Barbara Ehrenreich Rhetorical Analysis

What is most interesting about Barbara Ehrenreich?s journalistic venture is that she worked in a white color position as an accomplished journalist, but her immediate family came from a meager financial background. It appears as though she had a grasp on the hardships of poverty in America, which is why she wanted to dig deeper. Ehrenreich?s sister had a series of low paid jobs, her father worked in the coal mine, and her husband met her when he was making only $4.50 an hour. Ehrenreich began her research in 1998 and the book was published in 2001. Ehrenreich did not set out to be poor. She set out to bring attention to the condition of the survival of a minimum wage income of $6.00-$7.00 per hour.

The situation Ehrenreich is describing is the reality of millions of Americans; they work multiple minimum wage jobs, and are paid “so meagerly that workers can’t save enough to move on.” In addition, Ehrenreich recalls the actions of the U.S. government in regards to assisting these Americans. The article opens with the contribution of President Lyndon B. Johnson on the “War on Poverty”, then the “attack on welfare” in the 90s, concluding with The Great Recession. While writing Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, Ehrenreich abandoned her comfortable life to live the life of a low-income American; she worked multiple entry level jobs including Wal-Mart, a maid service, and as a nursing home aide. Through these actions, Ehrenreich establishes her ethos. Because she’s lived the lifestyle she’s describing, she has the authority to speak on the topic. Ehrenreich concludes with her proposal to help the

Barbara Ehrenreich used her book Nickel and Dimed to illustrate her job assignment to live in the shoes of and, write about her experiences as a minimum wage worker in America. Ehrenreich goes to live in Key West, Maine, and Minnesota and works low wage jobs, sometimes more than one at a time. The point Ehrenreich is trying to make is that it is almost impossible to live a decent life in America with one, let alone two jobs paying very low wages. It is tough to be a low wage worker in America.

Ehrenreich developed the objectives of this book in a very interesting way. Ironically she developed the idea for this project over a very elegant expensive lunch at a French country-style restaurant. Ehrenreich and her editor Lewis Laphan from Harpers had gone out to lunch to discuss future articles. Throughout lunch the topic of poverty came up. Questions like, “How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled?” (Ehrenreich, 2001 pg. 1) and how do unskilled workers survive on such low incomes, started to surface. She then thought “Someone ought to do the old-fashioned kind of journalism – you know, go out there and try

In the year 1990, a war between Iraq and Kuwait created numerous problems and hardships for many individuals including those who were not even affiliated with the region. An example of one of these problems is between an American mother, Mary Ewald, and her son Hart Ewald, who had been taken hostage by military forces under the leadership of the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Mrs. Ewald uses several rhetorical strategies and devices scattered throughout her letter in order to achieve a convincing and thought provoking plead. These strategies include effective and elaborate usage of logos pathos and ethos, and a very professional and intelligent tone.

In Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich tells a powerful and gritty story of daily survival. Her tale transcends the gap that exists between rich and poor and relays a powerful accounting of the dark corners that lie somewhere beyond the popular portrayal of American prosperity. Throughout this book the reader will be intimately introduced to the world of the “working poor”, a place unfamiliar to the vast majority of affluent and middle-class Americans. What makes this world particularly real is the fact that we have all come across the hard-working hotel maid, store associate, or restaurant waitress but we hardly ever think of what their actual lives are like? We regularly dismiss these people as

The purpose of Barbara Ehrenreich 's novel was to present empirical and philosophical arguments against social policies associated with poverty and the ideologies surrounding it. Ehrenreich had an English degree and was used to doing research and writing about the experiences surrounding her findings. However, with her research surrounding Nickel and Dimed she took a more empirical approach by living the experiences of her research to discover the undercover truths surrounding minimum wage jobs. Ehrenreich knew it would be difficult to transition from her ivory tower

Throughout the book we see several reoccurring patterns and themes. One of those is how workers continuously try to allocate income to food, lodging, and medical care. It is interesting to see how they, and Ehrenreich manage this feat. We also see the relationship between dead-end jobs and poverty traps, and the many obstacles Ehrenreichs’ characters faced. And, finally we see how applicable Ehrenreich’s experience, and that of low-wage workers are, by drawing comparisons to Madison, Wisconsin.

In Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay “Serving in Florida,” derived from Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, the author conveys through a undercover experiences of working low wage jobs in Florida, that minimum wage jobs are harsh working conditions and lead to uncomfortable and a unpleasant way of living. Her essay also helps to reveal that the conditions that minimum wage jobs create, is the thin line between bearly having somewhere to live and being completely homeless. This will be proven by not only her experience, but also supported by primary/secondary sources.

Barbara Ehrenreich’s meritorious non-fiction, Nickel and Dimed, details the life of Ehrenreich as she goes undercover in the low-wage workforce. She works several minimum wage jobs all across the United States in the shadow of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. In an excerpt from her writing, her sympathetic view towards the American low-wage workforce and their disgusting workplace is revealed through a coalition of rhetorical strategies. Ehrenreich metaphorically casts the role of Jerry’s: a restaurant in Key West, Florida; to the gastrointestinal system.

A primary source is often the best kind. For best-selling author, Barbara Ehrenreich, this means going undercover as a Jerry’s Sub shop waitress in order to gain firsthand knowledge for her book Nickel and Dimed, a study of the working poor in the United States. In the chapter “Serving in Florida” of her book, Ehrenreich narrates this experience. Through an extensive array of rhetorical devices, Ehrenreich satirically argues the hard truth that life in the working poor class is far from perfect. She establishes her argument by opening the chapter with a repulsive description of Jerry’s Sub shop, she then satirizes and exposes the daily life of the working poor, and in the end she reveals her transformation as a journalist due to her experience.

The criteria that was chosen for this paper showed that Ehrenreich demonstrated effort and experienced real life scenes as a low-wage worker for the sake of the project. Ehrenreich's project has taught me to appreciate the low-wage workers around me such as the maintenance workers. They work so hard and at times I do appreciate what they do because I am to concerned about myself at times and without them our school wouldn't be as clean as it is. I have now started to to greet them and say a simple thank you. Thank you Barbara Ehrenreich, because of you, I am more thoughtful of workers and

After reading this essay I learned a lot about the reader and the message she's trying to portray. Barbara Ehrenreich's essay is showing that she was brought up with the belief that her culture was “nothing”. Although her mother always told her to “try new things,” she ended up completely going against her ancestors traditions and beliefs. She was very proud to hear her children say they didn't feel any ethic and religious identity. Barbara was happy that her children had also picked up on a tradition to think for themselves. She hoped her kids would carry

While she set out to determine if this was indeed possible, the mere obstacle of how to survive with little money allowed her to discover a new talent, empathy. Like many people her responses to how to improve poverty in this country were the popular and generic, “increase minimum wage” and “universal healthcare”. Her time spent living this new life over months of time afforded her a new perspective on the cycle of poverty and how it can drown someone. While a better salary would certainly help, we as a society could learn to be compassionate and empathetic. Ehrenreich’s new path of understanding and respect for anyone less financially fortunate has prompted her to tell us, “at least we should decide, as a bare minimum principle, to stop kicking people when they’re down” (Ehrenreich

Throughout Ehrenreich’s book she showed how impossible living on the low wages was. She discusses many hard times that she went through. Ehrenreich went into her journey will a little of a background because she has written many articles about poverty. Also, Ehrenreich came from a family of the working class because her father was a copper miner and did not make much money. Ehrenreich discusses ethos, which is establishing credibility. She gives credibility by telling us, the readers about her experiences dealing with a