Sarah Levy Professor M.Marca English 97 2 December 2008 Shame and Humiliation Nickel and Dimed‚ written by Barbara Ehrenreich has been published in 2001 for the first time. This book explains and describes the condition of the working poor in United States in the 21st century. To write this book the author who is a well-known journalist at the New York Times decides to experience being a low-wage worker for a few months. She gives up her middle class life to become and live as a working poor
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In the reading Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America written by Barbara Ehrenreich the struggle of living for most Americans is modeled and is also the main focus. Ehrenreich whose a sociologist writer goes undercover to what the “low-wage economy...has to offer” (Ehrenreich 245). The image portrayed by Americans of the lower class makes it difficult for one of the middle class to understand. Survival of both parties are no way‚ shape or form similar and this struck Ehrenreich’s curiosity
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Selling your life by the hour “What you don’t necessarily realize when you start selling your time by the hour is that what you’re really selling is your life‚”as Barbara Ehrenreich once said. In Nickel and Dimed: On Getting By in America‚ Barbara Ehrenreich sets out to work on a project‚ as well as investigate on the impact of the 1996 welfare reform act on the working poor in the United States. Ehrenreich appeals to the readers with the true reality and struggles with money that society has taken
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Analysis of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America In “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America”‚ Barbara Ehrenreich‚ a well-off white woman with a Ph.D. in Biology questions how low-income workers‚ especially females‚ make a living. Due to the welfare reform‚ 4 million women were about to have to enter into the workforce‚ usually for less than minimum wage. Ehrenreich decides to make an experiment out of her ideas. She decided she would travel to three different cities: Key West
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In Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich‚ the author doesn’t discuss the experiences of immigrants or people from different racial backgrounds in detail. Since I come from an Asian background‚ I want to focus on how these experiences‚ particularly for Asian immigrants‚ may differ from Ehrenreich’s. The standard of living‚ racial dynamics‚ and the way people are treated often vary based on skin color and appearance. For immigrants‚ especially those starting life and work in the U.S.‚ these factors
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Introduction‚ An annotated bibliography refers to a list citations of articles documents and books‚ each followed by a brief and descriptive paragraph. The descriptive paragraph is usually more or less of a summarized plot summary and is referred to as the annotation. Like any other bibliography‚ an annotated bibliography also involves an alphabetical list of research sources. It provides the reader with information about the general overview of the book‚ what it entails‚ its accuracy‚ relevance
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In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed‚ Ehrenreich explores the dynamics of social stratification by gender in working class America. Similarly to race‚ Ehrenreich shows how gender and gender roles are a part of a closed system in the American workforce. One can first see this early on in the book when Ehrenreich works as a waitress. Ehrenreich describes a dynamic in this work setting in which female workers are subservient to a dominant male manager who is very critical. She mainly shows
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These would be the low-income workers: people who sacrifice their time and efforts working long‚ relentless hours just to make ends meet‚ who struggle to pay their monthly rent or buy enough food to feed their family for the rest of the week. In Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America‚ the author Barbara Ehrenreich takes on an experiment in order to better understand the working class. She leaves her desk job as a highly acclaimed writer and decides to take on the lower paid jobs herself. In
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In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book‚ Nickel-and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America‚ she investigates whether welfare reform programs are appropriate in aiding women in poverty and that these institutions will affect their economic and social mobility in the future. Ehrenreich initiated her research in June 1998‚ in the form of participant observation. Her experiment was design allowed her to personally experience the hardships of a worker with minimal skills living on minimum wage. Barbara’s poses as
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A Final Thought on Nickel and Dimed In an age where the gap between the top one percent of the nation and the bottom nine ninety percent continues to grow‚ it becomes paramount for those that enjoy a life of privilege and opportunity to build and evoke a sense of empathy and understanding for those that struggle to get by on a daily basis. Barbara Ehrenreich’s‚ in her novel Nickel and Dimed‚ explores the struggle to achieve the American Dream‚ by placing herself in the shoes of a blue collar
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