less than others. Ehrenreich uses the precise details of her experiences in common working conditions on to expose the truth to the rest of society. The fact that Ehrenreich wrote from fact and from a point of view