Ehrenreich Tones

Barbara Ehrenreich tones
Using tone in writing is really important because it convey a message that the author want to express to the reader. The tone Barbara Ehrenreich uses in the book “Nickel and Dimed” is changing rapidly because she wants her reader to really see the realistic of what she has to face. She put herself into the life of a minimum wage circumstance to see if she can survive or not. She go to different location in the country but they all have the same point that the job she take is all minimum wage jobs. Her tones factually show the challenges and struggles that she face with the job. She doesn’t show judgment but in her writing, her tone sounds sympathetic, a little anger and sarcastic to the reader.
At her first job as a waitress at Hearthside. Barbara Ehrenreich shows the factual that many of the workers she works with are homeless. They have to live in weekly-rate hotels, some squeezed into a small confines with friends, and a few of them actually lived in their vehicles, like her coworker Gail she live in the car after her boyfriend went to jail and he got killed a few months ago in a scuffle in a upstate prison. Many of them have family they have to take care of. Some time they don't even have enough food to eat. Another problem Ehrenreich and the people has to face is finding an affordable housing. House that doesn’t cost a lot of money; it fit their expanse and need to safe enough.
In her second jobs as a waitress at Jerry’s she notices that “though no one, I notice, ever brings up anything potentially expensive, like shopping or movies (page 36). Based on what she saying, we can see that they are really poor. They can't afford to buy expensive things and seem to be invisible to the rich world. At first she was worry that she too overqualified for the job she has because she has a PhD degrees and an upper middle class. She thought that she has higher education they not going to hire her but it turn out she “under qualified” because the job revealed it more difficult and physical demanding than she thought. As she works more with them she understands what they have to been through better and shows her sympathy toward them. She also notice that George a Czech dishwasher just work at Jerry’s for some weeks and can barely speak English. So she decides to teach him English when she has some free time. Barbara Ehrenreich doesn’t show a lot of anger but when she was a waitress at Jerry’s, B.J on of the manager are making her really angry. He take advantage on the worker "Manager can sit- for hours at a time if they want- but it's their job to see that no one else ever does, even when there's nothing to do, and this is why, for serves, slow times can be as exhausting as rushes" (page 22). He not easy to work with, she has a hard time with him. He contributes her with many problems. When the B.J found out that there is some items gone missing, he blames it all to George. The items was never been found or they get to know who exactly doing that but Ehrenreich believe George is innocent. That went wrong more when the upper manager decides to fire George, but allow him to work until the end of the week. Ehrenreich feel upset for George because he didn’t understand what going on, and didn’t know the reason that the managers fire him. Her tone shows sarcastic when she makes jokes on the question of the application for Wal-Mart "Do I work well with others? You bet, but never to the point where I would hesitate to inform on them for the slightest infraction. Am I capable of independent decision making? Oh yes, but I know better than to let this capacity interfere with a slavish obedience to orders” (page 59). It’s obvious question that everybody can answer. In chapter 2, she moves to work at Maine. The place that is 99% of people is white. She’s white too but still she has no advantage there. Whether they’re white or not if they have minimum wage jobs they’re going to get the treatment as dispiriting slice of humanity. The ways that people dehumanize each other in life. When she work as a maid, her costume is “kelly-green pants” and “sunflower-yellow” polo’s, they not allowed smoking, drinking, or cursing: those kinds of behavior would be out of character.